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SILICON SILIC CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher/Editor Nicholas Vinen Technical Editor John Clarke – B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Bao Smith – B.Sc. Tim Blythman – B.E., B.Sc. Advertising Enquiries (02) 9939 3295 adverts<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Allan Linton-Smith Dave Thompson David Maddison – B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Geoff Graham Associate Professor Graham Parslow Dr Hugo Holden – B.H.B, MB.ChB., FRANZCO Ian Batty – M.Ed. Phil Prosser – B.Sc., B.E.(Elec.) Cartoonist Louis Decrevel loueee.com Founding Editor (retired) Leo Simpson – B.Bus., FAICD Silicon Chip is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 626 922 870. ABN 20 880 526 923. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Subscription rates (Australia only) 6 issues (6 months): $70 12 issues (1 year): $130 24 issues (2 years): $245 Online subscription (Worldwide) 6 issues (6 months): $52.50 12 issues (1 year): $100 24 issues (2 years): $190 For overseas rates, see our website or email silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au * recommended & maximum price only Editorial office: Unit 1 (up ramp), 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 194, Matraville, NSW 2036. Phone: (02) 9939 3295. ISSN: 1030-2662 Printing and Distribution: 9 Kendall Street, Granville NSW 2142 2 Silicon Chip Editorial Viewpoint Using WinCompose for typing special symbols In the November 2023 issue, I wrote about my frustration with the difficulty of typing common mathematical and other symbols on computers. For example, Greek letters are frequently used in mathematical formulae, and Unicode contains all of them, but there’s no easy way to type them on most computers. For a while, I was using copy-and-paste from a document I had created with these symbols. That was awkward. So was what I tried next, which was to use Google search to find symbols by name, then copy and paste them. Then, in the May 2024 issue, we published a simple Symbol Keyboard hardware device (siliconchip.au/Article/16250) that could solve this problem. But I thought there still had to be a better way. I know that there are ways to type symbols using their ASCII or Unicode codes, but who is going to memorise 50+ four-digit hexadecimal codes for typing these characters? I’m sure there are people who can, but I’m not one of them, and even if I were, it seems unnecessarily difficult. I subsequently found a free program called WinCompose (https://github. com/samhocevar/wincompose). It can be installed on Windows and acts as a kind of macro facility, converting multiple key presses into a single symbol. Importantly, its default set of codes is extremely intuitive, so learning them is very easy. It also provides a way to easily look up codes if you are not sure (although I find, more often than not, if I guess I get it right). You can also set a custom ‘compose’ key; the default is right Alt (which seems like a reasonable default) but I don’t have such a key on my ergonomic keyboard, so I changed it to another one I never really use. While you can set up custom sequences, I think it is very beneficial that the default settings work well. That way, you can install it on a computer and start using it. You don’t have to synchronise the settings between multiple computers (this is a problem I have with a lot of other software that needs to be customised to be usable). To give you an idea of how straightforward the sequences are to remember, I’ve listed some of the ones I use frequently below, along with the character that is generated. I find it so convenient now that I use it exclusively now for special character generation! Linux has ‘ComposeKey’ so I will have to figure out how to get it to work the same way. Sequence Character Compose x x → × Compose - - (space) → – Compose O / → Ø Compose + → ± Compose = / → ≠ Compose > = → ≥ Compose 1 / → 1/ Compose 3 4 → ¾ Compose 5 8 → ⅝ Compose * a → α Compose * b → β Compose * S → Σ Compose * m → μ Compose * V → Ω Compose C O → © Compose L → £ Compose E = → € Australia's electronics magazine by Nicholas Vinen siliconchip.com.au