Hi there,

since I am an experienced windows user, but a quite newbee in linux, I encountered a simple(?) problem. Today I purchased UEX, because it's essential for me and the one and only software that earn the prefix "ultra" . But, how do I enter special characters? <crtl>+<shift>+u does not work, <alt>+Number either. Even the entering via Windows-UE <alt>+i does not…

In Gnome/GTK+ flavors of Linux, hold down <Ctrl>+<Shift> while typing U followed by the four-digit hex value of the special character. For example:

  <Ctrl>+<Shift>+u00ae for the registered trademark character "®"

With Windows versions of UE, hold <Alt> while typing the four-digit decimal value of the character using the numeric key pad. For example:

  <Alt>+0174 for the registered trademark character "®"

In KDE flavors of Linux you'll need to set up and use a "compose" key as described here.

The "compose" key method has the advantage of not requiring the user to remember or look up the hex/decimal values of most Unicode characters. You simply construct your Unicode character using a combination of two non-Unicode characters. For example:

  <Compose>OR or <Compose>RO will construct the registered trademark character "®"

The "compose" feature isn't limited to KDE flavors of Linux. You can also activate the "compose" key in Gnome and GTK flavors of Linux as well. If you want to compose Unicode characters in Windows, try installing allchars. For Vista or Windows 7 you'll want v5.0.181 which has been in beta since Feb 2009. Although no one has bothered to move it out of beta into an official stable release, it has been reported to work fine with both 32 and 64-bit versions of these operating systems. After launching the program, right-click on the system tray app then click on "Configuration..." to select your hot key to use as your Windows "compose" key.

<Ctrl>+<Shift>+u00ae for the registered trademark character "®"

That's exactly my problem. I'm using UEX for Gnome/GTK+ (Ubuntu 11.04). After entering <Ctrl+<Shift>+u an underscored small U appears, and I can enter the hex value. This works with any editor "editor" (gedit, terminal…) out with UEX. The ASCII table helps not that much because sometimes I need as "special" special character. For now I must probably be content with the clipboard.

I don't have Ubuntu. I do have Mandriva, however, and I can enter special characters either by using the <Ctrl>+<Shift>+u method, or by using the "compose" method. Before using the "compose" method, I did need to activate the "compose" key.

The bottom of this page does have instructions for Unicode composition using Ubuntu...