Re: Tamil support: Ubuntu Drapper Beta, Gnome

[Simos Xenitellis <simos74 gmx net>]

Hi Shakthi,

On Wed, 2006-05-03 at 13:00 +0530, Shakthi Kannan wrote:
> Greetings!
> 
> I have installed Ubuntu Dapper Beta on my T41 and running Gnome.
> Installation was smooth. Treat me as a "new be" here.
> 
> I am currently testing tamil support in this distro with gnome. I have
> installed ttf-indic-fonts, scim, gnome-language-ta et. al. My
> inferences/doubts:
> 
> 1. Able to use tamil keyboard input (UTF-8) with Gedit, Gaim, Abiword,
> Vim and Mozilla Firefox.

Good.

> 2. Have setup CAPS lock key to switch between US and tamil unicode.

Ok. I do not know about SCIM, this looks like a good key combination for
the switching.

> 3. In gnome-termial, when doing a cat on a tamil file, the "dots" for
> letters are printed separately, and certain double-characters are
> interchanged:
> 
> http://www.shakthimaan.com/downloads/tamil/terminal.jpg ... (I)

Check out the bug reports at 
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/ for "gnome-terminal". If it is not listed
already, please make a bug report attaching the screenshot.

When searching in Bugzilla, use Classification Desktop and Product
"gnome-terminal" or "vte" (the library in gnome-terminal).
Also, if you search on Google for "gnome-terminal indic", you may find
existing discussions.

Get in contact with the Tamil GNOME team for the background on this,
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gtp/teams.html

> 4. Gnome tamil interface is also good. I still need clarification on
> couple of things:
> 
> Gaim, Firefox and Gedit automatically do the translation as per our
> written tamil when I enter into US language (from gdm) and switch to
> tamil unicode keyboard typing:
> 
> http://www.shakthimaan.com/downloads/tamil/text-editor.jpg ... (II)
> 
> On the other hand, if I login into gdm with Tamil language gnome
> interface, the above automatic translation does not happen. I get the
> "o" and "oo" as unicode formats, as also seen from:
> 
> http://www.shakthimaan.com/downloads/tamil/terminal.jpg
> 
> Why is this so?

I am not quite sure I understand this issue. If writing support is not
consistent, this is an Ubuntu configuration issue.
See launchpad.net, search for existing bug reports or file a new one.

> I'd like to use tamil gnome interface and also be able to get the
> written tamil form for "o" and "oo" appended to the characters. How
> can this be fixed?

Rendering should work ok. If not, it's an issue of what default font
Ubuntu uses for Tamil. Use Accessories/Character Map, find Tamil group
and right-click on letters. This will show which font is used for Tamil.
If FreeSans/FreeMono is used, then there are issues with it and you need
to fix with Ubuntu (or "fontconfig" at FreeDesktop).

> 5. Not all gnome menus have been translated to tamil. Whom should I
> contact for this?

http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gtp/teams.html
Help out Jayaradha for this.

> 6. I am interested in a typing tutor for Tamil. I have looked at
> Klavaro, and it uses UTF-8. But, again with UTF-8, the text displayed
> is very different from our written tamil (I). Is there any way we can
> write a gnome application for touch typing for Tamil with the actual
> written form as seen in (II)?

There is one way that Tamil should be written, and that's the correct
way. :)
Most probably it's a font issue that should be resolved.
The GNOME application for Tamil touch typing should be no different from
one of another language.

> 7. What is the format in which a language dictionary should be
> written, so that it can be imported from other necessary gnome
> applications?

That should be "aspell". Google this.
Please check the Thamizha group at 
http://thamizha.com/
as they work on Tamil in FLOSS. It's good to work on these issues with
the community.

> 8. Is there a letter pronounciation gnome package for teaching
> letters/pronounciation of words of a language that I am not aware of?

I am not sure. You can look at www.gnomefiles.org, or google for "gnome
pronounciation" (or similar), or check freshmeat.net and
sourceforge.net.

Cheers,
Simos

> Appreciate any feedback.
> 
> Apologize for any incorrect terminology used as I am very new to this.
> 
> Thanking you,
> 
> SK
> 
> --
> Shakthi Kannan
> http://www.shakthimaan.com
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