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From: Physfitfreak <physfitfreak@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Fun With Dates -- Need Help
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2025 14:03:41 -0600
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On 1/19/25 11:36 AM, Farley Flud wrote:
> On 18 Jan 2025 22:53:38 GMT, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
> 
>>
>> It's completely that. Look at your claims: you say that UTF-8 is
>> important to write correctly mathematical symbols and you are unable to
>> write any French word when you try to impress I don't know who. You are
>> that limited that you can't even copy/paste my first name when you
>> write it. You are the perfect example of the limited American.
>>
> 
> You overlook the fact that the standard computer keyboard, when
> faced with Unicode input, is extremely limited.
> 
> No one, and that includes myself, wants to press multiple keys
> in sequence or in combination just to enter a single character.
> But it's not only pressing the keys.  It's also learning and remembering
> the correct sequence/combination.
> 
> Consider your name.  I can copy/paste:
> 
> Stéphane
> 
> But if I could not copy/paste then I would have to know the
> correct sequence/combination of keys and I can't waste time with
> learning something that I will use only very infrequently.
> 
> The approximation, Stephane, although imperfect, is good enough
> and no one should have any complaints.
> 
> Unicode math symbols are extensive but, AFAIK, there are no
> keyboards that contain even a partial subset of the symbols.
> Instead, a complicated sequence/combination of key presses
> is required for each symbol and such key presses often differ
> with different software.  Entering math symbols is a huge
> mess.
> 
> I have already published on C.O.L.A. my X keyboard modification
> to allow some Unicode math input.
> 
> Just put the following file into /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols
> and then change the keyboard overlay with:
> 
> setxkbmap -layout mth
>   
> Then you can enter the "integral" symbol by pressing Win+J,
> where Win is the otherwise useless "Windows Menu" key on some
> keyboards.
> 
> This layout needs some work and is also DOES NOT WORK ON THAT
> JUNK WAYLAND.
> 
> 
> ============================================================================
> default partial
> 
> xkb_symbols "mdc" {
> 
>   key <TLDE> { [ grave, asciitilde, U22A2, U22A3 ] };
>   key <AE01> { [ 1, exclam, U2081, U21AF ] };
>   key <AE02> { [ 2, at, U2082, U00BD ] };
>   key <AE03> { [ 3, numbersign, U2083, U00A3 ] };
>   key <AE04> { [ 4, dollar, U2084, U20AC ] };
>   key <AE05> { [ 5, percent, U2085, U00B7 ] };
>   key <AE06> { [ 6, asciicircum, U2086, U221A ] };
>   key <AE07> { [ 7, ampersand, U2087, U2232 ] };
>   key <AE08> { [ 8, asterisk, U2088, U221E ] };
>   key <AE09> { [ 9, parenleft, U2089, U207B ] };
>   key <AE10> { [ 0, parenright, U2080, U2205 ] };
>   key <AE11> { [ minus, underscore, U2013, U2014 ] };
>   key <AE12> { [ equal, plus, U2260, U2248 ] };
> 
>   key <AD01> { [ q, Q, U2203, U2200 ] };
>   key <AD02> { [ w, W, U03C9, U03A9 ] };
>   key <AD03> { [ e, E, U03B5, U2261 ] };
>   key <AD04> { [ r, R, U03C1, U211D ] };
>   key <AD05> { [ t, T, U03C4, U00DE ] };
>   key <AD06> { [ y, Y, U2190, U21D0 ] };
>   key <AD07> { [ u, U, U2194, U21D4 ] };
>   key <AD08> { [ i, I, U2192, U21D2 ] };
>   key <AD09> { [ o, O, U03B3, U0393 ] };
>   key <AD10> { [ p, P, U03C0, U03A0 ] };
>   key <AD11> { [ bracketleft, braceleft, U27E8, dead_ogonek ] };
>   key <AD12> { [ bracketright, braceright, U27E9, dead_macron ] };
>   key <BKSL> { [ backslash, U007C, dead_circumflex, dead_caron ] };
> 
>   key <AC01> { [ a, A, U03B1, U2933 ] };
>   key <AC02> { [ s, S, U03C3, U03A3 ] };
>   key <AC03> { [ d, D, U03B4, U211A ] };
>   key <AC04> { [ f, F, U03C6, U21A6 ] };
>   key <AC05> { [ g, G, U2202, U2207 ] };
>   key <AC06> { [ h, H, U03B8, U2243 ] };
>   key <AC07> { [ j, J, U222B, U0131 ] };
>   key <AC08> { [ k, K, U03BA, U03BE ] };
>   key <AC09> { [ l, L, U03BB,  U2113 ] };
>   key <AC10> { [ semicolon, colon, dead_diaeresis, dead_tilde ] };
>   key <AC11> { [ apostrophe, quotedbl, dead_acute, dead_grave ] };
> 
>   key <AB01> { [ z, Z, U2227, U2228 ] };
>   key <AB02> { [ x, X, U2229, U222A ] };
>   key <AB03> { [ c, C, U2208, U2209 ] };
>   key <AB04> { [ v, V, U2282, U2284 ] };
>   key <AB05> { [ b, B, U03B2, U03A8 ] };
>   key <AB06> { [ n, N, U00AC, U2115 ] };
>   key <AB07> { [ m, M, U03BC, U03B7 ] };
>   key <AB08> { [ comma, less, U2234, U2264 ] };
>   key <AB09> { [ period, greater, U25A1, U2265 ] };
>   key <AB10> { [ slash, question, U2124, U221D ] };
> 
>   include "level3(win_switch)"
> 
> };
> =========================================================
> 
> 
> 


If one is serious about it (and I was), one can create one's own 
characters in any language and use them with any keyboard pattern 
convenient to him. I did that with Commodore 64 for Persian! I printed 
out letters to my family in Iran using such characters that they had not 
seen in their lifetime back then. Very eloquently shaped and clear to 
read characters. I even made a key on keyboard to create my own name in 
handwriting style, what my family were familiar with in my handwritten 
letters :) They'd look at it under the magnifying glass and wonder what 
could produce that handwriting so accurately, using the dots and pixels 
that a funky printer had at its disposal.

I have a few copies of those letters somewhere, and once in a great 
while I come across them and wonder, myself, how nice the characters 
were :)