linux/Documentation/unicode.txt
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   1                 Last update: 2005-01-17, version 1.4
   2
   3This file is maintained by H. Peter Anvin <unicode@lanana.org> as part
   4of the Linux Assigned Names And Numbers Authority (LANANA) project.
   5The current version can be found at:
   6
   7            http://www.lanana.org/docs/unicode/unicode.txt
   8
   9                       ------------------------
  10
  11The Linux kernel code has been rewritten to use Unicode to map
  12characters to fonts.  By downloading a single Unicode-to-font table,
  13both the eight-bit character sets and UTF-8 mode are changed to use
  14the font as indicated.
  15
  16This changes the semantics of the eight-bit character tables subtly.
  17The four character tables are now:
  18
  19Map symbol      Map name                        Escape code (G0)
  20
  21LAT1_MAP        Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1)            ESC ( B
  22GRAF_MAP        DEC VT100 pseudographics        ESC ( 0
  23IBMPC_MAP       IBM code page 437               ESC ( U
  24USER_MAP        User defined                    ESC ( K
  25
  26In particular, ESC ( U is no longer "straight to font", since the font
  27might be completely different than the IBM character set.  This
  28permits for example the use of block graphics even with a Latin-1 font
  29loaded.
  30
  31Note that although these codes are similar to ISO 2022, neither the
  32codes nor their uses match ISO 2022; Linux has two 8-bit codes (G0 and
  33G1), whereas ISO 2022 has four 7-bit codes (G0-G3).
  34
  35In accordance with the Unicode standard/ISO 10646 the range U+F000 to
  36U+F8FF has been reserved for OS-wide allocation (the Unicode Standard
  37refers to this as a "Corporate Zone", since this is inaccurate for
  38Linux we call it the "Linux Zone").  U+F000 was picked as the starting
  39point since it lets the direct-mapping area start on a large power of
  40two (in case 1024- or 2048-character fonts ever become necessary).
  41This leaves U+E000 to U+EFFF as End User Zone.
  42
  43[v1.2]: The Unicodes range from U+F000 and up to U+F7FF have been
  44hard-coded to map directly to the loaded font, bypassing the
  45translation table.  The user-defined map now defaults to U+F000 to
  46U+F0FF, emulating the previous behaviour.  In practice, this range
  47might be shorter; for example, vgacon can only handle 256-character
  48(U+F000..U+F0FF) or 512-character (U+F000..U+F1FF) fonts.
  49
  50
  51Actual characters assigned in the Linux Zone
  52--------------------------------------------
  53
  54In addition, the following characters not present in Unicode 1.1.4
  55have been defined; these are used by the DEC VT graphics map.  [v1.2]
  56THIS USE IS OBSOLETE AND SHOULD NO LONGER BE USED; PLEASE SEE BELOW.
  57
  58U+F800 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 1
  59U+F801 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 3
  60U+F803 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 7
  61U+F804 DEC VT GRAPHICS HORIZONTAL LINE SCAN 9
  62
  63The DEC VT220 uses a 6x10 character matrix, and these characters form
  64a smooth progression in the DEC VT graphics character set.  I have
  65omitted the scan 5 line, since it is also used as a block-graphics
  66character, and hence has been coded as U+2500 FORMS LIGHT HORIZONTAL.
  67
  68[v1.3]: These characters have been officially added to Unicode 3.2.0;
  69they are added at U+23BA, U+23BB, U+23BC, U+23BD.  Linux now uses the
  70new values.
  71
  72[v1.2]: The following characters have been added to represent common
  73keyboard symbols that are unlikely to ever be added to Unicode proper
  74since they are horribly vendor-specific.  This, of course, is an
  75excellent example of horrible design.
  76
  77U+F810 KEYBOARD SYMBOL FLYING FLAG
  78U+F811 KEYBOARD SYMBOL PULLDOWN MENU
  79U+F812 KEYBOARD SYMBOL OPEN APPLE
  80U+F813 KEYBOARD SYMBOL SOLID APPLE
  81
  82Klingon language support
  83------------------------
  84
  85In 1996, Linux was the first operating system in the world to add
  86support for the artificial language Klingon, created by Marc Okrand
  87for the "Star Trek" television series.  This encoding was later
  88adopted by the ConScript Unicode Registry and proposed (but ultimately
  89rejected) for inclusion in Unicode Plane 1.  Thus, it remains as a
  90Linux/CSUR private assignment in the Linux Zone.
  91
  92This encoding has been endorsed by the Klingon Language Institute.
  93For more information, contact them at:
  94
  95        http://www.kli.org/
  96
  97Since the characters in the beginning of the Linux CZ have been more
  98of the dingbats/symbols/forms type and this is a language, I have
  99located it at the end, on a 16-cell boundary in keeping with standard
 100Unicode practice.
 101
 102NOTE: This range is now officially managed by the ConScript Unicode
 103Registry.  The normative reference is at:
 104
 105        http://www.evertype.com/standards/csur/klingon.html
 106
 107Klingon has an alphabet of 26 characters, a positional numeric writing
 108system with 10 digits, and is written left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
 109
 110Several glyph forms for the Klingon alphabet have been proposed.
 111However, since the set of symbols appear to be consistent throughout,
 112with only the actual shapes being different, in keeping with standard
 113Unicode practice these differences are considered font variants.
 114
 115U+F8D0  KLINGON LETTER A
 116U+F8D1  KLINGON LETTER B
 117U+F8D2  KLINGON LETTER CH
 118U+F8D3  KLINGON LETTER D
 119U+F8D4  KLINGON LETTER E
 120U+F8D5  KLINGON LETTER GH
 121U+F8D6  KLINGON LETTER H
 122U+F8D7  KLINGON LETTER I
 123U+F8D8  KLINGON LETTER J
 124U+F8D9  KLINGON LETTER L
 125U+F8DA  KLINGON LETTER M
 126U+F8DB  KLINGON LETTER N
 127U+F8DC  KLINGON LETTER NG
 128U+F8DD  KLINGON LETTER O
 129U+F8DE  KLINGON LETTER P
 130U+F8DF  KLINGON LETTER Q
 131        - Written <q> in standard Okrand Latin transliteration
 132U+F8E0  KLINGON LETTER QH
 133        - Written <Q> in standard Okrand Latin transliteration
 134U+F8E1  KLINGON LETTER R
 135U+F8E2  KLINGON LETTER S
 136U+F8E3  KLINGON LETTER T
 137U+F8E4  KLINGON LETTER TLH
 138U+F8E5  KLINGON LETTER U
 139U+F8E6  KLINGON LETTER V
 140U+F8E7  KLINGON LETTER W
 141U+F8E8  KLINGON LETTER Y
 142U+F8E9  KLINGON LETTER GLOTTAL STOP
 143
 144U+F8F0  KLINGON DIGIT ZERO
 145U+F8F1  KLINGON DIGIT ONE
 146U+F8F2  KLINGON DIGIT TWO
 147U+F8F3  KLINGON DIGIT THREE
 148U+F8F4  KLINGON DIGIT FOUR
 149U+F8F5  KLINGON DIGIT FIVE
 150U+F8F6  KLINGON DIGIT SIX
 151U+F8F7  KLINGON DIGIT SEVEN
 152U+F8F8  KLINGON DIGIT EIGHT
 153U+F8F9  KLINGON DIGIT NINE
 154
 155U+F8FD  KLINGON COMMA
 156U+F8FE  KLINGON FULL STOP
 157U+F8FF  KLINGON SYMBOL FOR EMPIRE
 158
 159Other Fictional and Artificial Scripts
 160--------------------------------------
 161
 162Since the assignment of the Klingon Linux Unicode block, a registry of
 163fictional and artificial scripts has been established by John Cowan
 164<jcowan@reutershealth.com> and Michael Everson <everson@evertype.com>.
 165The ConScript Unicode Registry is accessible at:
 166
 167          http://www.evertype.com/standards/csur/
 168
 169The ranges used fall at the low end of the End User Zone and can hence
 170not be normatively assigned, but it is recommended that people who
 171wish to encode fictional scripts use these codes, in the interest of
 172interoperability.  For Klingon, CSUR has adopted the Linux encoding.
 173The CSUR people are driving adding Tengwar and Cirth into Unicode
 174Plane 1; the addition of Klingon to Unicode Plane 1 has been rejected
 175and so the above encoding remains official.
 176