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