Unicode Character key-in problem

[Thomas Vazhappilly <tom@vazhappilly.co.cc>]

Hi..!

I am a migrant from MS
 Windoz to Gnu/Linux. Only one problem where I stuck is, I cannot key in
 some characters in UTF-8 such as "CURRENCY SIGN" as
 in typing MS Windoz. In MSW I can get the character by holding the alt 
key and type 0164 and on release the alt key, I get the  "CURRENCY SIGN" in the editor.

Is there a ditto input method in Debian Gnu/Linux system? Somebody help.

Thanks in advance.

Thomas M. Vazhappilly
Kerala, India