Keyboard Layouts
Why do I need keyboard layouts?
First, we need to examine what are keyboard layouts? To begin, we'll talk
about fonts and the actual keyboard attached to your computer. Those two
have something in
common - they both can be thought of as 2-dimensional tables, containing
letters and symbols in each cell of the table. There is a connection
between the keyboard and the font - when you hit a key, the keyboard sends
the "address" of the key pressed to the computer, and it uses this
"address" to read a corresponding letter from a font and display it on
your screen. This is a simplified way of thinking about the relation
between the keyboard and a font. Your Macintosh, or any other modern
computer, has another level of complexity - you guessed it - the keyboard
layout software. Its function is to provide flexibility in "mapping" of
the keyboard keys to the letters in a font. When the user hits a key, the
computer receives the "address" of the key pressed from the keyboard and
passes it to the keyboard layout software. This software figures out what
the corresponding letter in a font is (see the illustration), and then the
computer uses that letter to display it on your screen.
The default keyboard layout your computer uses is called U.S. and
it works with all the English fonts. Cyrillic fonts, however, are
different because they contain both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets in them
to accommodate the users who would like to mix and match both languages
without having to change fonts. This is what necessitates the need for
separate keyboard layouts when typing using Cyrillic fonts.
What kinds of keyboard layouts are there?
When looking for a keyboard layout, here are the things that must be
considered:
- Kind of Layout
Cyrillic keyboard layouts come in 2 flavors - Russian Typewriter
assigns keys on your keyboard to resemble the Russian-style typewriter
keyboards, it is good for people who learned how to touch-type on Russian
typewriters; Phonetic keyboard layouts assign Cyrillic letters to
the similarly-sounding Latin letters on your keyboard, making it very easy
to find the letters and to get used to the layout.
- Standard of Encoding Supported
Keyboard layouts are designed for specific Cyrillic encoding standard,
such as Apple Standard Cyrillic, KOI-8, CP1251, and CP866. One must use
corresponding keyboard layout with a certain standard of fonts. For
example, ER Univers KOI8 font must be used with a KOI-8 keyboard
layout. If you have a Russian Script installed, you might run into an
added complication of the different script ranges - please read more about
this subject in this additional information
document.
- Support for Cyrillic and Latin Alphabets
I already mentioned that majority of Cyrillic fonts contain both Latin and
Cyrillic alphabets within them. Some Cyrillic keyboard layouts, however,
allow you only to type in Cyrillic languages and force you to switch to a
different layout of you would like to type in English, for example. Yet,
some Cyrillic keyboard layouts allow you to type using both alphabets
without having to switch the keyboard layouts. Such layouts have to
provide a mechanism which facilitate the ease of switching between the two
alphabets. An example would be a keyboard layout For example, the layout
found in Daniel Chirkov's KOI-8 font package
produces Latin letters when the Command (open-apple, clover leaf) key is
depressed, and Cyrillic letters when the Shift key is depressed. Another
example is my own "Student" keyboard layouts use
CapsLock key to switch between typing in English and Russian.
Where do I get a keyboard layout?
There are several places on the Internet where you can obtain keyboard
layouts. The table below represents a sampling to provide you with an idea
of what's available. In the first row you will find a description of my
own shareware keyboard layout set. Admittedly, I am biased here, but let
me recommend that you consider it for your Cyrillic needs - a full description and instructions on downloading follow.
* - the Russian script contains a keyboard layout
ASC - Apple Standard Cyrillic
CP866 - CodePage 866, MS-DOS (Alternative) Cyrillic encoding
Need help installing your keyboard layout? Consult this additional information page.
How do I use a keyboard layout?
If you followed Step 2 on installing Russian script, your computer should have its Keyboard menu enabled (see picture below). To type in Russian
- Choose a font you are going to use from a Font menu of your application
- Choose a corresponding keyboard layout from the Keyboard menu
- You're ready to go!
Important - the keyboard layout used when creating a file with a Cyrillic font plays no role in the appearance and or contents of this file. The only thing that matters is the font itself.
Now available for Mac OS X! Introducing:
S H A R E W A R E
"Student" Keyboard Layouts for
KOI8 and Apple Standard Cyrillic Fonts
- Identical layouts for both font standards
- Intuitive qwerty-like "student" layout, NOT Russian typewriter!
- Easy to use
- Color and b/w icons for Keyboard menu
KOI8 layout 
Apple Standard Cyrillic layout
- Shareware
Two keyboard layouts are designed for two different font standards, KOI8
and Apple Standard Cyrillic, and they will allow you to type in Russian
regardless of what kind of font you are using. Furthermore, the layouts
are identical, so you won't have to memorize two completely different
schemes of character layouts. They are qwerty-like phonetically based,
where Latin and Cyrillic letters of similar sound are assigned to the same
keys. The layout is based in part on a standard "student" layout suggested
by the Ad Hoc Committee on Standardization of Computer Keyboards for Cyrillic
of the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European
Languages (AATSEEL).
The layout is illustrated below:
Scherr, Barry. "Final Report: Ad Hoc Committee on Standardization
of Computer Keyboards for Cyrillic." SEEJ 29, no. 1 (1985): 84-95.
Shareware Notice
Copyright © 1995-2002 Matvey Palchuk
It is not customary to distribute keyboard layouts as shareware. I will
try to explain my reasons for doing so in this case. I believe that the
server "Russification of Macintosh" itself is of significantly greater
value than the keyboard layouts. Initial construction and currently
ongoing maintenance of the collection is fairly time-consuming. If you
visit this site regularly, you will notice very timely updates. I am
receiving a steadily growing amount of e-mail on the subject and I am sure
that many of you also know that I try my best to assist with any questions
you might have. Returning to the keyboards, "student" phonetic layouts are
simply not very commonly available on the net, and the ones out there are
not as intuitive as one would expect them to be. The layout in this
package was designed with an investment of time and research to make sure the
resulting product will be intuitive and very easy to learn and use. That
is why I feel justified in releasing this software as shareware - you may
consider it as both shared software and "server-ware!"
Shareware fee requested - $20, $25, or however much you feel you
are able to contribute. Please, use PayPal by clicking the button above or send check or money order to
- Matvey B. Palchuk
- 101 Wickham Way, #204
- Norwood, MA 02062
Thank you for your support!
Download & Installation
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Instructions for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and up
Updated 8/26/02
- MacOS X 10.2 Jaguar substantially improved the handling of additional keyboard layouts. No command line interventions are necessary!
- For more background information see Apple's Tech Note 2056.
- Thanks to Gene Ushinsky of goodies.byu.edu/rusosx.htm.
- To install:
- Download ruskbdx2.sit and unstuff (using StuffIt Light or StuffIt Expander).
- There should be three files with .rsrc extensions inside the resulting folder "ruskbdx2".
- Move these files into either /Library/Keyboard Layouts
or ~/Library/Keyboards folder.
- Log out and log back in.
- Go to System Preferences -> International -> Input Menu tab and enable
the new layouts (see illustration).
- CapsLock toggles between Latin and Cyrillic layout:
- CapsLock up -> Latin
- CapsLock down -> Cyrillic
- Shift key functions normally in both configurations, producing
capital letters.
- Option key accesses certain letters not present in regular layout.
- This is a shareware product; pay the shareware fee and support the
concept of shareware!
Instructions for Mac OS X 10 - 10.1.5
Updated 1/9/02
- Adapted from Modifying the KCHR resources in OS X.
- No guarantee whatsoever is given as to the quality of the instructions below, the provided software, the safety of your data, etc. (have to say this...)
- Have Developer tools installed (Free registration at Apple Developer Connection and follow links for Developer Tools download)
- Tested on MacOS X 10.1.0 and 10.1.2
- You must be in Mac OS X. To install the keyboard layouts:
- download ruskbdx.sit and unstuff (using StuffIt Light or StuffIt Expander). Instructions below assume that you now have a folder on the desktop named "ruskbdx." Inside there should be following files:
- AppleStd.r
- KOI8russian.r
- KOI8roman.r
- Launch Terminal. Follow the instructions below; items in bold are to be typed (exactly as they appear here) at the prompt.
- Make "ruskbdx" your current directory
cd ~/Desktop/ruskbdx
- Copy "Localized.rsrc" file into this directory
cp /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/
Resources/English.lproj/Localized.rsrc ~/Desktop/ruskbdx
- Create a backup copy called "Localized.old"
cp Localized.rsrc Localized.old
- Extract resources into a datafork using Derez
/Developer/Tools/Derez Localized.rsrc -useDF >> Localized.r
- Check KCHR ID numbers for conflict (you're not likely to find a conflict, but do check anyway). You need to make sure that there aren't any entries in the Localized.r file with the following IDs (see the number after parenthesis):
- AppleStd.r: data 'KCHR' (19458, "?UOOI*fl - AppleStd", purgeable) {
- KOI8russian.r: data 'KCHR' (19460, "?UOOI*fl - aeea8", purgeable) {
- KOI8roman.r: data 'KCHR' (15460, "Russian - KOI8", purgeable) {
Type the following in Terminal and you'll get a listing of IDs in Localized.r
grep KCHR Localized.r
If there's a problem, you can change the ID in one of the .r files you downloaded (don't change IDs in Localized.r). If you do, keep numbers close to originals; make sure to change kcs# and kcs4 IDs to match
- Combine all the ".r" files into new "Localized.rsrc" using Rez
/Developer/Tools/Rez Localized.r KOI8russian.r KOI8roman.r AppleStd.r -o Localized.rsrc -useDF
- Now install the new file; you'll be prompted for your password (Obligatory warning: sudo is a dangerous command, be careful). This will replace the original file; you still have "Localized.old" as backup
sudo cp ~/Desktop/ruskbdx/Localized.rsrc /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/
Resources/English.lproj/Localized.rsrc
- Log out (Apple menu -> Log Out...) and log back in
- System Preferences -> International -> Keyboard Menu tab and enable the new layouts
- May trash the "ruskbdx" folder. If you wish, keep "Localized.old" for backup purposes
- CapsLock toggles between Latin and Cyrillic layout:
- CapsLock up -> Latin
- CapsLock down -> Cyrillic
- Shift key functions normally in both configurations, producing
capital letters.
- Option key accesses certain letters not present in regular layout.
- This is a shareware product; pay the shareware fee and support the
concept of shareware!
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Updated as of 1/17/96
- The keyboard layouts (2 of 3) require Russian
Script to be installed and will not be accessible without it.
Download the archived
file, which contains three keyboard layouts and a ReadMe file. If your
Netscape
displays a warning that it doesn't have an appropriate plug-in, click
"Save file..." button.
- Decompress with StuffIt
Expander, consult the ReadMe file.
- Make sure Russian Script is installed and Keyboard menu is visible.
Consult Step 2 if you don't have the script.
- Drag keyboard layouts on top of closed System Folder, confirm that
they have to be placed in the System file.
- Restart your Macintosh.
- Under Keyboard menu you'll see a layout named "Russian - KOI8" - use
it for KOI8 fonts such as KOI8-Terminal. In the range of the Russian script
(below the divider),
you'll see two more layouts in addition to "Russian," they are named (in
Russian) "Russian - AppleStd" and "Russian - KOI8." Use this layout for
Apple Standard Cyrillic fonts and for ER series KOI8 fonts, respectively.
- Note: The keyboard layouts in the Russian script range (below
the separator) are dimmed (unavailable) in the Finder. Launch
any application and you will be able to switch to those layouts.
- CapsLock toggles between Latin and Cyrillic layout.
- CapsLock up -> Latin
- CapsLock down -> Cyrillic
- Shift key functions normally in both configurations, producing
capital letters.
- Option accesses certain letters not present on regular layout.
- This is a shareware product; pay the shareware fee and support the
concept of shareware!
Back to Step 2 | Step 3 | Go to step 4
Additional Information
