Typing Hebrew on linups

Well I just bought an AA1 and I need to have hebrew typing working on it, not operating system language but typing. So I'd really appreciate if someone could help me with this. Thanks ^^

 

How much Hebrew will you be typing? A few words, or long documents? Do you have a Hebrew keyboard? OpenOffice is certainly Hebrew-compatible -- Google `openoffice hebrew' and you'll get plenty of info on this. But you might need to install Hebrew fonts and the Hebrew OO language pack.

 

Err it's for taking notes in class mostly. If I can see hebrew on my AA1 does that mean I have hebrew fonts installed? Can you install hebrew just for openoffice or do you need to add it to the system as well?

 

The standard unicode fonts supplied with the One will have _some_ hebrew support. Depending on your needs, that may be enough. But if you need specialized pointing, etc., you might need to install a more extensive font.

There are two problem with hebrew (and arabic) in openoffice (and any editor, really). One is support for right-to-left text entry, and the other is figuring out how to enter characters if you don't have a hebrew keyboard. And even if you do have a hebrew keyboard you'll still have problems if you want to mix hebrew and, say, English in the same doc.

In OO the first problem is fixed by enabling `Complex Text Layout'. I can't remember where it is in the menus -- go to Tools|Options|Language and hunt around. When it's enabled, you'll be able to change input direction by doing ctrl+shift-A and ctrl-shift-D (as I recall).

To enter mixed characters, the easiest way to do this on the one (in my view) is to use the input method handler to map hebrew letters onto your normal keyboard. Of course you'll need to learn which English (or whatever) characters map onto which hebrew ones, but it's probably easier than carrying a spare keyboard and switching the whole system over from one language to another.

Unfortunately, the `scim' input method handler that the One uses has rubbish support for hebrew. The best way to get it to do hebrew entry is to install the package scim-m17n (and all its dependencies) and then m17n-db-hebrew. Then when you're in an editor you can press ctrl+space to get the input method editor to pop up, and you should be able to hunt around the menus to enable hebrew.

By the way, the built-in `mousepad' editor will do hebrew, and right-to-left entry, if you enable the hebrew input method -- I just checked and it works fine. But you won't be able to switch left-to-right and right-to-left on the fly (so far as I can see).

Hope this helps.

 

If you are willing to spend more time on a learning curve, you could consider learning LaTeX with Hebrew support.
Just for classnotes however OO is probably better.

 

And when you've done that, you might try beating your face hard against a desk

Only kidding. You probably will get better typesetting in Hebrew (and English, for that matter) with LaTeX. But if it's just for note-taking, you probably don't even need OO, let alone LaTex -- mousepad will handle Hebrew OK, and it's a lot quicker to start up. And whatever software you use, your main problem is likely to be that of the entering text, no?