diff --git a/deploy-workbench.sh b/deploy-workbench.sh
index d96afa3..6995ec4 100755
--- a/deploy-workbench.sh
+++ b/deploy-workbench.sh
@@ -253,6 +253,27 @@ END2
 END
 )"
 
+
+# thanks https://wiki.debian.org/Keyboard
+chroot_kbd_conf_str="$(cat<<END
+chroot_kbd_conf() {
+                  ###################
+                  # configure keyboard
+                  cat > /etc/default/keyboard <<END2
+# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE
+#   generated by deploy-workbench.sh
+
+# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.
+
+XKBMODEL="pc105"
+XKBLAYOUT="\${CUSTOM_LANG}"
+
+BACKSPACE="guess"
+END2
+}
+END
+)"
+
 prepare_app() {
         # prepare app during prepare_chroot_env
         workbench_dir="${ISO_PATH}/chroot/opt/workbench"
@@ -286,7 +307,9 @@ if [ "\${nfs_host}" ]; then
 fi
 # clearly specify the right working directory, used in the python script as os.getcwd()
 cd /mnt
-pipenv run python /opt/workbench/workbench-script.py --config /mnt/settings.ini
+#pipenv run python /opt/workbench/workbench-script.py --config /mnt/settings.ini
+# works meanwhile this project is vanilla python
+python /opt/workbench/workbench-script.py --config /mnt/settings.ini
 
 stty echo
 set +x
@@ -302,7 +325,7 @@ echo 'Install requirements'
 
 # Install debian requirements
 apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-  sudo locales \
+  sudo locales keyboard-configuration console-setup \
   python-is-python3 python3 python3-dev python3-pip pipenv \
   dmidecode smartmontools hwinfo pciutils lshw nfs-common < /dev/null
 
@@ -360,8 +383,14 @@ ${install_app_str}
 # thanks src https://serverfault.com/questions/362903/how-do-you-set-a-locale-non-interactively-on-debian-ubuntu
 export LANG=${LANG}
 export LC_ALL=${LANG}
+echo "${MYLOCALE}" > /etc/locale.gen
+# Generate the locale
+locale-gen
+# feeds /etc/default/locale for the shell env var
+update-locale LANG=${LANG} LC_ALL=${LANG}
 # this is a high level command that does locale-gen and update-locale altogether
-dpkg-reconfigure --frontend=noninteractive locales
+#   but it is too interactive
+#dpkg-reconfigure --frontend=noninteractive locales
 # DEBUG
 locale -a
 
@@ -387,6 +416,9 @@ apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
   < /dev/null
 
 ${chroot_netdns_conf_str}
+CUSTOM_LANG=${CUSTOM_LANG}
+${chroot_kbd_conf_str}
+chroot_kbd_conf
 
 # Set up root user
 #   this is the root password
@@ -406,7 +438,19 @@ CHROOT
 }
 
 prepare_chroot_env() {
-        LANG="${CUSTOM_LANG:-es_ES.UTF-8}"
+        CUSTOM_LANG="${CUSTOM_LANG:-es}"
+        case "${CUSTOM_LANG}" in
+                es)
+                        export LANG="es_ES.UTF-8"
+                        export MYLOCALE="${LANG} UTF-8"
+                        ;;
+                en)
+                        export LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
+                        ;;
+                *)
+                        echo "ERROR: CUSTOM_LANG not supported. Available: es"
+                        exit 1
+        esac
         # version of debian the bootstrap is going to build
         #   if no VERSION_CODENAME is specified we assume that the bootstrap is going to
         #   be build with the same version of debian being executed because some files
@@ -430,6 +474,7 @@ prepare_chroot_env() {
         prepare_app
 }
 
+
 # thanks https://willhaley.com/blog/custom-debian-live-environment/
 install_requirements() {
         # Install requirements