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Old 04-22-2018, 12:55 PM   #1
Garrett85
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Typing French Characters


Linux Mint

So I'm trying to learn French but I'm running into some complications when it comes to finding a good keyboard layout. Here are the layouts that I've tried so far:

English (US)
English (international Alt Gr dead keys)
English (UK, international with dead keys)
English (UK, extended WinKeys)

So far all have fallen short of what I need. I think only one of these listed above will allow me to type in the French c with a tail character ç. Most of the rest allow áéíóú, the problem here is that most of these accents are going the wrong way. Spanish uses these more, they're going from bottom left to top right where as most French accents go from bottom right to top left. Also, some the the keyboard layouts that allow these vowel accents that are going the wrong way will also not always contain the ç character. I'm really not interested in any solution that would force me to copy/past, drag/drop, or select these special character from a menu, I need to be able to type them on the fly. Does anyone know if there's a way to create a custom keyboard layout? Is they something that can be downloaded and installed online? And choosing a French keyboard layout is going way to far as it completely messes up my keys unusably. Thanks.
 
Old 04-22-2018, 01:57 PM   #2
hydrurga
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I use English (UK, extended Winkeys). It allows me to enter any French character I wish.

Grave (`), release and then a letter: àèù
AltGr, hold and then a letter: é
AltGr and 6 together, release and then a letter: âêîôû
AltGr and 2 together,release and then a letter: ëïü
AltGr and c together: ç

Use these along with the Shift key to get capital letters.

Source for descriptions: http://www.igaidhlig.net/en/linux-ubuntu-co/
 
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Old 04-22-2018, 03:15 PM   #3
273
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I use compose keys, similar to mentioned above, so I hold Shift, hit Alt Gr, release both then hit the letter 'c' followed by a comma to get ç.
For the others it's a case of using ` or ' depending on whether I want grave or accute accents. Oh, and ^ for circumflex.
 
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Old 04-22-2018, 07:50 PM   #4
Garrett85
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Thanks to both of you. It's working now.
 
Old 04-22-2018, 07:53 PM   #5
Garrett85
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I know I closed this but what does Gr stand for in Alt Gr? Something right I'm assuming.
 
Old 04-23-2018, 01:06 AM   #6
hydrurga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Garrett85 View Post
I know I closed this but what does Gr stand for in Alt Gr? Something right I'm assuming.
No problem. There's never any closing date for seeking knowledge.

AltGr stands for Alt Graph or Alternate Graphic, due to the key's origins as a means of generating alternative graphics symbols (box-drawing characters) from the keyboard.

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


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