60% that works for RPi native

[madderoftime]

Been wanting to work on learning Debian and Linux in general but I do not have even 1 board that works directly with the distro. Bought a HHKB P2 and have tried several switch combos and have yet to get a basic layout to function that would allow me to even edit config files. Have some GH60s ordered and been looking at the Poker II but need a little advice on what I should be pursuing here.
Not ruling out that I am totally ignorant of how to customize things with XKB and the like to make any board work (which would be ideal).
Someone have some experience in this area and willing to set me on the right path?
Getting the HHKB P2 working would be great but if need be could sell that and get a different one that would work better. Any advice would be helpful.

[madderoftime]

Finally figured it out. Default layout for the HHKB P2 was GB which thinking now makes sense. Changed the /etc/default/keyboard to US from GB and then no variant (was extd) then removed the lvl3 options and made the win keys control keys with altwin:ctrl_win.

switches on the board 011000

XKBMODEL="hhk"
XKBLAYOUT="us"
XKBVARIANT=""
XKBOPTIONS="altwin:ctrl_win"

All keys work exactly as printed (except for my change to the win keys) and no issues.