Re: Gnome 3.21: how to define compose key?
On Tue, 13 Sep 2016 19:46:03 -0400
Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net> wrote:
> On 09/13/2016 04:40 PM, David Wright wrote:
> > On Tue 13 Sep 2016 at 15:12:17 (-0400), Doug wrote:
> >> On 09/13/2016 01:07 AM, davidson@freevolt.org wrote:
> >>> On Mon, 12 Sep 2016, Doug wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On 09/11/2016 11:47 PM, davidson@freevolt.org wrote:
> >>>>> On Mon, 12 Sep 2016, davidson@freevolt.org wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> And if I wanted that behavior all the time, I would edit the file
> >>>>>> /etc/default/keyboard, adding compose:rwin to the comma-separated list
> >>>>>> of pairs in XKBOPTIONS.
> >>>>> Of course, editing that file will change the default system-wide, for
> >>>>> everybody. Even, erm, Mark! (...if running Ubuntu.)
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Maybe that is not what you want.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> It looks like your code sets up the right Win key to be Compose,
> >>>> I don't know why it would bother anyone using the machine. It
> >>>> wouldn't stay that way
> >>>> if you rebooted into Windows, and the key does nothing at all
> >>>> (that I know of) in Linux.
> >>> I see your point. That particular change is not going to surprise
> >>> anyone. It won't turn an expected character key into an unexpected
> >>> dead key, and then keep some other user from entering their password,
> >>> quotation marks, etc.
> >>>
> >>> In other words, no fun at all.
> >>>
> >>>> As it happens, I have an old IBM model M keyboard with no
> >>>> Windows keys, so I use the right alt key. Also, PCLOS has an
> >>>> option in the keyboard setup to choose a Compose key. Are you
> >>>> sure that Debian doesn't
> >>>> have that capability built in, somewhere?
> >>> No, I am certainly not certain about that. And I imagine there are
> >>> desktop-environment-specific ways of configuring keyboard default
> >>> preferences like this, and doing so per-user. It will be interesting
> >>> to see if someone who uses the OP's DE suggests one.
> >>>
> >>> In the meantime there is also this:
> >>>
> >>> # dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuation
> >>>
> >>> It asks many questions. One of the questions it eventually asks is
> >>> about your compose key--whether you want one, which key you want it to
> >>> be, etc.
> >>>
> >>> It edits /etc/default/keyboard to conform to your answers. So the same
> >>> caveat about "system-wide changes, hope everyone will be equally
> >>> thrilled" applies. A backup of the file you started with, before you
> >>> made changes, could be convenient to have.
> >>>
> >>>> (I happen to be a big fan of Compose, because even if you don't
> >>>> write a European language,
> >>> Aha, a Brexit joke. Good one.
> >>>
> >>>> it does other useful things—like that m-dash I just wrote.
> >>> Mastery of sarcasm: Check.
> >>>
> >>>> And ½, ⅓, ⅜, ©, 75°, µF, 17¢, and others.)
> >>> I see recognisable glyphs for five out of seven of those. My
> >>> environment does not support the other two.
> >>>
> >>> So I know what they are not, but I don't know what they are. Very
> >>> mysterious. Could be IPA symbols. Could be a happy face next to a
> >>> clover/club symbol. I may never know.
> >> Don't know what you are not seeing. Here's what I wrote—and what I do see—
> >>
> >> one-half, one-third, three-eighths, copyright symbol, degree sign
> >> after 75, Greek letter mu meaning micro before F (for Farads), cent
> >> sign after17.
> > Oh good, someone who uses these! Can you help me with how you use the
> > last of these characters:
> >
> > ⅓ ⅔ ⅕ ⅖ ⅗ ⅘ ⅙ ⅚ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ ⅟
> >
> > It doesn't say it's a combining character and I can't find any
> > denominators anyway to go with it.
> >
> > (For those people using fonts having qualities other than a wide
> > repertoire, they're the thirds, fifths, sixths and eighths followed
> > by a solitary 1/ numerator.)
> >
> > Cheers,
> > David.
> >
> >
> Dave, I'm not sure, but I don't think you can write a number greater than 8
> in this system. I just tried to create one-ninth, but was unsuccessful.
> Perhaps someone smarter than me has an answer.
>
> BTW, there is at least one free Windows app that will give you just
> about the
> same system--it's called (surprise!) WinCompose. Google it if you use
> Windows.
> I only use Windows for some audio things that Linux kinda bombs on.
>
> --doug
>
I've been using the right menu key (between R-ALT and R-CTRL) to compose for some years now
degree (°): <R-MENU> o o
mu (µ): <R-MENU> m u
elipsis (…) <R-MENU> . .
½ ⅓ ¼ ⅕ ⅙ ⅛ <R-MENU> 1 [2 3 4 5 6 8]
copyright (©) <R-MENU o c
trademark (™) <R-MENU> t m
paragraph (¶) <R-MENU> p !
not equal (≠) <R-MENU> / =
circled #24 (㉔) <R-MENU> ( 2 4 )
Spanish letter after 'n' (ñ) <R-MENU> ~ n
superscript 0 (⁰) <R-MENU> ^ 0
U with umlaut(?) (ü) <R-MENU> " u
em dash (—) <R-MENU> - - -
Look in /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose for the definitions. Not all of them work. Some (many?) may require keyboards capable of generating more than ASCII. But there are a lot of common uses (such as European 'diacritics').
These usually require programs that display UTF-8.
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