Greek Polytonic Keyboard Layout

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Aristophanes
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Iscritto: 10/05/2017

I'm running Trisquel 8. I added the "Greek Greek (polytonic)" keyboard layout, by going to "Keyboard Preferences" > "Layouts" > "Add".

My issue is that I cannot access all the possible diacritics. For example, the ] key in an English (UK) keyboard has the following description in the Greek Polytonic keyboard, as shown in the screenshot: VoidSy dead_iota. What does this mean?

In macOS, under its Greek Polytonic keyboard, that particular key had a certain accent, which would appear upon clicking it.

I had a look online, and some solutions that I could find about getting the Greek Polytonic keyboard to work were these:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/946569/polytonic-greek-diacritics-kubuntu-16-04

https://askubuntu.com/questions/197095/how-to-add-greek-polytonic-with-setxkbmap

Could they be of any use?

AllegatoDimensione
Screenshot.png50.75 KB
calher

I am a member!

Offline
Iscritto: 06/19/2015

It's a dead key, right?  So just press that key like normal, and then
the letter it's supposed to modify.  Pressing the dead key will not
print anything to the screen.

For example, on the UK QWERTY layout with dead keys, you press the `
key and nothing shows up, but when you press e directly after, you get
è.  Surely the Greek layout is similar.

I don't use the input method switcher in that preferences pane.  It
only lets me select four input methods, and I always have at least 5.

Because of this, I use IBus directly, and have the IBus input switcher
in my panel.

I have 18 right now.  IBus doesn't seem to have the layout you were
talking about.

1. Arabic
2. Chinese
3. UK Dvorak
4. UK QWERTY
5. Esperanto
6. German
7. Greek, Modern (the only other option is "Greek, Ancient".  I don't
see "Polytonic" anywhere.)
8. Hebrew
9. Phoenician
10. Hindi (inscript)
11. Japanese
12. International Phonetic Alphabet
13. Math (LaTeX)
14. Input raw Unicode number
15. Emoji
16. Russian
17. Spanish
18. Yiddish (YIVO)

IBus input methods are fairly easy to make.  I made #9 Phoenician for
writing paleo-Hebrew text, and it works very well.  It corresponds to
the Israeli keyboard layout.

http://www.studymongolian.net/technical/how-to-create-linux-input-metho
d-editor/

(I use Phoenician letters as a workaround, because my SMS service JMP's
carrier blocks all messages containing Hebrew letters.  Luckily, my
Hebrew-speaking friends can read the ancient Hebrew script.)

Aristophanes
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Iscritto: 10/05/2017

"Surely the Greek layout is similar."

It works as you say for some keys, but not for others. Plus, all the possible combinations of diacritics do not seem to be available, as they are in macOS by default.

"Because of this, I use IBus directly, and have the IBus input switcher
in my panel."

What is IBus, exactly? In "Language Support", it's described as the "Keyboard input method system", along with XIM; what does that mean?

"IBus doesn't seem to have the layout you were
talking about."

How can I check?

"7. Greek, Modern (the only other option is "Greek, Ancient". I don't
see "Polytonic" anywhere.)"

I found the "Polytonic" option, as I mentioned in my original post, in "Keyboard Preferences" > "Layouts" > "Add".

calher

I am a member!

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Iscritto: 06/19/2015

On Fri, 2018-08-03 at 19:38 +0200, name at domain
wrote:
> "Surely the Greek layout is similar."
>
> It works as you say for some keys, but not for others. Plus, all the
> possible  
> combinations of diacritics do not seem to be available, as they are
> in macOS  
> by default.

I see.  Could you fully describe the expected behaviour?

> What is IBus, exactly? In "Language Support", it's described as the
> "Keyboard  
> input method system", along with XIM; what does that mean?

It's an advanced input method system originally designed for Chinese,
and can input all sorts of crazy scripts given any arbitrary
keystrokes.  I think someone has even made a keyboard layout for
ancient Egyptian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Input_Bus

> "IBus doesn't seem to have the layout you were
> talking about."
>
> How can I check?

- Alt+F2
- Type "ibus-setup"
- Run
- Input Method
- Add
- More...
- Greek, Ancient
- misuochi
- Add

You may be able to find an input method online that matches what you
want.  

This guy seems to know what he's doing, and uses X11 instead of IBus,
but it's an old article, and it doesn't work on GNOME and other
desktops that have stopped using X.

https://frame-poythress.org/keyboard-entry-of-polytonic-greek-and-bibli
cal-hebrew-in-gnulinux-2014/

If it doesn't exist anywhere, you can give me a description of the
desired input and output, and I can make a layout for you.

> "7. Greek, Modern (the only other option is "Greek, Ancient".  I
> don't
> see "Polytonic" anywhere.)"
>
> I found the "Polytonic" option, as I mentioned in my original post,
> in  
> "Keyboard Preferences" > "Layouts" > "Add".

Yeah, I saw it there, but not in IBus.  Very strange, since GNOME and
other modern desktops are using IBus in the background now.

Aristophanes
Offline
Iscritto: 10/05/2017

"I see. Could you fully describe the expected behaviour?"

I attached a screenshot of the keyboard layout of Greek Polytonic in macOS. You'll see, by comparing it with the one in Trisquel (see the OP), that there are diacritics and combinations thereof that are missing. Also, what you see in the macOS screenshot is not everything; there are further symbols that I can access by, for example, pressing Alt + a certain key.

"- Alt+F2..."

So, I followed your instructions, but the only option I find is "Greek, Modern (1453-)".

Screenshot.png
loldier
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Iscritto: 02/17/2016

I can't tell if I'm in the ballpark but judge for yourself.

$ sudo apt install fonts-sil-galatia

Install package 'fonts-sil-galatia' and try again.

This is what I get after installation (Onboard on-screen keyboard).

synaptic_polytonic.png onboard.png
Aristophanes
Offline
Iscritto: 10/05/2017

I installed it. How do I access it?

loldier
Offline
Iscritto: 02/17/2016

Select layout and launch Onboard virtual keyboard.

Aristophanes
Offline
Iscritto: 10/05/2017

Could you please post a screenshot of the relevant setting?

loldier
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Iscritto: 02/17/2016

Control Center --> Keyboard --> Layout --> Add --> Greece (polytonic)

Trisquel Menu --> Accessories --> Onboard

Please note that I have no idea if this layout is the one you are after. It's possible that it just doesn't work the way it works in MacOS.

polytonic.png onboard.png layout.png
Aristophanes
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Iscritto: 10/05/2017

Thanks! I don't see how this way is any different from the built-in polytonic keyboard. Are you sure that the "fonts-sil-galatia" package is enabled?

loldier
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Iscritto: 02/17/2016

I'm not sure of anything because I don't know what this fuss about polytonic is. Synaptic package manager claims it's installed.

Possibly, this particular font must be activated and used every time in the word processor of your choice. Tell the software to use the polytonic font.

https://frame-poythress.org/keyboard-entry-of-polytonic-greek-and-biblical-hebrew-in-gnulinux-2014/

Here's the Mac keyboard viewer and polytonic. They seem to have differing diacritics.

greek_polytonic_mac.png
nadebula.1984
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Iscritto: 05/01/2018

Since Trisquel is based on Ubuntu, the workarounds found on "askubuntu" should work.