1The Linux kernel code has been rewritten to use Unicode to map 2characters to fonts. By downloading a single Unicode-to-font table, 3both the eight-bit character sets and UTF-8 mode are changed to use 4the font as indicated. 5 6This changes the semantics of the eight-bit character tables subtly. 7The four character tables are now: 8 9Map symbol Map name Escape code (G0) 10 11LAT1_MAP Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1) ESC ( B 12GRAF_MAP DEC VT100 pseudographics ESC ( 0 13IBMPC_MAP IBM code page 437 ESC ( U 14USER_MAP User defined ESC ( K 15 16In particular, ESC ( U is no longer "straight to font", since the font 17might be completely different than the IBM character set. This 18permits for example the use of block graphics even with a Latin-1 font 19loaded. 20 21In accordance with the Unicode standard/ISO 10646 the range U+F000 to 22U+F8FF has been reserved for OS-wide allocation (the Unicode Standard 23refers to this as a "Corporate Zone", since this is inaccurate for 24Linux we call it the "Linux Zone"). U+F000 was picked as the starting 25point since it lets the direct-mapping area start on a large power of 26two (in case 1024- or 2048-character fonts ever become necessary). 27This leaves U+E000 to U+EFFF as End User Zone. 28 29The Unicodes in the range U+F000 to U+F1FF have been hard-coded to map 30directly to the loaded font, bypassing the translation table. The 31user-defined map now defaults to U+F000 to U+F1FF, emulating the 32previous behaviour. This range may expand in the future should it be 33warranted. 34 35Actual characters assigned in the Linux Zone 36-------------------------------------------- 37 38In addition, the following characters not present in Unicode 1.1.4 (at 39least, I have not found them!) have been defined; these are used by 40the DEC VT graphics map: 41 42U+F800 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 1 43U+F801 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 3 44U+F803 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 7 45U+F804 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 9 46 47The DEC VT220 uses a 6x10 character matrix, and these characters form 48a smooth progression in the DEC VT graphics character set. I have 49omitted the scan 5 line, since it is also used as a block-graphics 50character, and hence has been coded as U+2500 FORMS LIGHT HORIZONTAL. 51However, I left U+F802 blank should the need arise. 52 53Klingon language support 54------------------------ 55 56Unfortunately, Unicode/ISO 10646 does not allocate code points for the 57language Klingon, probably fearing the potential code point explosion 58if many fictional languages were submitted for inclusion. There are 59also political reasons (the Japanese, for example, are not too happy 60about the whole 16-bit concept to begin with.) However, with Linux 61being a hacker-driven OS it seems this is a brilliant linguistic hack 62worth supporting. Hence I have chosen to add it to the list in the 63Linux Zone. 64 65Several glyph forms for the Klingon alphabet have been proposed. 66However, since the set of symbols appear to be consistent throughout, 67with only the actual shapes being different, in keeping with standard 68Unicode practice these differences are considered font variants. 69 70Klingon has an alphabet of 26 characters, a positional numeric writing 71system with 10 digits, and is written left-to-right, top-to-bottom. 72Punctuation appears to be only used in Latin transliteration; it 73appears customary to write each sentence on its own line, and 74centered. Space has been reserved for punctuation should it prove 75necessary. 76 77This encoding has been endorsed by the Klingon Language Institute. 78For more information, contact them at: 79 80 http://www.kli.org/ 81 82Since the characters in the beginning of the Linux CZ have been more 83of the dingbats/symbols/forms type and this is a language, I have 84located it at the end, on a 16-cell boundary in keeping with standard 85Unicode practice. 86 87U+F8D0 KLINGON LETTER A 88U+F8D1 KLINGON LETTER B 89U+F8D2 KLINGON LETTER CH 90U+F8D3 KLINGON LETTER D 91U+F8D4 KLINGON LETTER E 92U+F8D5 KLINGON LETTER GH 93U+F8D6 KLINGON LETTER H 94U+F8D7 KLINGON LETTER I 95U+F8D8 KLINGON LETTER J 96U+F8D9 KLINGON LETTER L 97U+F8DA KLINGON LETTER M 98U+F8DB KLINGON LETTER N 99U+F8DC KLINGON LETTER NG 100U+F8DD KLINGON LETTER O 101U+F8DE KLINGON LETTER P 102U+F8DF KLINGON LETTER Q 103 - Written <q> in standard Okrand Latin transliteration 104U+F8E0 KLINGON LETTER QH 105 - Written <Q> in standard Okrand Latin transliteration 106U+F8E1 KLINGON LETTER R 107U+F8E2 KLINGON LETTER S 108U+F8E3 KLINGON LETTER T 109U+F8E4 KLINGON LETTER TLH 110U+F8E5 KLINGON LETTER U 111U+F8E6 KLINGON LETTER V 112U+F8E7 KLINGON LETTER W 113U+F8E8 KLINGON LETTER Y 114U+F8E9 KLINGON LETTER GLOTTAL STOP 115 116U+F8F0 KLINGON DIGIT ZERO 117U+F8F1 KLINGON DIGIT ONE 118U+F8F2 KLINGON DIGIT TWO 119U+F8F3 KLINGON DIGIT THREE 120U+F8F4 KLINGON DIGIT FOUR 121U+F8F5 KLINGON DIGIT FIVE 122U+F8F6 KLINGON DIGIT SIX 123U+F8F7 KLINGON DIGIT SEVEN 124U+F8F8 KLINGON DIGIT EIGHT 125U+F8F9 KLINGON DIGIT NINE 126 127Other Fictional and Artificial Scripts 128-------------------------------------- 129 130Since the assignment of the Klingon Linux Unicode block, a registry of 131fictional and artificial scripts has been established by John Cowan, 132<cowan@ccil.org>. The ConScript Unicode Registry is accessible at 133http://locke.ccil.org/~cowan/csur/; the ranges used fall at the bottom 134of the End User Zone and can hence not be normatively assigned, but it 135is recommended that people who wish to encode fictional scripts use 136these codes, in the interest of interoperability. For Klingon, CSUR 137has adopted the Linux encoding. 138 139 H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com> 140