34
submitted 6 months ago by LucidBoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Hi all,

I've switched to Linux only recently, and am very sad that I had to abandon WinCompose. For those who don't know, it is a taskbar application which allows you to toggle "compose-mode" with your R-Alt key and then combine multiple keystrokes to create special characters in an intuitive way. For example, Alt -> U -> "-" becomes Ū. Is there an alternative to this for Linux? I'm on Zorin OS 17.1 Core, specifically. To clarify, I'm not looking for a symbol table add-on. I'm looking for something that I can utilise with only my keyboard.

Thanks in advance!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] SpicySquid@lemmy.ml 30 points 6 months ago

You're in luck. As far as i recall wincompose is inspired by Xorg's Compose feature (https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose?tab=readme-ov-file#features). Depending on your installation you can toggle it via some settings, or by running: setxkbmap -option compose:ralt

I always find the book useful for this stuff: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg/Keyboard_configuration#Configuring_compose_key

[-] palordrolap@kbin.social 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Technically, it's inherited from older, non-x86 systems that had a dedicated 'Compose' key on the keyboard. Here's a picture of a Sun Microsystems UK-layout keyboard; take a look at the bottom right of the main section: Link to a wiki hosting the image

(These keyboards also had the Sun (looks like a diamond) key well before Microsoft decided they'd like a Windows key on every keyboard. But then lots of other non-Microsoft computers did that. Apples, Commodores, etc.)

Note that the tiny circle on the key is a light which comes on when the key is engaged and goes off when the composition is complete. The Caps-, Num- and Scroll Lock keys also have built-in lights. For that reason, some people will use Scroll Lock on PC keyboards, especially if the Compose-emulation is able to toggle the Scroll Lock light in the same way.

(Even though I used similar keyboards many, many years ago, I'm not actually sure if the key has the light in it or whether the light is under the key and the circle is merely a window, but that's not really important right now.)

[-] billgamesh@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 months ago

The sun unix keyboard also swaps ctrl and caps lock

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
34 points (94.7% liked)

Linux

47946 readers
1835 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS