GNU Typist Manual

GNU Typist is an interactive typing tutor that can help you to type correctly. It has several lessons for different keyboard layouts and in different languages. The lessons for gtypist are described in a easy-to-learn scripting language that the user can use to modify the existing lessons or create new ones.

Distribution		Where to find gtypist: source, packages etc.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE		The GNU General Public License says how you can copy and share gtypist
1. Introduction		Important concepts you need to know as a user
2. Invoking		How to invoke gtypist
3. Script file commands		Information about the syntax of gtypist lessons
4. Supplied lessons		Overview of the lessons in the gtypist distribution
5. Create new lessons		How to contribute new lessons
6. Emacs mode		Emacs mode for editing gtypist scripts
7. Environment Variables		Environment variables which affect gtypist
8. Errors and omissions		Known problems
A. History of GNU Typist

Distribution

GNU Typist (or gtypist) is free software; this means that everyone is free to use it and free to redistribute it on certain conditions. The precise conditions are found in the GNU General Public License that comes with this program and also follows this section.

You can obtain GNU Typist from a friend or from the Internet:

Primary distribution site

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gtypist/

Home page

http://www.gnu.org/software/gtypist/

On-line manual (updates between program releases)

http://www.gnu.org/software/gtypist/doc/

Developers' home page (CVS repository, tasks, support...)

http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gtypist/

GNU Typist download page (sources, binaries and tutorial updates)

http://gtypist.free.fr/

Screenshots

http://gtypist.free.fr/screenshots/

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

Copyright © 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

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The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.

1. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".

   Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.

2. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.

   You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.

3. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
   1. You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.

   2. You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.

   3. If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on the Program is not required to print an announcement.)

   These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

   Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program.

   In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this License.

4. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
   1. Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

   2. Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

   3. Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

   The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

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11. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
    NO WARRANTY

12. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

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How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

one line to give the program's name and an idea of what it does. Copyright (C) 19yy name of author This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:

Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:

Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker. signature of Ty Coon, 1 April 1989 Ty Coon, President of Vice

This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.

1. Introduction

GNU Typist is an interactive typing tutor program. It uses an input file to create a series of typing tutorials, drills, and speed tests. It is intended to be used on raw terminals without graphics --it has been compiled and used in GNU/Linux and Unix (Aix, OpenBSD) and also in DOS/Windows (DOS 6.22, Windows 98, Windows NT).

The program reads lessons written in an easy-to-learn scripting language. It is distributed with several complete and good lessons, you can use them, modify them or create new lessons (see section 5. Create new lessons and see section 3. Script file commands).

If a script file is not specified on the command line, a default file `gtypist.typ' will be used. (See details about the path in the section see section 7. Environment Variables).

The top line of the screen displays a banner. The bottom line of the screen displays a message line, queries, and other status information. The lines in between are used for the tutorials, drills, and speed tests.

There are two types of typing exercises: drills and speed tests.

In a drill, gtypist displays text in every other line on the screen, and waits for the user to correctly type the exact same text in the intermediate lines. Typing errors are indicated with an inverse ^, or > if the character is a newline and at the end of the exercise it calculates the real and effective rate in WPM. If there were too many errors, it will re-run the drill.

Backward deleting of previously typed characters to correct errors is not allowed.

In a speed test, gtypist displays text on the screen, and waits for the user to correctly over-type the exact same text. It indicates typing errors, and at the end of the test it calculates the real and effective rate in WPM. If there were too many errors, it will re-run the speed test. Backward deleting of previously typed characters to correct errors is permitted, but errors still accumulate.

If you already made too many mistakes, then you can use ESC to give up and start again. You can also skip a lesson by pressing ESC twice. Once you complete a lesson, you will be asked whether you want to repeat it.

There are also "practice only" exercises (of both drills and speed tests) which you won't have to repeat at all. But we won't tell you when this is the case, so you'll have to give your best anyway ;-)

In typing speed reports, a 'word' is deemed to be five characters, so the raw (gross) WPM is the number of characters in the test passage, divided by five, then divided again by the number of minutes elapsed in typing the passage. The adjusted WPM factors in the errors; each error is counted as a mistyped word.

2. Invoking

The syntax to invoke GNU Typist is:

gtypist [ Options... ] [ script_file ]

The supported options are given below (note that the long form is not supported on DOS):

-e, --error-max

Specifies the default maximum error percentage. The default value is 3.0 and it must be between 0.0 and 100.0. There is a corresponding script file command (see section 3. Script file commands) which only overrides this if it is stricter (smaller). This value is ignored for "practice only" drills.

-n, --notimer

gtypist will display the typing speeds in WPM after both drills and speed tests. However, the lessons appear to be written for a program that only does this for speed tests. To make gtypist behave in a manner that matches the lessons, that is, to sup WPM reports on drills, use -n, --notimer.

-t, --term-cursor

gtypist creates its own flashing block cursor on the screen, to help distinguish between the cursor and reverse video error indications. Setting -t or --term_cursor suppresses this, and forces the program to use the terminal's cursor instead.

-f, --curs-flash

The curs_flash value sets the block cursor flash period in tenths of a second. A value of 0 indicates no cursor flashing. The default is 10, and the maximum is 512. This option is ignored if -t or --term_cursor has been set.

-c, --colo[u]rs

In normal operation, gtypist uses only normal and reverse video attributes in monochrome mode. This option may be used to specify the foreground and background colours on terminals that support colours. The colours are specified as two integers, in the range 0 to 7, separated by commas, setting the foreground and background colours. The colour codes 0 to 7 indicate black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white respectively. The default colours string is 7,0 - white on black. The option is ignored if the terminal does not support colours.

-s, --silent

When gtypist detects a typing error, it will beep the terminal. Use this option to silence the beep.

-q, --quiet

Same as -s, --silent.

-w, --wpmode

With this option, gtypist will try to mimic a word processor in certain ways when executing an exercise. It will treat space at the end of a line as a correctly typed character, and word wrap. It will treat return at the end of a line as a signal to move to the start of the next paragraph if applicable. It will compress multiple spaces into a single space. And it will skip over hyphens found at the end of a line.

-l, --start-label

Specifies the label in the script file at which gtypist begins executing (see script files and commands below for information on labels). If start_label is not given, gtypist begins execution at the first line of the file.

-k, --no-skip

Prohibit the user from skipping lessons or exiting from lessons via ESC ESC.

You also have to set the environment variable LANG if you want to run gtypist in your native language. See section 7. Environment Variables.

In some languages like French, some interface messages are longer than in English. Therefore, you may need to make your terminal larger before invoking the tool. Otherwise, the text on the lower left may overlap with the string on the lower right.

Examples:

To run the default lessons of lesson `gtypist.typ':
gtypist

To run the lesson in Spanish:
gtypist esp.typ

To instruct gtypist to look for lesson bar.typ in a non standard directory `/home/foo':
export GTYPIST_PATH="/home/foo" gtypist bar.typ

To run the lessons in the file `test.typ' of directory `/tmp', starting at label TEST1, using the terminal's cursor, and running silently:
gtypist -t -q -l TEST1 /tmp/test.typ

3. Script file commands

GNU Typist reads in the data for its typing lessons from a script file. With the exception of comments and blank lines, each line in the file is of the format

command_char : command_data

Here, command_char is a single character code that defines an action for gtypist to take, and command_data is data for that command. If command_char is a space character, this indicates that the line is a continuation of the preceding non-space command. The ':' separator must be in column two of the line.

Comment lines are lines beginning with a '#' character, and are ignored, as are blank lines. Comment lines may have any format provided that they begin with '#'; other lines must have the above format.

You should read the introduction so that you are familiar with the basics: See section 1. Introduction.

The following is a list of valid command_char values:

B

This command clears the complete screen. If any command_data is present, it is displayed in the one-line banner at the top of the screen, and remains in place until the next B command. This command may not be continued on the following line; it is a single line command.

T

This presents a tutorial, and is a multi-line command, up to the limit of the screen length. Each line in the command is simply printed to the screen. This command clears the screen beneath the top banner line. After the display is done, the program waits before proceeding. This is also used to display menu-items.

*

This indicates a label in the file. The label may be the target of a G, Y, N or F command. Labels may contain any character, including space, and are a single line command. Labels must be unique within lesson files. Whitespace at the end of labels is ignored.

I

The I command can display some brief instructions above a drill or a speed test. Only two lines or less are permitted. Unlike the T command, it does not wait for any further keypresses before proceeding. So it should really always be followed by an exercise. It clears the whole screen exercise area, so in this respect it's just like a two-line T.

D,d

This command is called "drill", and it is one of two types of typing exercises.

It is a multi-line command. The text is displayed in every second line, and you type in the intermediate lines. Because of this, you cannot use more than 11 lines of drill content.

This type of exercise is supposed to be used for finger training (i.e. jfjfjjf), but may also contain complete words and sentences if they are used to practice something (i.e. a letter/syllable/"grip"), and aren't real texts.

The lowercase version d is a "practice only" drill - the user will not have not repeat this drill if he/she made too many mistakes.

S,s

This is the second type of typing exercise: the "speed test".

It is a multi-line command. It displays its text on the screen, and prompts the user to type on top of it. That's why you can use up to 22 lines of text for one speed test. In a speed test you can correct your mistakes, but this will not decrease the error-count.

Speed tests should be used for typing (mostly) complete sentences, texts or files (i.e. a letter, texinfo/html/tex files).

The lowercase version s is a "practice only" speed test - the user will not have not repeat this drill if (s)he made too many mistakes.

G

This causes gtypist to go to the label in command_data, and continue execution of the script there. This is a single line command.

Q

This command command prompts its text on the message line, and waits for a Y or an N before proceeding. Other characters are ignored.

As a side effect, you can hit an Fkey if it is bound (That's why this is used to set the prompt for menus).

Y

This is like G, except that the goto is executed only if the result of the last Q command was Y.

N

This is like G, except that the goto is executed only if the result of the last Q command was N.

K

This binds a function key to a label. The format of the data line following this command must be fkey_number:label, where fkey_number is a function key number in the range 1 to 12, and label is a label to go to when this key is pressed. A value of NULL for label removes any label binding from the key.

If function keys are not available on the terminal other keys can be used: 1 to 9 to replace F1 to F9, 0 to replace F10, A for F11 and S for F12.

Other alternatives for the keys F1 to F12 are the combinations: Ctrl-Q, Ctrl-W, Ctrl-E, Ctrl-R, Ctrl-T, Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-U, Ctrl-I, Ctrl-O, Ctrl-P, Ctrl-A and Ctrl-S.

This is also useful where function keys are intercepted by other programs (for example by a window manager).

E

This command is used to set the highest error-rate permitted for the next drill (E:<value>%) or for all following drills until the next E: (E:<value>%*).

If `--error-max/-e' is specified then this command will only have an effect if it is stricter than the value specified on the command-line.

command_data consists of the value (between 0.0 and 100.0), followed by '%' (this is required so that scripts are more readable). A special value of default or Default sets the error-max value back to the default.

F

This command ("set on-failure label") is used to set the label (in command_data) where the user will have to go to if (s)he fails an exercise.

Usually, this command only applies to the next exercise, but you can make it persistent by putting a '*' at the end of command_data.

If label is NULL then this resets the label.

X

This command causes gtypist to exit. It is a single line command. Any command_data is ignored. The program also exits if the end of the file is found (so you could also place a label there and just G to it)

Here is a tiny example script to demonstrate the available commands (`tinydemo.typ' lesson file):

# Minimal demonstration B: Typing tutor demonstration *:LOOP K:1:QDONE T:This is a small example tutor script. A better :example may be found in the demo.typ file that :accompanies GNU Typist I:Here is an example of a drill: D:asdf ghjkl; I:And here is an example of a speed test: S:qwe rt yu iop *:QDONE Q:Seen enough yet? [Y/N] N:LOOP X:

4. Supplied lessons

The following lessons are supplied with GNU Typist :

`q.typ'

Quick QWERTY course in English

`r.typ'

Long QWERTY course in English

`t.typ'

QWERTY touch typing in English

`v.typ'

Yet Another QWERTY in English

`w.typ'

QWERTY Review in English

`d.typ'

Dvorak touch typing in English

`m.typ'

Typing drills in English

`s.typ'

Speed drills in English

`n.typ'

Calculator keypad in English

`gtypist.typ'

Compendium of all previous lessons in English

`esp.typ'

QWERTY course in Spanish

`kt*.typ'

These lessons are the standard lessons from Ktouch 1.0 (http://ktouch.sourceforge.net), which have been converted to gtypist's file format using `tools/ktouch2typ.pl'.

The files are called ktde.typ (german.ktouch), kten.typ (english.ktouch), ktfr.typ (french.ktouch), ktlecten.typ (lecture_en.ktouch), ktno.typ (norwegian.ktouch) and ktnumber.typ (number.ktouch).

`ttde.typ'

This is the German lesson of tipptrainer (http://www.pingos.schulnetz.org/tipptrainer), which has been converted using `tools/tt2typ.pl'.

If you find errors in these lessons, if you modify any of them or if you write a new lesson, please release it with a free license and tell us about it, by writing an email to bug-gtypist@gnu.org.

5. Create new lessons

This section provides guidelines and hints for creating new lessons (or improving existing ones).

5.1 Ktouch lessons		Generate lessons from a set of drills
5.2 Exercises from fortune		Create drills/speedtests with text from fortune
5.3 Design patterns for lessons		Hints/Design patterns for lessons

5.1 Ktouch lessons

A very easy way to write lessons is to write them in the format that ktouch uses, and then convert it to a gtypist lesson using tools/ktouch2typ.pl. This will take care of writing "jump-tables", a menu and a bit more.

The ktouch-format consists only of lessons, which are preceded by their names, and separated by blank lines and/or comments (# at the beginning of the line). So the first non-blank, non-comment line in the file is the name of the first lesson, and the first lesson consists of all the lines up to the next comment or blank line. After the separator (comment or blank line) the name of the second lesson follows and so on.

This is an example of a three-lesson ktouch file (excerpts from the first three lessons of german.ktouch):

# # Deutsche Training-Datei für KTouch # Grundstellung f f f f f f fff fff fff f f f f f f fff fff fff f f f f f f f fff j j j j j j jjj jjj jjj j j j j j j jjj jjj jjj j j j j j j j jjj fff jjj fff jjj jjj fff jjj fff fjf fjf fjf jfj jfj jfj fjf jfjfj Grundstellung fff jjj ddd kkk aaa ööö fff jjj ddd kkk aaa ööö fff jjj ddd kkkff fda jkö fda jkö fda jkö fda jkö fda jkö fda jkö fda jkö fda jköfd s s s s s s sss sss sss s s s s s s sss sss sss s s s s s s s sss #Zwei wichtige Vokale: e und i e und i asdf ölkj fdsa jklö asdf ölkj fdsa jklö asdf ölkj fdsa jklö asdfö das dass lös fad dass lös als dass las lös fad dass als dass dass ded ded ded dej dek del deö ded deö del dek dej ded dej dek delde

Once you are done, use tools/ktouch2typ.pl to convert the file: `ktouch2typ.pl lesson.ktouch' converts `lesson.ktouch' to `lesson.typ'. It is important that the input file ends in ".ktouch", otherwise ktouch2typ.pl will skip it. Warning: this will overwrite `lesson.typ' without asking you !

You can customize the number of lines that ktouch2typ.pl uses for each drill by modifying the relevant variable in `tools/ktouch2typ.pl'.

Obviously, the disadvantage of this is that you cannot make use of all of gtypist's features (but the output file is very readable, so you can edit it to use more of gtypist's features).

5.2 Exercises from fortune

Using `gtypist-mode.el' you can quickly create lessons with text from the program fortune (or the emacs-internal yow if fortune isn't available, as is usually the case on Windows).

Besides being used for creating new lessons, this command can be used to quickly create new drills for you to practice with.

Once you installed `gtypist-mode.el' (see section 6. Emacs mode), you can open a file with it ".typ" extension and run C-c C-f to create a drill (D: by default, use C-u or C-u C-u prefix to change).

5.3 Design patterns for lessons

5.3.1 Structure of lesson files

• use mixture of drills and speed tests (this is more fun for the user)
• use some "practice-only" exercises (d:/s:) (possibly mixed with "real" exercises) followed by a "final test". `esp.typ' uses this scheme.

5.3.2 Patterns for exercises

• when introducing a new key, start out by mixing other (known) keys of the same finger in with the new key in the first drill(s). Here is an example (from `t.typ', line 237):

  I:Use your J-finger for the H key. *:_T_R_L23 D:jjj jhj jjj jhj jjj jhj

• use 'word, word.' repeatedly to practice ,/.

6. Emacs mode

gtypist now comes with an Emacs major-mode which does syntax-highlighting, indentation and has some convenient commands for counting labels, a goto-label-command, inserting properly centered banners, special comments and a bit more.

Copy this file from `tools/gtypist-mode.el' to wherever you put your local elisp files (e.g. `~/elisp') and put this in your `~/.emacs' (adapt path!):

(autoload 'gtypist-mode "~/elisp/gtypist-mode")

or put it in load-path (`make install' in the sources should take care of this for GNU Emacs, or if you are using the Debian package, it installs it here for you) and use this instead:

(autoload 'gtypist-mode "gtypist-mode")

and add this to your `~/.emacs':

(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.typ\\'" . gtypist-mode) auto-mode-alist))

All this is also mentioned in the README-section of `tools/gtypist-mode.el'.

Here are the commands along with the keybindings:

C-c C-i, M-x gtypist-mode-info

This shows gtypist's texinfo-documentation, starting at node "Script file commands" (see section 3. Script file commands). With prefix, start at the top-node.

C-c M-g, M-x gtypist-mode-goto-label

Query for a label to go to (with completion).

C-c C-l, M-x gtypist-mode-next-label

This command inserts the next label in a numbered sequence of labels. For example, if you insert

*:SERIES1_L1

and hit C-c C-l then gtypist-mode will insert

*:SERIES1_L2

C-c C-b, M-x gtypist-mode-insert-banner

This command inserts a centered B: command. It's centered on 66 columns because "gtypist " is in the right corner (prompts for content).

C-c C-r, M-x gtypist-mode-insert-hrule

Inserts a horizontal rule (comment) consisting of dashes.

C-c C-n, M-x gtypist-mode-new-lesson

Insert the comments (header) and a label to start a new lesson (prompts for name).

C-c C-f, M-x gtypist-mode-fortune-to-drill

Insert a drill (D:) with text from fortune (or yow if fortune isn't available). Use C-u prefix to get S:, and C-u C-u to get d:.

Run C-h m for a complete list of commands and their keybindings.

If you find bugs or if you think there's something else this mode could do, please write to bug-gtypist@gnu.org.

7. Environment Variables

LANG

GNU Typist offers Native Language Support (NLS) with support of the gettext library, this means that if your system supports it, the language of the messages shown by gtypist can be chosen. By now gtypist is distributed with messages in English, Finnish, French, German and Spanish. To use a particular NLS use the environment variable LANG and set it to the appropriate 'LL_CC' combination where 'LL' is an ISO 639 two-letter language code and 'CC' is an ISO 3166 two-letter country code (e.g. 'es_ES' for Spain and 'de_DE' for Germany). In some systems it will be also necessary to set the environment variable LANGUAGE to the same value.

If you want to translate messages to a different language (or if you want to correct a message), please communicate it to bug-gtypist@gnu.org.

GTYPIST_PATH

Lists the directories that the program will look in for script files. It has the standard format for paths, that is, a list of directories separated by ':'s. To open a script, gtypist will try the following paths: (1) to use the script name alone (2) it will append each one of the directories specified in the variable GTYPIST_PATH and (3) it will append the directory used during the installation process (e.g. `/usr/local/share/gtypist' or `/usr/share/gtypist').

TERM

Used by curses to manage the display.

TERMINFO

This may need to be set if the path to the terminfo database is different between the system the binary was compiled on and the one it is being run on. For example, in older Slackware systems, the terminfo database resides in `/usr/lib/terminfo'. On RedHat Linux, it is in `/usr/share/terminfo'. If the program complains about the terminal type, and the value of TERM is correct, check into this.

8. Errors and omissions

GNU Typist does not go to much effort to minimize terminal output. In particular, the flashing block cursor can cause a lot of cursor movement. Using the terminal's own cursor will help if this becomes a problem.

In speed tests, the program does not allow backspacing or deletion past the beginning of the screen line, or back through Tab characters. This is purely to simplify screen updating.

Colour curses modes do not seem to work well with UnixWare. In particular, reverse video is not always rendered correctly on some terminal types, and xterms.

A. History of GNU Typist

• The initial program was written for VAX/VMS BASIC by someone at Harris Corp (Ft. Lauderdale, FL).
• D. Jason Penney penneyj@slc.com rewrote it for Microsoft BASICA
• D. Jason Penney penneyj@slc.com rewrote it in C and the curses library
• Simon Baldwin simonb@sco.com rewrote the version of D. Jason Penney, his innovations are described in the NEWS file (versions 2.2 to 2.2b). He is the holder of the copyright for GNU Typist (that is distributed under the GPL). Simon also wrote a version of Typist in Java that initially he called JTypist but that now is called Typist:

  http://www.geocities.com/simon_baldwin/typist/

• Since 1997, Ben Armstrong synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca has helped by fixing bugs and maintaining a Debian package (see http://packages.debian.org/gtypist).
• In 2000, Vladimir Támara vtamara@users.sourceforge.net and Igor Támara ikks@users.sourceforge.net became the maintainers of the C version. Before November 2000, GNU Typist was maintained as part of the Structio project.
• November 2000, accepted as a GNU package! Renamed to GNU Typist (or gtypist).
• In May 2001, Michael Opdenacker michaelo@gnu.org, who learned touch typing with GNU Typist, became the new maintainer. Project development is now hosted on http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gtypist/.
• In June 2001, Felix Natter f.natter@ndh.net joined and made major contributions to the project: lesson imports from other tutors, tool enhancements, new tutorial capabilities, and Emacs mode.

Table of Contents

Distribution
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

Preamble
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

1. Introduction
2. Invoking
3. Script file commands
4. Supplied lessons
5. Create new lessons

5.1 Ktouch lessons
5.2 Exercises from fortune
5.3 Design patterns for lessons

5.3.1 Structure of lesson files
5.3.2 Patterns for exercises

6. Emacs mode
7. Environment Variables
8. Errors and omissions
A. History of GNU Typist

Short Table of Contents

Distribution
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
1. Introduction
2. Invoking
3. Script file commands
4. Supplied lessons
5. Create new lessons
6. Emacs mode
7. Environment Variables
8. Errors and omissions
A. History of GNU Typist

About this document

• 1. Section One
• 1.1 Subsection One-One
• ...
• 1.2 Subsection One-Two
• 1.2.1 Subsubsection One-Two-One
• 1.2.2 Subsubsection One-Two-Two
• 1.2.3 Subsubsection One-Two-Three     <== Current Position
• 1.2.4 Subsubsection One-Two-Four
• 1.3 Subsection One-Three
• ...
• 1.4 Subsection One-Four