[Ubuntu-PH] The Peso Sign for Ubuntu

[Rage Callao]

On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 12:06 PM, JC John Sese
Cuneta<jcjohn at laibcoms.asia> wrote:
> Good Morning!
>
>     I just want to propose to the group that we file a proposal to change
> the Dollar Sign that is currently included as default for "en-PH" of Ubuntu,
> with the Peso sign which have been available since Unicode v3.2.
>
>     There are two ways we can go with this.
>
>     Option #1:
>     Shift+4 will be replaced with the real ₱ sign.
>     Add CTRL+Shift+4 which will represent the $ sign.
>
>     Option #2:
>     Shift+4 will stay as-is, the $ sign.
>     Add CTRL+Shift+4 as the real ₱ sign.
>
>     Areas for changes:
>     1) Keyboard Preferences
>           Options #1 and #2 above requires the creation of a new Keyboard
> layout for the Philippines.
>     2) Regional Settings - note: Gnome doesn't offer an interface for
> Regional Settings (KDE wins here :p )
>           Change the currency to ₱ sign.
>           => /usr/share/i18n/locales then look for en_PH
>           => scroll down to LC_MONETARY
>                    you'll see the ff:
>                             int_curr_symbol
> "<U0050><U0048><U0050><U0020>"   (my note: it translates to "PHP "
> [PHPspace])
>                             currency_symbol       "<U0050><U0068><U0070>"
> (my note: it translates to "Php")
>
>                    The int_curr_symbol stays as-is.
>                    The currency_symbol can be changed to "<U20B1>"  which
> will translate to "₱".
>                    So now we have:
>                             int_curr_symbol
> "<U0050><U0048><U0050><U0020>"
>                             currency_symbol       "<U20B1>"
>
>     The #1 question: Font support.
>           If you are seeing the real Peso sign above, then your system have
> the appropriate fonts.  You can also test here:
> http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/20b1/browsertest.htm
>
>           Here are the fonts with support for the Peso sign:
> http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/20b1/fontsupport.htm
>           Once you open that page, click also on the link: Local Font List
>
>           More likely than not, you will be surprised that all your local
> Linux fonts have a Peso sign support.  That is actually (if I am not
> mistaken) a feature of Linux - the system searches each font before it tells
> you that it doesn't have that glyph.
>
>           Point here, under Linux, the fonts with the real Peso sign
> included are installed by default on Linux or at least in Ubuntu (since I
> haven't tested other distros), so we don't really have a font support
> problem re: Peso sign.  ^_^
>
>         (special note:  I tested this against Windows .  I copied a Linux
> font that's compatible with Windows, booted to WinXP, installed the font,
> re-booted XP, then did the test.  The font that was detected to have a
> "Peso" sign "glyph" wasn't detected to have one under Windows.  And if I
> open the font under Fontforge, it's the same, no Peso sign.  So I come to
> the conclusion that it is a Linux feature to use another font's glyph to
> render the glyph that is missing on a particular font.)
>
>
>           Here's more info:
> http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/20b1/index.htm
>
>     Un.  Mabuhay!  Let's not put the Peso sign to waste :p  (selfish plug:
> http://laibcoms.asia/blog/labox/general5/how-to-type-the-peso-sign )

We've been working on this currently on Bayanihan but with still a
long way to go. OpenOffice.org 3.1 in Bayanihan uses the Peso sign by
default but the rest of the system needs some more work. Since
Bayanihan is a KDE-based distro and Debian-based at that, would the
changes you propose work with Bayanihan as well? Also, in KDE, we use
a system-wide font that does not contain a peso symbol however a font
package is included that does. Will the peso sign be available even if
the system font in KDE isn't set to the one that contains the symbol.

I'm looking forward to more fruitful discussions on this topic.

-- 
Rage Callao
Free Software :: empower :: educate :: liberate