Increase Ubuntu keyboard speed

This was last tested on Ubuntu 20.04.1.

Check default repeat interval and delay

Before making any changes, it’s a good idea to note the default values in case you want to restore them:

gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard repeat-interval
# Outputs uint32 30 on Ubuntu 24.04

gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard delay
# Outputs uint32 500 on Ubuntu 24.04

Set new repeat interval and delay

Use whatever values you want but the values below are a good improvement on the default values:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard repeat-interval 30
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard delay 250

Or if you want to put the changes in a bash script, say a keyboard_speed.sh file:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

REPEAT_INTERVAL=30
DELAY=250

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard repeat-interval $REPEAT_INTERVAL
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.keyboard delay $DELAY

I place such system configuration changes inside little bash scripts and then source them from my .zshrc or .bashrc file. I can then clearly see all the custom changes I made and it’s easy to replicate the same changes on different machines.