[XeTeX] XeTeX in lshort

[David Perry]

On 9/26/2010 11:35 AM, Philipp Stephani wrote:

> This is not related to the operating system, but to the default keyboard layout.
True.  Let me rephrase, and the following apply to users in the US; 
things are different elsewhere, I'm sure.  A Mac, out of the box with 
nothing added by the user, supplies easy access to a large number of 
Latin script characters with accents etc., through the default 
keyboard--and has done so for a very long time.  A Windows machine does 
not and never has.  Both Mac and Windows users can install additional 
keyboards.  But Windows users who ask how to enter an e-acute often end 
up with that awful ALT method because that's what many people (and books 
and websites) think is the "standard" method.  Alternatives such as the 
US-International keyboard are less well documented, at least in my 
experience--perhaps because they were introduced with later versions of 
Windows.  Mac users who want to go beyond the default can enjoy the U.S. 
Extended keyboard, which provides a lot more Latin script accents and 
even combining marks, within a framework that is familiar to users (the 
OPTION key).  Windows has nothing comparable.  So I stand by my 
statement that Mac OS is better, at least for Latin script.  (Things are 
different for Arabic, Indic scripts, etc.).  I work mostly on Windows, 
so don't accuse me of being a Mac partisan.

Sorry, this is a topic that pushes my buttons.  End of rant.

BTW, the default keyboard layouts on modern Linux systems are much more 
comprehensive than their equivalents on OS X, because only on the X 
Window System you have all three options: modifier keys, dead keys, 
compose sequences.
Cool!

DAvid