A New Layout
A while ago I wrote on typing in Hebrew. I also decided (after actually discovering the content of this post) to write up how to enable the advanced Hebrew keyboards.
The problem I encountered even with my fancy Hebrew (Biblical, SIL phonetic) keyboard layout is that typing hatef vowels (or “composite shewas”) is seemingly impossible. So that got me looking for another solution which has replaced Hebrew (Biblical, SIL phonetic) for me.
In short, it is a keyboard layout that is based on SIL’s phonetic layout but rearranges some letters and adds hatef vowels. The layout and accompanying write-up can be found here. In case it disappears, I have also put it on this site so you can download it here.
Installation
# preserve a backup of the original Hebrew keyboard map
sudo mv /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/il /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/il.original
# install the Into Your Hands LLC version of the Hebrew keyboard map
sudo cp ./il.iyh-2017-10-05 /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/il
You will also need to enable it in the Region & Language settings. For a keyboard map (not a great one): click here or if that link dies, my backup is here.
Notes on the New Layout
I have been caught a few times by the moved Holam mark. It is no longer the standard o which is now the Qamats Qatan: instead you need to use shift+o to get Holam. In addition, ש (without a sin/shin dot) is inserted with shift+s instead of shift+f/j (f and j were and are still sin and shin).
Now however, we can get hatef vowels with , (אֳ), . (אֲ) and / (אֱ).