Foreign languages
Various solutions exist for writing in foreign languages. The majority of these
involve utilizing a combination of AltGr
with another key. These
methods are compatible with the ADM42 keyboard using the right Alt
key.
However, as explained below, the ADM42 offers a conveniently positioned
Compose
key that could better fulfill that objective.
Composition
A Compose
key, sometimes reffered as multi key, is a key on a computer keyboard that
indicates that the following (usually 2 or more) keystrokes trigger the
insertion of an alternate character.
Example of compositions (keys have to be typed sequentially):
Compose
'
e
→ éCompose
`
a
→ àCompose
?
?
→ ¿Compose
~
n
→ ñCompose
<
=
→ ≤Compose
O
c
→ ©Compose
<
<
→ «Compose
:
)
→ ☺
To use this mechanism, a specific software has to be installed and the compose key,
technically F19
on the ADM42, has to be declared as such.
- Windows: Use Wincompose
- macOS: Use macos-compose
- Linux: See below
The compose mechanism is configurable and custom sequences can be defined.
Linux
Simply map F19
as the compose key using a keyboard configuration tool or by
adding the commands below to your startup script.
export GTK_IM_MODULE="ibus"
export QT_IM_MODULE="ibus"
export XMODIFIERS="@im=ibus"
xmodmap -e "keycode 197 = Multi_key"