Making unicode characters on a US keyboard

Liam Proven lproven at gmail.com
Mon Dec 16 19:14:06 UTC 2013


On 16 December 2013 17:51, Johnny Rosenberg <gurus.knugum at gmail.com> wrote:
> I created my own layout by editing the evdev files. That works perfectly but
> it was a bit tricky too. I failed a couple of times before the success…
> Now I edit the layout with a spreadsheet (Apache OpenOffice Calc) and a
> macro creates some of the files for me. I didn't finish all the macros, but
> the most important ones work and I have to do the rest manually… and a
> script helps me to install it. But it works…! I can type arrow symbols with
> my arrow keys, using AltGr (the right Alt key on US keyboards, I think),
> with or without Shift! Almost every key has four different symbols and I
> even removed all the numbers on the first row (having them on the num-pad is
> enough for me) so I can now type things like ”#@%&/()” without the Shift
> key…

:-o

Wow! I'm glad I don't have to borrow /your/ PC! That sounds scarily different.

I make Compose the AltGr key normally. You still have a left Alt key,
and if you hold down AltGr it works as it used to.

I remap CapsLock as the Super key (i.e. the Windows key) - but that is
because I prefer to use old IBM Model M keyboards and they don't have
Super keys. The Super key is very handy in both Unity and Windows 8.x.

> Anyway, if not creating a custom layout, I think the compose key is a good
> choice. One advantage is that the character combinations are somewhat
> logical. Compose o c → ©, for instance. Some characters need thrre character
> combinations:
> - - . → – (n-dash)
> - - - → — (m-dash)

[Nod] I agree.

> I prefer using my Caps Lock key for Compose. It's a very annoying key, but
> thanks to the compose thing, it's suddenly useful again! And no more CAPITAL
> LETTERS BY MISTAKE… :P

Well, yes - remapping it to Super achieves the same goal.

> There is a list of all possible combinations out there. Use your favourite
> internet search engine…

Indeed so - just that.

There are also Compose key apps for Windows, which means you can use
the same combinations there, too:

http://www.accentcomposer.com/

http://download.cnet.com/AllChars/3000-20418_4-10549117.html

https://code.google.com/p/freecompose/




-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884




More information about the ubuntu-users mailing list