Keyboard Layout US variant altgr-intl

[mcc]

Hi,

this may be interesting for all of us, who need as well accented characters, Umlauts, as need a keyboard layout which supports
programming well.

This works on keyboards with US-ANSI layout and the description is for LINUX boxes. But I am shure, that similiar things are
possible with any other OS (If someone knows the trick for windows: At work I have to use Windows and would like to know
the trick....

Here is a description:
https://zuttobenkyou.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/xorg-using-the-us-international-altgr-intl-variant-keyboard-layout/

Here is a picture of the layout:
http://dry.sailingissues.com/keyboard-US-International2.png

HTH!

Best regards,
mcc

[IvanIvanovich]

If you have access to the region and language control panel in Windows you can choose keyboard and language, change keyboards, add, choose US International.

[mcc]

Hi lysol,

THANK YOU!

Have a nice evening!
mcc

[sordna]

I've been using this layout for a while now on my linux boxes. I like it because it allows accessing the 3rd level (AltGr / ISO_Level3_Shift) and doesn't have dead keys. Apart from symbols like © and € I use the 3rd level to also map a numpad into my KBC Poker, which I access by holding Caps Lock down. I also have mouskeys turned on, so I can have the Poker in my lap and type / move the pointer / do clicks all from a single device.

[hemflit]

So, um... wait... why does it support stuff that exists only in Icelandic but doesn't support, like, Portuguese letters?

Useful if you need to combine programming with some typing in one of the very few languages that it supports - and even then you have to teach yourself anew where your letters live now. (Quick, where's Å?)

Yes, the **** that passes for "US-Intl" layouts in the Linux world is all Microsoft-inspired and useless to programmers, and it's near-useless for typing plain English text too. They could just copy Apple's approach to structuring US-Intl: basic and shifted keypresses function 100% identical to plain US layout; alt-presses and alt-shift-presses give you a million accents as dead keys, plus a million letters and symbols that aren't part of the plain US. Way more general solution than this.

If you want to remake that thing for yourself on Windows (and you have an hour to spare) just download Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. I'll never understand why that program isn't super-famous.


Edit: ha, okay, I see I spilled some vitriol a little rashly - it's actually possible to type Portuguese on that, like... Alt+Shift+6,E gives you Ê. Hmm. Nope, not handy.

[sordna]

It's a US layout variant, with support with *some* accented characters so you can type simple things like café, euro signs etc. If you want to type in another language altogether, that's what language switching is for. I agree US-intl is not incredibly useful, but good enough for my needs. I especially like the fact that on linux it opens up a 3rd layer of characters that you can remap as you like.

As for a more general solution, I emulate the compose key in addition to us-altgr-intl, so I can hit altgr+shift, then a double quote, then a letter, and get things like ä which is more intuitive than us-intl.

I set things up somewhat like this, and then xmodmap the 3rd layer to my liking:
setxkbmap 'us(altgr-intl)' -option lv3:ralt_switch_multikey

[mcc]

(sorry for the late reply...there was no mail, that new posting had arrived...)

Is it possible, that there variants out there, defining different key combos
for the same purpose?
I must confess that currently I have no full knowledge about us,altgr-intl...

For example "ä" ist "R_ALT + q" here...

Where can I find a *full* description of *all* features of altgr-intl ?

I want to use CAPS-LOCK for something more usefule tHAN sCREWING uP mY pOSTINGS...

I mapped it to COMPOSE in xorg.conf ... but it does nothing than printing its existence
when using xev.

If I have a IBM Model M keyboard I want to have a relly nice configuration for it ! )

Best regards and have a nice sunday!
mcc

[mich]

This layout is defined in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us. If there is any place in the universe where you can find its full and up-to-date description, it's this file.

It's weird that compose doesn't work for you. I use 'compose:caps' option and it works: üêą± (caps " u; caps ^ e; caps , a; caps + -).

[bpiphany]

I actually like the "dead" accents for typing accented characters, although we don't use them a lot in Swedish. I don't do a lot of programming where the ´ and ` is needed so I don't mind having to produce them by following up with a space, or more often a second hit at the same character (this works on Ubuntu at least). I never use ~ or ^ as accents though, so I usually set them as "non-dead".

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I've been using the United Kingdom International layout from John Sullivan for a couple of years now.

However, he refuses to answer any mail, and the layout has some obvious deficiences such as the lack of em and en dash and horizontal ellipsis. After years of luxuriating in Apple's superior symbol entry, even this layout isn't adequate, so I've used AutoHotkey to provide the missing characters, and the UTF8 fork means that I can type absolutely anything I like now, so long as the current program supports font substitution, for example → (ctrl-alt-N -- also altgr-N but that just made my keyboard go all funky ... wtf). The one thing I can say, he went with ‘ “ on [ and ’ ” on ] (which makes sense), while Apple decided to use [ for ‘ ’ and ] for “ ”, which was completely nuts (rotated 90°) and I still get confused about this.

Hm, this binding works with alt gr but makes ctrl stick:

^!N::SendInput {U+2192} ;       ctrl+alt+N = right arrow

I never use alt gr, I find it easier to use left ctrl + left alt.

[xwhatsit]

I use the Compose key, which is apparently originally a DEC thing, but got used on Sun et al.

Anyway, I map my right Ctrl to Compose (from my ~/.Xmodmap: `keycode 105 = Multi_key').

It's, er, a bit modal compared to the AltGr method. Maybe why I prefer it.

So to type ü, you type (in sequence, don't hold anything down) Compose->"->u. For å, type Compose->o->a. For ° (the degree symbol), type Compose->o->o. Copyright © is Compose->o->c.

I find it a bit easier to do the occasional non-ASCII symbol, it's still pretty fast, you don't have to remember where a whole bunch of extra symbols (that you don't know the names of!) and you get to do all kinds of other cool characters in addition to plain accented European characters.

Some more:

Æ: Compose A E
æ: Compose a e
¥: Compose y =
€: Compose E =
™: Compose t m
ß: Compose s s
§: Compose s o
÷: Compose - :
½: Compose 1 2
¾: Compose 3 4
… (ellipsis): Compose . .
– (en dash): Compose - - .
— (em dash): Compose - - -