Another option is to run setxkbmap after X starts (using a ~/.xinitrc file or your favorite desktop environment's autorun feature. 'setxkbmap -option caps:es

Another option is to run setxkbmap after X starts (using a ~/.xinitrc file or your favorite desktop environment's autorun feature. 'setxkbmap -option caps:esc' 'setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps' (my preference) 'setxkbmap -option ctrl:swapcaps' Debian (and derivatives) users can edit the last line in the /etc/default/keyboard file to do this globally.