Thank you all for the varied suggestions on a Latin-American keyboard layout for APL! I have forwarded a link to this thread to the person who asked me, as they are not on the mailing list AFAIK. Hopefully one of these approaches will suit them.
Mr. Diesenbacher-Reinmüller: Nice post on using .XCompose, thank you! I might try that. I currently use my CapsLock as a hold-modifier (and Alt+Capslock for actual Capslock, since I don't use it much otherwise), but a compose layout as you detail sounds like a nice alternative. similar to what Dyalog does I think with the ` key. On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 7:21 AM Otto Diesenbacher-Reinmüller < ok...@diesenbacher.net> wrote: > Hi APLer, > > let me propose another approach - don't fiddle with keyboard layouts > anymore to get APL-symbols. I think this is a bite reflex from the > past - APL symbols → I need a specific keyboard layout. > > Most operating systems offer compose keys, and they are much easier to > configure, and independent of keyboard layouts. > > For example X-Window: just put a proper .XCompose file into your home > directory, restart you application and you are done. You don't even > need to restart XWindow. > > MacOS: ~/Library//KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict is similar. > > I chose "." as my compose key, so hitting ".:" results in ≡. ".a" is > ⍺, etc. I don't have to think about keyboard layouts. Hitting '.e' is > '∊', no matter which layout, Dvorak, Qwerty, etc. > > For more information and my sample .Xcompose and > DefaultKeyBinding.dict see my blog-post at > https://diesenbacher.net/blog/entries/apl-symbols.html > > Regards, > > – *okflo* > > * From*: Peter Teeson <%22peter+teeson%22+%3cptee...@me.com%3E> > * Subject*: Re: Latin-American APL keyboard layout? > * To*: Russtopia <%22russtopia%22+%3crma...@gmail.com%3E> > * Cc*: bug-apl <%22bug-apl%22+%3cbug-...@gnu.org%3E> > * Date*: Wed, 12 Oct 2022 18:40:08 +0200 > There is this marvellous utility that I have used. It might be helpful. > https://software.sil.org/ukelele/ > > If the user is on an Apple Mac then this extract from the Installation > Guide may be helpful. > > Keyboard Setup > > To make the keyboard work correctly with the APL interpreter we need two > things - a correct APL font and a mapping of the keyboard key codes. > Fortunately these are both available. The fonts I used are from > http://dyalog.com/apl-font-keyboard.htm. Here is a quote from that page: > > This page contains resources that are believed to be of general > interest to the APL community. The fonts are freely available, > to everyone irrespective of whether you use Dyalog > (or any other APL system for that matter). > > Indeed they are and we applaud Dyalog for making them available. > [image: page10image12567488] > > (1) Installing the APL Fonts. Download the APL385 font, and also APL333 if > you want a proportional version. You can save them in your usual download > place and manually install them. Alterately when prompted select the > default Open with Font Book. Installing it in /Library/Fonts/ will make > it available to all Accounts on this computer. In my case I placed it in my > user account at ~/Library/Fonts/ instead. That was easy. > > (2) A keyboard layout. There is one available on the same web page but it > is for UK Dyalog users. For GNU APL there is a recommended one provided in > the distribution which fully matches that displayed with the ]keyb command. > You can find it in the support-files folder in the OS-X-keyboard folder. It > is the MacAplAlt.keylayout file. > > You install it by copying it to /Library/Keyboard Layouts which makes it > available for all users or ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts for just that user. > > (3) Terminal Settings Terminal Help gives instructions for these. However > you might not want to use the defauts.. My personal preference is to make a > new Profile from the Preferences Profiles menu by selecting New Window and > then choosing MacAplAlt. Set the Font attributes using the Text tab in > the Profiles window. > > (4) Using Terminal with APL Start a Terminal window and, from the Input > Source (a.k.a. Language) menu, top right on the Menu Bar, select MacAplAlt. > Also select Show Keyboard Viewer from the same menu. Now you can see the > key mappings; press the alt key and voila your familiar APL symbols. Try > Shift+Alt to get the rest. Type apl in the terminal window and enjoy. > > respect…. > Peter > > On Oct 12, 2022, at 9:14 AM, Dr. Jürgen Sauermann < > m...@xn--jrgen-sauermann-zvb.de> wrote: > > Hi Russ, > > I am no expert in foreign keyboard layouts, and in particular not in > Latin-American ones. > However, I found the following program in Linux Mint (and supposedly also > in Ubuntu and > other GNU/Linux distributions) useful: > > *gkbd-keyboard-display -l <layout>* > > where <layout> is probably one of those in */usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/** > > Also have a look here: > > *https://kbdlayout.info/KBDLA/** > * > As a programmer I very much dislike country-specific keyboard layouts. In > the 1990s, > my Swedish employer wanted me to translate a technical document from > English > to German on a PC with a Swedish keyboard. Almost drove me crazy. > > I would also propose that the APL characters should be the same on all > keyboards. > > Best Regards, > Jürgen > > > On 10/12/22 6:35 AM, Russtopia wrote: > > Hello, > > I was asked today by someone from Chile about APL layouts for > Latin-American keyboards. > > It seems the ; : + * " / symbols are placed differently, which would make > for problematic mapping wrt. the US layout. Has anyone come up with a good > 'standard' layout for this region? (Interestingly there appears to be an > 'each' ¨ already there, right of the 'P' key, as shift-comma). > > Dyalog's keyboard pages do not seem to address such a layout. > > See an example layout here: > https://howtoperu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/how-to-ty...@-latin-american-keyboard.png > < > https://howtoperu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/how-to-ty...@-latin-american-keyboard.png > > > > -Russ > > > > >
