Acon 1.0.5

Acon is a small tool that monitors one or more virtual consoles while running in the backgrounds. If it finds Arabic letters, Acon will write them in the correct direction. You must be root to run it.

The program has two modes of operation. The first is a left to right console, in which the default language is English. Use this when most of your document is in English. The second mode is a right to left console, in which the default language is Arabic. Use this when most of your document is in Arabic.

Installation:

1-Extract the archive :
tar xzvf acon-1.0.5.tar.gz
cd acon
2-If you want, edit acon.h for some configuration.
3-Compile the program:
make
4-Then install the binary and data files
make install

**** Notes
-acon will be installed as setuid. I made my efforts to make
it not risky. Please tell me if any thing goes wrong.
-the unicode mode is still not tested. Please tell me if you
find errors.

Using:

To run Acon, simply type:
acon &
Acon will first search for configuration file '~/.acon.conf'. if
it is not found, Acon will try '/etc/acon.conf'. If both aren't
found Acon will run in the current console with the defaults.

Acon can work with more than one console. Each console can has
its own font, keymap and translation data. Which means that each
console can handle different codeset.

Acon can be configured in three different ways:
1- Command line options:
By using command line options, Acon won't read the
configuration file. Type 'acon -?' to know what options are
available.
The sequence of options is important. You first set the
different options for one console and then adding it using
'-s n', where n is the console number. For example
'-f sample.f16 -ha -dr -s 3' sequence will add console 3 to
the list of consoles monitored by Acon, with font sample.f16
using the hendi numbers and the direction of the console is
from right to left. Repeate for different consoles in the same
command line. The line
acon -f sample.f16 -ha -dr -s 3 -hn -dl -k cp-1256 -s 4 &
will run Acon in the background. Acon will work with the
consoles 3 and 4.

2- configuration file:
It works in the same manner as above. But you write each option
and its parameter in on line.

3- online configuration
You can configure Acon using menus at any time by pressing the
key CTRL-ALT-O at the same time (use left ALT).
Press CTRL-C to exit menu or ENTER to select an item.
Use the 'Save' item to save the configuration to '~/.acon.conf'.
Then you can change it or use it the next time you run Acon.

Hot keys:

You can press the following keys when a console monitored by Acon is
the active console (you can make any console active using the kays
ALT-F1 for console number 1, AlT-F2 for console number 2 and so on):
CTRL-ALT-TAB : Change the direction of the console.
CTRL-ALT-A : Change the language of writing(ArabicEnglish)
CTRL-ALT-O : Open the options menu.
(use left ALT)

CTRL-left SHIFT : Change the direction of the console to LTR.
CTRL-right SHIFT: Change the direction of the console to RTL.
ALT-left SHIFT : Change the language to English.
ALT-right SHIFT : Change the language to Arabic.

Unicode:

Select UTF-8/Enable from the menu to enable unicode input and output.
You should use ISO-8859 translation and keymap to function correctly
in UTF-8 mode. This mode is still under test and I'm not sure if it
works right. Please I need your feedback.

Usefull hints:

-To enable 'bash' to accept and display arabic letters, create
a file name '.inputrc' in your home directory containing:
set meta-flag On
set convert-meta Off
set output-meta On

-To read files which contains arabic letters using less add the
flag '-r'
less -r filename

acon.conf format
For each console you set its options then add it to the list of consoles.
Each line is started by the option name, then its value.
white scapes, emty lines and commants started bu '#' are ignored.
The available options are:
hendinums: set the hendinumbers options.
values:
never, always, context
unicode: set the unicode options.
values:
disable, enable
direction: set the general direction of the console.
values:
LTR, RTL
font: set the font file name
values:
file name
keymap: set the keymap file name
values:
file name
translation:set the translation file name
values:
file name
add_console:add a console to the list with the previous options
values:
console number

You can select options/save from the menu to save the option to ~/.acon.conf,
Look at this file to know the exact form.

Files:
/usr/lib/acon/fonts/* font files
/usr/lib/acon/keymaps/* keymap files
/usr/lib/acon/translation/* translation files
/etc/acon.cnf
~/.acon.conf

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