لؤلؤة
=====

Ergonomic Arabic Keyboard layout. See website_ for details.

.. _website: https://6xq.net/لؤلؤة/

Creating layouts
----------------

Although optimized for the Arabic language it should be possible to create
layouts for other (non-RTL) languages as well. Here’s how to proceed: First,
create a data file ``my-layout.yaml`` that contains all key to character
mappings the new layout should have. Look at ``lulua/data/layouts`` for
examples.  Then create statistics for a lzip-compressed corpus of your
choosing:

.. code:: bash

    find corpus/*.txt.lz | lulua-write text my-layout.yaml | lulua-analyze combine > stats.pickle

Now you can optimize your layout using:

.. code:: bash

   lulua-optimize -n 30000 --triad-limit=30000 -r -l my-layout.yaml < stats.pickle > evolved.yaml

To get a pretty picture (SVG) of your layout render it:

.. code:: bash

   lulua-render -l evolved.yaml svg evolved.svg

It is highly recommended to use pypy3_ instead of CPython and a machine with
lots of RAM (at least 16 GB).

.. _pypy3: http://pypy.org/

Building documentation
----------------------

This essentially means building the website_ and reproducing my results. You’ll
need to obtain the corpora from me_, which are not public due to copyright
issues. Then simply run

.. code:: bash

   ./gen.sh > build.ninja && ninja

to analyze them and create pretty pictures as well as statistics in ``_build/report``.

.. _me: lars+lulua@6xq.net

Building Windows drivers
------------------------

There is no easy way to build Windows keyboard drivers, but the following
instructions have worked in the past:

.. code:: bash

    ninja _build/_temp/winkbd/customization.h

Share the folder `doc/_temp/winkbd` with a Windows system, install `Microsoft
Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4`_ (MSKLC; the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) would work
too, but is much larger), adjust ``make.bat`` pointing to your MSKLC
installation and run it. This should generate two directories, ``System32`` and
``SysWOW64``, which must be copied back to `_build/_temp/winkbd`. Then run:

.. code:: bash

    ninja _build/report/ar-lulua-w64.zip

.. _Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=22339

Acknowledgements
----------------

This software is using an extended version of carpalx_ by Martin Krzywinski for
optimizing layouts.

.. _carpalx: http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?typing_effort