Notices

Right from the start I have been missing a character map application for the N900. There is a very useful app scv-reader to modify the on-screan keyboard layout, but redefining the layout every time I wanted to enter a random non-ASCII character was a bit of a drag. I didn't want to modify anything, I just wanted to quickly look up the Unicode for a micro sign or whatnot, and possibly copy it to the clipboard.

So I ended up writing one myself. The source code is, perhaps not surprisingly, heavily based on scv-reader. It has been a bit of a learning exercise for me and a first in many ways. I have been writing software for a living for 20+ years but, unbelievable as it may sound, I did not know anything about GTK programming or how to make Debian packages before starting on this one. So please beware of bugs

The package was written and built entirely on the device. The PC was used only for uploading to Garage and for writing this announce post. Most of the control files (Makefile, Debian rules etc) were written by hand since some of the help tools did not quite work as expected. So, again, watch out for those bugs

FAQ

Q: How does it look?
A: Like this:


Q: What do all those buttons do?
A: There is no manual as such. At least not yet. But it is easy to figure it out. Through the menu, you can select the code page that gets displayed in the main part of the screen. The details of the selected character are displayed on the right, Tapping on the character copies it to the edit box. "Copy" copies the contents of the edit box to the clipboard and "Clear" wipes the edit box. You can also edit the box yourself.

Q: Is there a portrait support?
A: Not yet. Maybe in the next release if there is demand.

Q: Is there a Harmattan/Sailfish/FooBarOS version?
A: Not yet. I am considering a Harmattan build when I get to it but I am not planning anything else in a foreseeable future. The sources are public so feel free to hack away.

Q: Is it in the repositories?
A: It is in extras-devel. The users who do not have extras-devel enabled but would still like to use/test it can download the .deb from here. Just be aware that when installing it manually, you may need to sort out the dependencies manually too. See also posts #2 and #3.

Q: Is there anything else I can help with?
A: Sure. The icon is from the Debian package gucharmap and downloaded from here. It is under GPL so it is my understanding that I can use it as long as I publish my sources and give them the credit but if anyone has a better icon, feel free to offer

Q: Where are the sources?
A: Here.

Q: Anything else?
A: No. Just share and enjoy!

As possibly the only guy on the planet left with a device running a nearly stock PR1.3.1 OS, I had to try this out. Indeed, when attempting to install, I come up with some missing packages:

Yes, there will be some external dependencies. Installing it from extras (when it finally makes its way there) will take care of them automagically. Installing it manually, you will have to take care of them yourself I'm afraid

Perhaps I should note that libgucharmap7 is not the smallest library in the universe - it weighs in at about 3.5 MB - but is unavoidable for a charmap-type application.

Just to clarify, this is for modifying just the on-screen virtual keyboard layouts? It does not touch any of the xkb symbol mappings that the hardware keyboard uses, yes? And does that include the special characters/symbols menu/keyboard brought up when you press the Sym (Fn+Ctrl) key?

Not at all! Sorry about the confusion. This is purely for bringing the character map on the screen and copying characters to the clipboard, without modifying anything. Just like similar applications in Debian, Windows etc.

Even better

And going to install ...

cool!how many characters are there?

Thousands. I haven't counted them

For a second I thought it is a GUI for editing *hardware* keyboard layout automagically, by assigning symbols to all 4 layers of it, and I must say it made me happy, even though like MT, I edited it by hand, long time ago.

Although, character map is not less "cool" by any means! Installing it now, and for sure I'm gona do a xbindkeys bind to bring it up by key combination, from hardware keyboard itself. Awesome work, thank you!

/Estel

Copernicus, you are not alone

For me only libgucharmap was missing.


@pichlo
One question and one request:
What is the sort mode (did not get it)?
And when flipping through the tables the edit box gets filled. I would like to avoid that, so that a symbol is only added on a real touch, not a move.

Awesome.
Thanks.