Writing in Ancient Greek in Open Office

[evanvlane]

Hey,

I'm currently going through St. John's college, and I have to learn/ read/ translate ancient Greek manuscripts. I just made the switch over to Ubuntu 6.06 from XP (although I have some SuSE knowledge from a few years back), and I'm not sure how to set up Office to allow me to type in in the Greek character set (including voicings, diareses, etc.).

Any suggestions? Also, is there a way to set up profiles in it so that I can write a normal letter, switch profiles and work on Ptolemy?


Thanks!


Evan.

[NoNo_231]

Don't know if that can help you, but you could add greek keyboard from the keyboard configuration (right click at the language on the gnome panel or System -> Preferences -> Keyboard) and select greek polytonic keyboard. Sorry if something from the menus isn't exactly named as in Engilsh but I am on a pc using greek right now.

I hope that this can help you.

[evanvlane]

Thanks!

That worked for everything but open office...
Any suggestions on getting support in Open Office?

[evanvlane]

Help!!!

Okay, I got the basic Greek support working in Open Office, and here's what I've figured out so far:
the ; character allows for a ' to be placed above appropriate characters (eg. ά, or έ--if your browser can read that).

But I also need to be able to place the `, ~, ΅, ΅, ΅ characters.

Is there a way to do it other than Insert-> Special Character? In MS Word I used the <Ctrl>diacritical mark (eg. <Ctrl><Shift>; + o = ö). Is there a way to do this in Open Office? For instance-- the word beta, in Ancient Greek, is supposed to read βῆτα, but I can't get ῆ without going to Insert->Special Character every time. Is there a way I could do it quicker?

I tried enabling Complex Text Layout, but it doesn't have Greek... Is there a way to add polytonic Greek to the CTL list? A package? Anything?

Any help would be great!


Evan.



Oh... Also, my classes want me to use the form of theta that looks like a squigly rather than the now accepted θ--is there a way to get that or do I have to edit a ttf font and make it myself?

[NoNo_231]

Sorry but I don't use polytonic and don't know much. One sure thing to try is use Gentium or MgOpen Canonica or other fonts, which supprt polytonic. If this does't work mabye you need to add greek language support. I found this instructions is English the "Hellenic Polytonic HOWTO". Here they are http://tlgu.carmen.gr/Hellenic_polytonic_HOWTO.html

I hope they can help you.

[andrew.46]

Hi,

Your best bet is Thessalonica:

http://www.thessalonica.org.ru/en/index.html

Andrew

[dvarsam]

Hello!

Help!!!...

I am sure I have seen Greek polytonic fonts other than the "Salonica" suggested...
In case you can't find free ones, you could purchase fonts from here:

http://www.magenta.gr/en/fonts/en_unicode_fonts_2.htm

Look under:

1. Unicode Fonts 2 (in Greek whether fonts are also polytonic is not mentioned at all, in English 5/6 are listed as polytonic - :) )
2. Unicode Fonts 3 (in Greek all fonts are listed as polytonic, in English they call them Greek multi accented - but they don't verify whether all of them are polytonic... =D>)
3. Unicode Fonts 4 (Byzantine/Church Style: in Greek 2/6 fonts are listed as polytonic, In English nothing is stated & the price is in Greek currency while the Euro has been adopted over the past 4-5 years! =D> )
4. Unicode Fonts 5 (In Greek 7/8 fonts are listed as polytonic, Same in English)

But again I am sure you will find free ones available too!

Good Luck.

[dvarsam]

You could also visit here:

http://www.enoriaka.gr/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=748&Itemid=2

This site claims to provide 72 different Greek polytonic Fonts for Free!

Unfortunately the site is in Greek.
However inside the table, all polytonic fonts are provided.
First row provides a sample of all the 72 polytonic fonts.
Second row provides polytonic fonts from SKadam - SKbaderas
Third row ... etc etc
Fourth row ... etc etc

Good Luck!

P.S.> If you have any problems or need help PM me.

[simosx]

Ubuntu (since 6.06) comes by default with Greek polytonic fonts. To verify, open Applications/Accessories/Character Map and pick Greek.

There are fonts you can find on the web that support Greek Polytonic; it is good to choose those that are distributed with a free and open-source license.

Therefore, the options include
1. the default font in Ubuntu (called DejaVu, shown as Sans/Serif/Monospace in the system)
2. Gentium (search with Synaptic)
3. GFS polytonic fonts, at http://www.greekfontsociety.org/pages/en_typefaces.html
The Greek Font Society (GFS) fonts marked with OFL (Open Font License) are open-source.

[Galactic Jack]

Personally, I found that SPIonic and SGreek were the best fonts, as they had the diacritical marks. Even better is that once you find the FOnts folder you simply have to drag and drop them in and restart OpenOffice.

GJ