Intalling Greek and Hebrew fonts in Linux

1. Install the fonts

• Greek GentiumPlus-5.000 to stay with SIL
• Hebrew Ezra SILEOT.ttf from SIL

2. Keyboard layouts are probably installed already

• check /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/gr and /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/il
• otherwise get gr.288 and il.228 from Poythress page

3. Enable switching layouts

• For Hebrew, use the Tiro keyboard, documented here (pdf)
• KDE: system settings, input devices, keyboard, configure layouts
• Unity: similar
• Some instructions are available here

4. Set up Libre Office for switching

• Great tutorial here: opensiddur.org/…editing-layout
• Summary:
  • Under “Enhanced Language Support” check the checkbox “Enabled for Complex Text Layout (CTL).”
  • Under “Default Languages for Documents” see the option for CTL, and select Hebrew from the drop menu.
  • Select the Hebrew Font you’d like to type in.
• When typing you can set the text direction clicking a toolbar button or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+D

Other resources

• Vern S. Poythress’s page (2014)
• Get the BHS free from tanach.us/Tanach.xml
• Open Siddur Project