Typing Bengali and Hindi in Unicode

I have designed the following idiosyncratic keyboard for use on my Sony Vaio PCG-R505DC Laptop running Linux kernel 2.4.22-ac3 and Summit_LX-Platinum-2.2-8 from XiGraphics for a X server. The FwdMode and RevMode keys change the keyboard between four modes: only three are defined in the xkb file (so if you are in the fourth mode, none of the keys work except, fortunately for the mode key :-). The keyboard maps are explained in the following table. Incidentally, if you do not know how to use an xkb file, here is the command:

to try it out temporarily. If something goes wrong, just restart your server, or do a

To see how to display bengali properly, follow the links from the অঙ্কুর বাংলা আর্কাইভ.

And I would like to express my appreciation for Deepayan Sarkar and Sayamindu Dasgupta who, apart from doing such important work, find the time to help newbies like me. Don't blame them for the keyboard layout, though: this monstrosity is all my fault.