Wikipedia:Kannada support

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Enabling Kannada on your desktop. Here's a comprehensive document to help you through enabling Kannada on your desktop on your favourite Operating System. Browse through the index and read the section relevant to your Operating System.

Note: You too can help out by correcting broken links or erroneous information in this document.

Contents

[edit] Who should read this?

If you are unable to view or edit the Kannada text on this Wikipedia, this page is for you. This page is also recommended for users who can view or edit but are not familiar with editing documents in Kannada using Unicode. Despite the title of the document, the instructions will apply to all sites and content which use Unicode.

If you have further questions or distribution specific issues for which the solutions are not listed below, you can post onto the discussion forums at [1]. But please make sure you read this document properly before submitting support requests there.

[edit] Preparing your system for Kannada

While most new versions of Windows Operating Systems and Linux Distributions have basic support for viewing and editing Kannada in Unicode, they still have some quirks or need some configuration to get it working.

[edit] Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows 3.1x

Although officially there is no support for the above Operating Systems, some users have reported that using IE6 upgrades Kannada Support for the Browser. Visit this page or make enquiries on the mailing lists/boards listed below

The following is some additional information from the Unicode site regarding Windows 2000:

For Windows 2000, getting additional languages installed is as follows:

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Regional Options.

In the General tab, set all the languages you may want to display, the more you set, the more you will be able to process multilingual data through all your applications, including your browser. This adds fonts as well as system support for these languages.

Full fonts with Office 2000

If you have Microsoft Office 2000 and newer versions, you can get the Arial Unicode MS font, which is the most complete. To get it, insert the Office CD, and do a custom install. Choose Add or Remove Features. Click the (+) next to Office Tools, then International Support, then the Universal Font icon, and choose the installation option you want.

[edit] Windows XP/ Server 2003 Family

[edit] Prerequisites

  • Go to Control Panel->Regional Settings->Languages->Install support for complex scripts including Thai
  • Click Apply/OK
  • You will require the Windows XP CD
  • Reboot

[edit] Display

Out of the Box support for viewing pages in Kannada thanks to the Arial Unicode MS font.

[edit] Fonts

Besides the Arial Unicode MS font, Windows XP also comes with Tunga which gets installed if you follow the steps detailed in the next section (Input). You can also install any font from here.

[edit] Input

[edit] Selecting the Input method

[edit] Nudi
  • Download Nudi 4.0 or above from http://www.kagapa.org
  • Right click on the Nudi program in the status bar, enable utf-8 input and use normally

[edit] Baraha
  • Download Baraha 6.0 or above from http://www.baraha.com
  • Start Baraha Direct
  • Right click on the Baraha Direct icon on the status bar, select the 'Unicode' option, choose Kannada for Itrans or Baraha like input, KGP for Nudi like Input.

[edit] Microsoft's Keyboard Layouts (Deprecated)

NOTE: Apparently, the Indic IME's are supposed to work only on Microsoft Word and doesn't work well on other applications. Hence, the instructions for Phonetic IME here won't be useful unless you are using this input with MS Office. The Inscript keymap however will work out of the box without downloading anything. Use the other two solutions listed below for phonetic keymaps.

  • Download Indic Input IME from http://www.bhashaindia.com/downloads/downloads.aspx?lang=en which contains Nudi and Baraha like phonetic layouts for Windows XP. Windows XP, by default comes with the non-phonetic Layout. If you like Inscript, you can just follow the next step.
  • Control panel -> Regional Settings -> Languages -> Details ->Add and add kannada (NOTE: If you don't get Kannada, you might not have done the above step)
  • From the IME, select the type of layout you prefer (Inscript, Nudi or Baraha)

[edit] Browsing

MS IE, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla and variants and Opera all display Kannada by Default without any modification and input if above step is carried out.

[edit] GNU/Linux and FreeBSD

Although almost all Linux Distributions have support for Kannada, browsing Kannada Unicode websites especially using the default Mozilla or its variants like Firefox, Galeon or Epiphany does not work.

[edit] Distribution specific

[edit] Mandrakelinux

Of all distributions, Mandrakelinux has the best support for Kannada out of the box. It includes Sampige font, Kannada locale, Inscript layout and KDE with Kannada Support. If you are using Mandrakelinux, most of these steps are optional.

Note: To install the Kannada package if you have not done during installation, do the following steps, as root:

  • install locale: urpmi locales-kn
  • install fonts: urpmi fonts-ttf-kannada
  • launch localedrake, and select Kannada language
  • configure keyboard (trough control center) to select kannada keyboard

[edit] Fedora Core 3

Please refer this weblog entry.

[edit] Fonts

The following instructions will help install fonts for a single user on the system (no root password required)

$ mkdir ~/.fonts
$ copy *.ttf ~/.fonts
  • Update the font cache
$ fc-cache

You will need to restart an application after installing the font to see the newly installed font in that application.

Note:

  • Using Sampige font (that comes by default as of now with some of the Linux distributions) might not render Kannada properly. It is recommended that the users install either Kedage Font from brahmi project or Mallige from the same place (and remove all other Kannada Unicode fonts).
  • The package called ttf-free-fonts, if installed renders Kannada incorrectly on few distributions. Remove the ttf-free-fonts and restart Mozilla.
  • You can also install fonts from the repositories on few distributions (like Debian, Ubuntu) - by installing ttf-kannada-fonts via apt-get.
sudo apt-get install ttf-kannada-fonts

The package installs either Sampige font or Kedage font depending on the version of the package you've installed (the latest versions have Kedage and Mallige in it).

[edit] Input Methods

[edit] XKB

[edit] m17n

The m17n - SCIM framework gives standardized (UTF-8) Kannada editing capabilities on standard keyboards.

m17n library is an opensource initiative for realizing multilingualization in Linux/Unix Platforms. The library serves as a backend for the Smart Common Input Method (SCIM) Project. SCIM provides a neat way of switching between Kannada and English keys.

Hence, to achieve full Kannada editing capabilities on your Linux system this way, you should have both the m17n backend and the SCIM frontend.

Here is the step by step procedure:

1. Download the m17n libraries and database sources (Version 1.2.0) from here

    Alternatively, Fedora Users can install source rpms from here   
    Install both the libraries and databases.
      1. Go to the library source directory in the terminal and logged in as root
      2. Type './configure' and then 'make' and 'make install'
      3. Do the same for the database.

2. Download the SCIM (Version 1.2.1) and SCIM tables from here

    Alternatively, Fedora Users can install from here 
    Install SCIM the same way you did m17n 
      (cd to source,'./configure', 'make' and 'make install') or rpm -ivh 'filename.rpm' if you downloaded the rpm.

3. Download the m17n-SCIM interface from here

    Alternatively, Fedora users can download it from here
    Install the m17n-SCIM in a similar fashion.
      Some users have encountered trouble in finding the already installed SCIM package when they use './configure'.
      To correct this problem, please follow these guidelines.
         1. To make sure that you have scim, in the terminal, try whereis scim.
            you should get something similar to 'scim: /usr/bin/scim.....'            
         2. In the terminal, try whereis pkgconfig. You should have 2-3 results. Go to the directory each of these
            directories and see if 'scim.pc' is present. If so, include the path of that directory in the environment
            variable PKG_CONFIG_PATH (ex:  export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig )
       Once pkgconfig is able to find scim, installation should proceed smoothly.

4. After installation, in Fedora 3 you should see the SCIM Input Method Setup in Applications-->Preferences-->More Preferences

     Alternatively, you can invoke scim-setup by typing scim-setup in the terminal.

5. Once the SCIM front end starts,

    Go to the IME-engine-->Global Setup option to see the Kannada keyboard listed. 
    Go to Kannada, expand the tree and you see the m17n kan-itrans option and click edit hot-keys.
      Choose a convineint hotkey for changing the keyboard to Kannada.
    Go to Front end --> Global Hotkeys. Choose another hotkey to invoke this setup utility. 
    Go to Panel--> GTK and select all options you want to make the SCIM utility easily accessible.

Now you are all set to type in Kannada!!!. Go to any UTF-8 enabled editor or IM (gedit, gaim work!) and select the m17n kan itrans Keyboard in Kannada in the SCIM utility (which should be running on the desktop panel) and start typing Kannada! If you any further doubts and questions, please visit http://kannada.sourceforge.net/support and post your queries.

[edit] IIIMF

IIIMF is a multi-platform input method framework. IIMF comes with Nudi and Inscript layouts for Kannada. But be warned, it is very unstable. The IIIMF howto at Indlinux provides more information and step by step instructions on installation and usage.

[edit] ISIS

ISIS is an easy-to-use system for computation using Indian scripts, developed by Gautam Sengupta of the Center for Applied Linguistics & Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad. ISIS binaries can be downloaded from here.

[edit] Inscript Layout

Inscript layout is easy to setup. It is readily available in most of the distributions. Instructions to enable the layout vary depending on your desktop environment or distribution.

[edit] Mandrakelinux (keyboarddrake)

On Mandrakelinux the preferred way to enable the inscript layout keyboard is trough the Mandrakelinux control center -> keyboard, choose the Kannada keyboard, and the key combination to switch between US and Kannada layouts; that will work for all desktop and WM.

[edit] GNOME 2.8.x and above
  • Enable the Keyboard Indicator
Right click on panel
Choose Add to Panel...
Choose Keyboard Indicator
Click Add

You should now see a Keyboard Indicator applet on your panel.

  • Add Kannada as one of the layouts
Right click on Keyboard Indicator
Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
Choose Layout tab
Select Kannada in Available Layouts list
Click Add

On the keyboard indicator, when you see Kan you will be typing in Kannada.

  • Assign a shortcut to switching between US and Kannada keyboard layouts.
Right click on the Keyboard Indicator
Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
Choose Layout Options tab
Select an option from Group Shift/Lock Behaviour in Available Options list
Click Add

You will now be able to switch the groups using a keyboard shortcut depending on the option you have chosen.

[edit] GNOME 2.6.x
  • Enable the Keyboard Indicator
Right click on panel
Choose Add to Panel
Choose Utility
Choose Keyboard Indicator

You should now see a Keyboard Indicator applet on your panel.

  • Add Kannada as one of the layouts
Right click on Keyboard Indicator
Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
Choose Layout tab
Select Kannada in Available Layouts list
Click Add

On the keyboard indicator, when you see tel you will typing in Kannada.

  • Assign a shortcut to switching between US and Kannada keyboard layouts.
Right click on the Keyboard Indicator
Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
Choose Layout Options tab
Select an option from Group Shift/Lock Behaviour category in Available Options list
Click Add

You will now be able to switch the groups using a keyboard shortcut depending on the option you have chosen.

[edit] GNOME 2.4.x and below
  • Enable the Keyboard Switcher
Right click on panel
Choose Add to Panel
Choose Utility
Choose Keyboard Layout Switcher

You should now see a Keyboard Layout Switcher applet on your panel.

  • Add Kannada as one of the layouts
Right click on the Keyboard Layout Switcher applet
Choose Preferences...
Click add
Select the language you want to add

When the Keyboard Layout Swither shows Kannada, we will able to type in Kannada. You can press and Left alt and Left Shift to switch between the layouts.

[edit] KDE
  • Enable the Keyboard Layout Switcher
Open KDE Control Center
Choose Regional & Accessibility
Choose Keyboard Layout
Select Layout tab
Select Enable keyboard layouts
  • Add Kannada as one of the layouts
Choose Kannada from Available layouts list
Click Add
  • Assign a shortcut to switching between US and Kannada keyboard layouts.
Select Xkb Options tab
Select Enable Xkb options
Select an option from the Group Shift/Lock Behaviour category in the Options list
Click Apply
Close Control Center

You should now see Keyboard Layout Switcher in the notification area. You can switch keyboard layouts by clicking on the Keyboard Layout Switcher or by using the keyboard shortcut you have chosen.

[edit] Browsing

[edit] Konqueror

The version of Konqueror that comes with KDE 3.2 or above or if you are using Konqueror with QT 3.2 or above, you will get Kannada Display and Input in Unicode, provided you have followed the above steps.

[edit] Mozilla

By default, Mozilla products on Fedora Core 3 & Ubuntu come with indic language support. All you need to do is put the following statements in your Mozilla/FireFox/Thunderbird executable (Ex: in /usr/bin/firefox ) under #Variables or your ~/.bashrc file.

MOZ_ENABLE_PANGO=1
export MOZ_ENABLE_PANGO

Alternatively, you can download Mozilla Binaries with Indic (including Kannada) support from http://www.indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/TamingTheDragon The TamingtheDragon page also has instructions on enabling Indic (including Kannada) support if you want to build from source.

[edit] Mac OS X

Free: Wikipedia user Nicholas Shanks has modified the Kedage font to run on Mac OS X, and created an INSCRIPT‐based keyboard layout. Visit his website's project page to download them.

Commercial: A company called XenoType Technologies has been selling a Kannada language kit for several years. It includes one font, with more in development, and comes with two keyboard layouts, one QWERTY‐like and one based on INSCRIPT.

[edit] X11 Alternative

Another alternative (untested) is to install the X11 server and the instructions in the Linux section should work for you.

[edit] Unicode

[edit] Definition

Unicode is an universal character set which defines code points for each character in almost every script in the world including Kannada. It is an internationally accepted standard published by the Unicode Consortium Unicode Consortium and supported in most Operating Systems. The Karnataka Government is representing for Kannada on the Unicode Consortium through Ministry of Information and Technology, Govt of India.

[edit] Why does Kannada Wikipedia use Unicode?

  • It's an accepted standard (see above section).
  • Software to view and edit comes either with the Operating System or is freely available.
  • Search is seamless.
  • It is extremely easy to translate the wikipedia's interface.

See discussion on Unicode usage in Wikipedia.

[edit] External Links

[edit] Resources

[edit] General

[edit] Kannada

  • Kannada Localisation Initiative
  • Sampada
  • Baraha - a free text editor for Many Indian languages including Kannada and Hindi with Unicode support.
  • Nudi - a free text editor for Kannada with Unicode support
  • Bhasha India - Microsoft's Community Page for Indic languages
  • EMACS - a free text editor for UNIX/Linux with Kannada and Hindi support.

[edit] IMEs

[edit] More Info

To get more information on how to install fonts, go to this page on the Unicode organization's website. http://www.unicode.org/help/display_problems.html

[edit] Forums

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