Kannada Keyboard Layout for OSX

• Feb 8, 2020
• Version 2
• Thamme Gowda

This repository contains a keyboard layout for OSX. It is an XML config file that maps QWERTY keys to Kannada Unicode codepoints. (no extra black-magic)

Installation

(Tested on OSX 10.15)

1. Download Kannada-TGv1.keylayout from this repository and place it in either one of the two paths: ~/Library/Keyboard\ Layouts or /Library/Keyboard\ Layouts/, but not both.

2. System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources > (Click + on the bottom left ) > (search Kannada-TGv2) and add. Also check "Show input menu in menu bar"

3. An icon - either a keyboard or US flag - should appear next to the clock widget in the System menu bar on top. Select Kannada-TGv2. Start typing

WARNING

1. Turning capslock ON retains English, so use capslock to quickly switch to/from english/latin alphabet. Note that turning the Capslock ON submits lowercase latin alphabet, however, Shift+Key to input upper case letters.
2. Turn Capslock OFF to enable Kannada mode.
3. CMD+C, CMD+V etc system shortcuts should continue to work. However, CTRL, SHIFT, OPTION keybindings might break.

QWERTY maps to Kannada

• ಅ a

• ಅ A = SHFT+a

• ಇ i

• ಈ I

• ಉ u

• ಊ U

• ಋ R

• ಎ e

• ಏ E

• ಐ f

• ಒ o

• ಒ O

• ಔ F

• ಅಂ aM

• ಅಃ aH

• ಕ k

• ಖ K

• ಗ g

• ಘ G

• ಙ z

• ಚ c

• ಛ C

• ಜ j

• ಝ J

• ಞ Z

• ಟ q (because t is taken by ತ)

• ಠ Q

• ಡ w (because d is taken by ದ)

• ಢ w

• ಣ N

• ತ t

• ಥ T

• ದ d

• ಧ D

• ನ n

• ಪ p

• ಫ P

• ಬ b

• ಭ B

• ಮ m

• ಯ y

• ರ r

• ಲ l

• ವ v

• ಶ x

• ಷ X

• ಸ s

• ಹ h

• ಳ L

• ೧ ⌥ + 1

• ೨ ⌥ + 2

• ೩ ⌥ + 3

• ೪ ⌥ + 4

• ೫ ⌥ + 5

• ೬ ⌥ + 6

• ೭ ⌥ + 7

• ೮ ⌥ + 8

• ೯ ⌥ + 9

• ೦ ⌥ + 0

ಕಾಗುಣಿತ

TLDR; Use Hold OPTION(⌥) key and press vowel to get the corresponding vowel modifier. Capital letter means hold SHIFT key.

• ಕ k -- (unicode adds ಅ as the default vowel to all consonants)
• ಕ್ k ⌥+a -- (removes the default ಅ vowel)
• ಕಾ k ⌥+A = k SHIFT+OPTION+a
• ಕಿ k ⌥+i
• ಕೀ k ⌥+I
• ಕು k ⌥+u
• ಕೂ k ⌥+U
• ಕೃ k ⌥+R
• ಕೆ k ⌥+e
• ಕೇ k ⌥+E
• ಕೈ k ⌥+f
• ಕೊ k ⌥+o
• ಕೋ k ⌥+O
• ಕೌ k ⌥+F
• ಕಂ k M == k OPTION+`
• ಕಃ k H == k OPTION+SHIFT+`

ಅರ್ಧಾಕ್ಷರ

TLDR; While holding OPTION before vowel gives vowel modifier as seen in previous section, pressing OPTION before a consonant takes out default vowel. For example:

• ಕ್ ⌥+k == k ⌥+a
• ಖ್ ⌥+K == K ⌥+a
• ಅರ್ಧಾಕ್ಷರ = a ⌥+r D ⌥+A ⌥+k X r

Credits:

The keyboard mapping was done by using http://software.sil.org/ukelele/. So thanks to the developer(s) of this tool.

License

Use it for whatever you want to type. However, the developer/author provide no guarantee on service and hold no responsibility for any damage. Therefore use this at your own risk.