Native GKOS Character Sets
The
national/native GKOS
character sets should be phonetically mapped to the basic Latin
alphabet layout as much as possible. This makes it easy to switch
between languages
using the typing skill effectively. If the national characters have no
resemblance to the Latin alphabet, a different layout can be used
(Thai,
Chinese...). It is also possible to define word shortcuts.
This figure shows in red color which parts of the GKOS keyboard layout should be modified, if necessary, to obtain a native layout version. Note that in the Tab group, there are 6 characters that can be typed by just one depression of a chord (no shift needed). If possible, the 4-key chords of the Tab group should be used for special symbols. In some native layouts, the characters in the Tab group could be used as shifts to get 6 more sets of letters/characters. In some languages, common words may be more frequent than certain letters (e.g. 'the' versus 'x'). Please see the English layout below as an example of using the native characters as whole common words.
Some native GKOS layout evaluation drafts for several languages can be found here. (under construction)
Here below, you can find more mature versions.
As examples of more radical changes, here are the 'official' Greek, Korean and Russian GKOS layout proposals.
Greek GKOS layout:
The Greek character set has been designed with the common GKOS goal in mind that native versions should be compatible phonetically with each other as much as possible. This way the typing skill obtained can be used effectively when switching between layouts. As letters C and W do not exist in Greek, and B (as in 'best', typed 'μ' followed by 'π') is somewhat rare in Greek, Keys [B] and [C] are used for letters o-micron and ι that are frequent in Greek. Now, o-micron (O/ο) and o-mega (Ω/ω) reside partly in the same Keys (in a logical way); so do also sigma (Σ/σ), word-final sigma (ς) and Z/ζ. Acute accent is very common and it has been assigned the 'light-weight' Combo [W].
Note:
Letters in Modern Greek in an approximate order of frequency: οαιρτσςμνευλπηκγχφδωθβξζψ
Korean GKOS layout:
The Korean alphabet lends itself
pretty well to the GKOS keyboard. The six keys by themselves give the six basic
vowels ah, oe, o, u, eu and ee. By using the G, K, O and S shifts, you
get the iotized vowels, ya, yoe, yo and yu. Typing the standard
diphthongs turns out to be very easy.
The four letters gieuk, dieut, bieup and jieut are assigned to the
shifted positions along with their associated aspirated and
glottalized letters, The remaining letters are assigned to the
remaining key combinations. The null letter ieung (o) sits in a
position that allows for a natural Chordon stroke with the Next
Syllable key.
The placement of the letters in the syllalble block will be taken care of by the PC. There are exactly 29 characters in Hangeul. These along with the Next Syllable keystroke fill all the available key combos. (Many thanks to Robb Bates for drafting this layout!)
Russian GKOS Layout:
The Russian layout is phonetically mapped to the basic Latin set, so you can type e.g. names the same way (using the same combos/chords) as with the latin GKOS layout and a native russian can read it in cyrillic letters and get the idea more or less correctly. In fact, you can immediately type with Russian letters a lot if you are used to the Latin (English/Swedish/Finnish/German...) layout!
Less Radical Changes below
German Layout:
Finnish/Swedish Layout:
French layout:
Spanish layout:
...and as a reference, the English layout:
In case you are a Linux user, you can test many of these layouts right away.
Page updated 9 Feb 2010