I've created an Esperanto keyboard layout
It's based on the default QWERTY US keyboard layout.

To use it:

• Download the file.
  
• Unzip it to a directory, somewhere.
  
• Run setup.exe.
  
• Go to Control Panel>Regional and Language Options and select Esperanto with the little keyboard icon next to it. It's under Albanian, I know, but Esperanto wasn't in the language list.
  
• To type Esperanto letters, type Ctrl+Alt+c,h,g,j,u. Use Ctrl+Alt+Shift for capital letters.

Download ZIP here.

Enjoy!

bone!dankon
i have tried it
that's great

Barbatus Rex:I downloaded the file, and can't open it. But then I'm not sure I have "zip" on my computer to"unzip" a file. I tried "opening" the file rather than saving it, and changed the settings (esperanto was indeed under Albanian). But the ctrl+alt does not work.
Don't know what to do from here.

What operating system are you using?

I've tried several of these types of programs. Each one of them has hosed my system in some weird way. Many of them go and make a lot of changes "under the hood" which change the behavior/default fonts of all sorts of things throughout the Windows OS. Are you reasonably sure that your application keeps its "hands off" the rest of the system? If, I'd like to give it a go.

Mike:I've tried several of these types of programs. Each one of them has hosed my system in some weird way. Many of them go and make a lot of changes "under the hood" which change the behavior/default fonts of all sorts of things throughout the Windows OS. Are you reasonably sure that your application keeps its "hands off" the rest of the system? If, I'd like to give it a go.

This application hasn't affected my computer at all, and apparently nobody else's either. It was made using this Microsoft application and I can't see why it would harm your computer..

Another option on Windows is to use the program Ek. It's available at http://www.esperanto.mv.ru/Ek/ It's a nice little program that sits in the system tray (where you can activate/deactivate it easily). When it is active, it automatically converts the x-system (or the h-system) into Esperanto's accented characters. I.e. cx is automatically changed into ĉ.

My problem with EK! is that the instructions are all in Esperanto only, so it's a little difficult to understand exactly how to use the program. My Esperanto is not so poor as to be at the "Bonan matenon" level, but it's not good enough for me to feel comfortable with a somewhat technical matter such as installing/using a software app. If there were an English translation of the Ek! instructions, I'd appreciate being directed towards it.

Mike:My problem with EK! is that the instructions are all in Esperanto only, so it's a little difficult to understand exactly how to use the program. My Esperanto is not so poor as to be at the "Bonan matenon" level, but it's not good enough for me to feel comfortable with a somewhat technical matter such as installing/using a software app. If there were an English translation of the Ek! instructions, I'd appreciate being directed towards it.

They're short enough that I don't mind translating them for you.

1 ) Alklaku ek35inst.exe.

Click on (the file name) ek35inst.exe (actually double click)

2) Aperos dialogujo, en kies enmeta linio vi vidos dosierujon, en kiun estos instalita EK. Se la defaŭlta dosierujo ne kontentigas vin, tajpu en tiu linio plenan nomon de dezirata dosierujo aŭ elektu ĝin per butono «Foliumu».

A dialogue box will appear, in whose input line you will see a (windows) folder (directory) name in which EK will be installed. If the default folder location does not please you, type in this line the full name of the desired folder location or choose it by means of the button (Browse).

3) Premu butonon «Instalu».
Press the button Install

4) Okazos elpakigo de EK, kaj aperos dialogujo kun opcioj de instalo. Elektu el la maldekstra listo kodpaĝon, kiu estos anstataŭigita per la esperanta kodpaĝo. Sub Vindozo NT/2000/XP defaŭlte tio estas neniu kodpaĝo (ĉar tie eblas labori rekte kun Unikodo); sub Vindozo 9x/ME tio estas balta kodpaĝo, kaj mi rekomendas, ke vi uzu ĝuste ĝin, krom se vi bezonas iun el la baltaj lingvoj. Se iu el elekteblaj kodpaĝoj koincidas kun via sistema kodpaĝo, ĝi estos malpermesita, t.e. vi ne povos elekti ĝin (ĉar tio povus krei problemojn).

An unpacking (uncompressing) of EK will occur, and a dialogue box with installation options will appear. Choose from the left side list of text encodings. which will be substituted by means of the Esperanto encodings. (basically here you're telling EK which font set to use to convert text into esperanto) Under (If you use) Windows NT/2000/XP, that (best choice) is by default "neniu kodpaĝo" (no encoding), because there (in those versions of windows) it is possible to work directly with Unicode (in other words windows has the fonts built in and doesnt need EK to do anything extra).

Under Windows 95/98/ME that (best choice) is "balta kodpaĝo" (baltic encoding), and I recommend that you should use it, apart from whether you need any (characters) out of the baltic language. If some of the available encoding choices coincide with your system's (default) text encoding, it will be forbidden, that is, you will not be allowed/able to choose it (from the list)because that would create problems.

5) Se vi elektis iun kodpaĝon, dekstre aperos listo de anstataŭigeblaj naciaj klavaroj, apartenantaj al la elektita kodpaĝo. Elektu iun el ili por ke ĝi estu anstataŭigita per la esperanta.

If you chose any text encoding (other than the default neniu kodpaĝo), on the right there will appear a list of able-to-be-substituted national keyboards, belonging to the chosen text encodings. Choose one of them in order that it (the characters) should be replaced by means of the Esperanto (language characters).

6) Premu butonon «Bone».

Press the button (o.k.)

7) Sub Vindozo 9x/ME post fino de instalado la instalilo petos de vi permeson restartigi Vindozon. EK povos normale funkcii nur post la restarto.

Under Windows 98/ME, after completion of the installation, the installation tool will ask your permission to cause a restart of windows. EK can normally function only after the restart.

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Note from me, once you've installed it, it's very easy to use. a little button with a picture that says EK will show up in the windows system tray (that little area by the system clock). Click on the button to activate it, click it again to deactivate it.

When it is active, any time you type cx (or ch), sx (or sh), etc., they will automatically be changed into the correct Esperanto character (as far as I know this works for just about any application in windows that lets you type).

It's a super little program. well worth giving a try.

Thanks awake, I'll give it a try soon...just out of curiosity, is there something equally simple or feature-ful for Mac along these lines? Similarly: I assume that there must be something very simple for Linux users, since many distributions offer localizations for Esperanto as part of the installation software, and apps like OpenOffice are available in Esperanto as well.

In OS X it's built into the system. But, it may not be turned on by default. First go into the System Preferences (the mac version of the control panel) and go into the international panel. In the Input Menu, make sure that U.S. Extended Keyboard is check as the default (rather than plain U.S. Keyboard).

Then you can quickly put a ^ over any letter by typing

option+6 and then the letter. That way you can make ĉ ŝ ĝ etc...or even letters that arent in Esperanto like ê.

Similarly, option + b (for breve) will put a breve mark over the next letter you type. thus option +b then u will give you the ŭ.

It took me a couple of days to train my fingers to go to the right places, but now I just type normally and insert them as I need them.

Mike:Thanks awake, I'll give it a try soon...just out of curiosity, is there something equally simple or feature-ful for Mac along these lines? Similarly: I assume that there must be something very simple for Linux users, since many distributions offer localizations for Esperanto as part of the installation software, and apps like OpenOffice are available in Esperanto as well.