Arabeyes
Arabeyes is a Free Open Source project that is aimed at fully supporting the Arabic language in the Unix/Linux environment. It was established in early 2001 by a number of Arab Linux enthusiasts.
Project
The project runs a portal for sub-projects such as Arabic free software Unicode fonts and text editor, the "ITL" (Islamic Tools and Libraries) which provide Hijri dates, Muslim prayer times and Qibla, and an entire distribution named Arabbix, which is based on Knoppix.
Located online at arabeyes.org, this network calls itself as a "meta project that is aimed at fully supporting the Arabic language in the Unix/Linux environment". It is designed to be a central location to standardize the Arabization process. Interestingly, Arabeyes relies on voluntary contributions by computer professionals and enthusiasts scattered across the globe.
Like other Free/Open Source Software projects that thrive on the Internet, this one too has its contributors coming in from different countries and regions.
Priorities
Arabeye says its priorities are to:
- Address the various font/keyboard-mapping issues (for typing in Arabic)
- Create the ability to write plain-text Arabic easily
- Create the ability to spell-check your Arabic text documents
- Create the ability to send and receive mail through an Arabic interface
- Localize (or translate) Common Graphical-User-Interface (GUI)
- Create the ability to take Arabic text files and create various enriched documents (using computer-based formats such as TeX, Word, etc.)