Re: [PLUG] Entering extended characters in Linux

[Matthew Rosewarne <mrosewarne@inoutbox.com>]

<< This message was originally sent Saturday, but it seems it didn't make it.  
I'm sending it again without the attachment, which you can instead get at
http://mrk.homelinux.net/Compose.html.gz >>


On Saturday 24 November 2007, kamiza103@yahoo.co.jp wrote:
> I'm sure that is a lot more typing than you would need.  Actually, I'd like
> to be able to enter simple characters like the British pound sign and the
> accented "e" in Pokemon.  heh

An IME like SCIM (although quite good) is probably not what Art is looking 
for.  That's mainly for entering CJK characters with a latin or kana 
keyboard, whereas I believe Art wants to simply be able to type accented 
characters and such.  That's best done either with compose and/or level3 
shift.  You can also use those alongside an IME, so you can spend your  on 
PokÃmon merchandise.


For setting the Compose key, it's probably a better idea to let XKB handle it 
instead of xmodmap, since it has predefined rules to make it behave properly.  
To set the compose key to the left Windows key, you add this line to the 
keyboard section of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
        Option          "XkbOptions"    "compose:lwin"

OR, you can put a script in ~/.xsession.d/ to set the option with
	setxkbmap -option compose:lwin

OR, if you use KDE, you can have KDE set it for you on startup by opening the 
Control Centre, going to "Regional & Accessibility" -> "Keyboard Layout".  
The compose (and many other) options are in the "Xkb options" tab.


A while back, I had enough difficulty figuring out what the various Compose 
sequences were, so I took the Compose mapping file and manually created an 
HTML page from it.  It's not finished, and it uses some hardcoded fonts, but 
it is somewhat helpful.  I'll pass it along, since I haven't seen anything 
like it elsewhere.


%!PS: What's the connection between SCIM and UIM, anyway?  Are they 
both "all-encompassing" IME's?  Is it merely yet another C vs. C++ foodfight?  
Why the hell does an IME need an embedded Scheme interpreter...?

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