Esperanto keyboard layout for *nix

This is a Qwerty-mapped keyboard layout to write Esperanto, without having to worry much about the letters or characters that the script system of the language employs. Esperanto letters are mapped onto letters of the English alphabet that are not, mostly, used in Esperanto.

// Esperanto QWERTY keyboard layout
// Abu Jar M Akkas, 2015

//  +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
//  | `~ | 1! | 2@ | 3# | 4$ | 5% | 6^ | 7& | 8* | 9( | 0) | -_ | =+ | `~ |
//  +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
//      | ŝŜ | ŭŬ | eE | rR | tT | ĵĴ | uU | iI | oO | pP | ĝĜ | ĥĤ |
//      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
//      | aA | sS | dD | fF | gG | hH | jJ | kK | lL | ;: | '" | \| |
//      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
//          | zZ | ĉĈ | cC | vV | bB | nN | mM | ,< | .> | /? |
//          +-------------------------------------------------+

partial default alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "xesper" {
name[Group1]= "Esperanto (Xesper)";

// alphanumeric section

key  { [       grave, asciitilde,    voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };

key  { [           1,      exclam,   dead_tilde, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           2,          at,   dead_acute, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           3,  numbersign,   dead_circumflex, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           4,      dollar,   dead_grave, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           5,     percent,   dead_dieresis, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           6, asciicircum,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           7,   ampersand,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           8,    asterisk,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           9,   parenleft,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           0,  parenright,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [       minus,  underscore,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [       equal,        plus,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };

key  { [ scircumflex, Scircumflex,            q,          Q ] };
key  { [      ubreve,      Ubreve,            w,          W ] };
key  { [           e,           E,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           r,           R,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           t,           T,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [ jcircumflex, Jcircumflex,            y,          Y ] };
key  { [           u,           U,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           i,           I,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           o,           O,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           p,           P,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [ gcircumflex, Gcircumflex,  bracketleft,  braceleft ] };
key  { [ hcircumflex, Hcircumflex, bracketright, braceright ] };

key  { [	   a,           A,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [	   s,           S,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [	   d,           D,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           f,           F,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           g,           G,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           h,           H,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           j,           J,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           k,           K,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           l,           L,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [   semicolon,       colon,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [  apostrophe,    quotedbl,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [   backslash,         bar,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };

key  { [           z,           Z,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [ ccircumflex, Ccircumflex,            x,          X ] };
key  { [           c,           C,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           v,           V,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           b,           B,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           n,           N,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [           m,           M,   voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [       comma,         less,  voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [      period,      greater,  voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key  { [       slash,     question,  voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };

include "level3(ralt_switch)"
};

FreeBSD

The symbol file for the Esperanto language needs to be copied as xepo in the /usr/local/share/X11/xkb/symbols, as on FreeBSD. The code snippet below should be added to the gb file for Great Britain or to the us file for United States.

// xipa addition

xkb_symbols "xespe" {
  include "xepo(xesper)"
  name[Group1]= "English (Xexper)";
};

The keyboard layout needs to be listed in base.lst and evdev.lst files, by adding the following line to both the files.

xespe           epo: Esperanto (Xesper)

The next step is to update both the base.xml and the evdev.xml file with the following snippet inserted between <variantList> and </variantList> in the <name>gb</name> or <name>us</name> section of the <layout>, as is the case.

<variant>
   <configItem>
    <name>xespe</name>
     <description>Esperanto (Xesper)</description>
   </configItem>
</variant>

‘Keyboard layout switching plugin for the Xfce panel’ (xfce4-xkb-plugin-0.8.2_1) or similar applet may be needed to switch between keyboards loaded, four at a time.

Rev.: vii·xi·mmxxii