diff --git a/makedist.inc.sh b/makedist.inc.sh
index 3b4356e..795d928 100644
--- a/makedist.inc.sh
+++ b/makedist.inc.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,39 @@ create_fstab "$ROOTDEV" "$ROOTFS"
 
 install_rpms "filesystem gzip texinfo ldconfig bash libreadline glibc libncurses initscripts setup coreutils chkconfig libattr libstdc++6" "--nodeps --noorder --noscripts"
 
+[ "$LANGUAGE" ] && {
+
+   [ "$LANGUAGE" = "en" ] && KEYMAP=us || KEYMAP="$LANGUAGE"
+
+   # configure localization
+   cat > $MOUNTDIR/etc/vconsole.conf << _EOF
+KEYMAP=$KEYMAP
+FONT=lat9w-16
+FONT_MAP=8859-1_to_uni
+FONT_UNIMAP=
+_EOF
+
+   # legacy
+   cat > $MOUNTDIR/etc/sysconfig/keyboard << _EOF
+KEYMAP=$KEYMAP.map
+XKB_LAYOUT=$KEYMAP
+XKB_MODEL=pc105
+XKB_OPTIONS=
+_EOF
+
+   [ "$COUNTRY" ] && {
+      cat > $MOUNTDIR/etc/locale.conf << _EOF
+LANG=${LANGUAGE}_${COUNTRY}.UTF-8
+LC_COLLATE=C
+_EOF
+      # legacy
+      cat > $MOUNTDIR/etc/sysconfig/i18n << _EOF
+LANG=${LANGUAGE}_${COUNTRY}.UTF-8
+_EOF
+   }
+
+}
+
 # Workaround: avoid a circular dependency with bash
 INSTALLED="texinfo"
 
@@ -78,26 +111,6 @@ fi
 #   erase_rpm_database
 clean_rpm_database
 
-[ "$LANGUAGE" ] && {
-
-   [ "$LANGUAGE" = "en" ] && KEYMAP=us || KEYMAP="$LANGUAGE"
-
-   # configure localization
-   cat > $MOUNTDIR/etc/sysconfig/keyboard << _EOF
-KEYMAP=$KEYMAP.map
-XKB_LAYOUT=$KEYMAP
-XKB_MODEL=pc105
-XKB_OPTIONS=
-_EOF
-
-   [ "$COUNTRY" ] && {
-      cat > $MOUNTDIR/etc/sysconfig/i18n << _EOF
-LANG=${LANGUAGE}_${COUNTRY}.UTF-8
-_EOF
-   }
-
-}
-
 echo "Deleting unneeded files..."
 # delete unused localizations
 #