Tamil Fonts, Keyboards & Software
"..The talent, interest and energy in
Tamil Computing are widely scattered around the world. For
nearly two decades, the expertise and enthusiasm of this
community were reflected as individual efforts mainly
engaged in development of fonts and keyboard drivers. The
fast changes in the computing environment and worldwide
proliferation of Internet usage have widened the base of
interest in Tamil Computing and Internet applications..."
Dr. M. Anandakrishnan
at
Tamil Internet
2000
Stepwise instructions - to view Unicode Tamil text -
1. You need to have
Unicode Tamil fonts installed on your computer and the
Operating System capable of rendering Tamil Scripts. Windows XP
comes with a Unicode Tamil Font (Latha) and you should not
need to download/install a unicode font.
2. In the Control Panel, in Regional/Languages Options you
will need to ensure that Indic/Asian Language option is checked.
3. Use a browser that is capable of handling UTF-8 based
pages (Netscape 6, Internet Explorer 5) with the Unicode Tamil
font chosen as the default font for the UTF-8 char-set/encoding
view. Unicode Tamil Fonts may be downloaded from
here
Some users of Windows 98/NT/ME/2000 Windows NT may find that
even with a Tamil Unicode font installed and the browser
correctly set to View > Encoding > Unicode, some of the Tamil
letters are incorrectly displayed. An example of this
incorrect display may be viewed here using any TSC font -
"அதோ
அந்த பறவை போல வாழ வேண்டும்
இதோ இந்த அலைகள் போல ஆட வேண்டும்
ஒரே வானிலே ஒரே மண்ணிலே
ஒரே கீதம் உரிமை கீதம் பாடுவோம்"
This may be due to the earlier version of
usp10.dll used in these operating systems. To correct this, it
may be necessary to update the usp10.dll file in Windows.
To do this,
1. Download the latest version of the
usp10.dll file. [one of the sites for this download is
here
. Alternatively, you may download the file from the Microsoft
site
here - save the downloaded .exe file - double click on the
file - give a temporary folder address - the program will
extract a few files into the folder - of these 'usp.zip' is the
one you will need - discard the other files - unzip usp.zip - it
will give two files viz: usp10.dll and readme.txt ]
2. Go to the Windows folder and find the
file named usp10.dll (usually in the System and/or System32
sub folder). Rename the file to a different name say usp10.old .
3. Place the newly downloaded usp10.dll
file in the same folder as the renamed usp10.old file.
6. Re start the computer.
[in addition see also -
How to Switch
usp.dll and
Making Uniscribe (USP10.DLL) Available for All Programmes]
Ram S.Ravindran on using Tamil Unicode in Personal
Computers -
"Most of the PC computer users use either Win 98 or XP operating
systems. I recognize there are some of us who use Mac and Linux
machines.
Win 98 OS and the applications that go with them don’t
support Unicode format. However, if you have Win 98 you can
input in Unicode Tamil.
Recently (March 2004) most of us came to know of a neat
freeware program called
LedLineIt!. This program allows you to create
Unicode font Tamil documents. All you need is
e- Kalappai 1.0 or 2.0 with the Unicode kmx file.
You can create a Unicode Tamil document with the use of
Thenee, aVarangal or TSCArparnar fonts. This program doesn’t use
any dll or Windows hook ups. However the exe file is about 3.4
megs.
If you have IE explorer 5.5 or higher you can use Ledlineit
to create Unicode Tamil text and cut and paste it in Hotmail or
Yahoo Webmail email text boxes. So if you have Win 98 you can in
fact read and write in Unicode Tamil in the email. Likewise you
can paste it in Blogs.
Using Leadlineit , you can save the Unicode document file and
print it out as well. As a matter of fact, you can even save the
document as a HTML file for uploading to a free Web hosting
service. So you can use it as a HTML editor as well.
If you have Win XP machine, to get the best Unicode
capability, you need to install the Asian font capability. From
start, go to settings, control panel and then select the
regional settings. Install the Asian font capability. (you might
be asked to place the WinXP OS disk). After you install
the Asian font capability , select the regional font option
again and select advanced. Select the Tamil language option.
With MS office XP Word and selecting Tamil driver and
selecting Latha font and using Ekalappai you can create a
Tamil Unicode document. Using Publisher 2003 you can create a
Web page. Of course you can cut and paste into a Blog page.
You can enter in Tamil into the text boxes of Yahoo mail and
Hotmail as well. The most important thing to do is to make
sure that you have the Internet options set with Thenee UNIX
font and Tamil language selected. If you don’t do it right then
things won’t be right.
Now you can input in Unicode Tamil in both Win 98 and XP
systems. Thanks to Ekalappai, (Keyman module) and Ledlineit we
have the ability to input in Unicode Tamil." - (in
Tamil dot Net mailing list in March 2004)
Tamil Fonts,
Keyboards and Beyond
Dr. M. Anandakrishnan
Vice-Chairman, Tamilnadu State Council For Higher Education,
Lady Willington College Campus, Kamarajar Salai, Chennai 600 005 at
Tamil Internet 2000, Directions to the Digital World, Singapore 22-24 July
2000
Preface
The talent, interest and energy in Tamil Computing are widely scattered
around the world. For nearly two decades, the expertise and enthusiasm of this
community were reflected as individual efforts mainly engaged in development of
fonts and keyboard drivers.
The fast changes in the computing environment and worldwide proliferation of
Internet usage have widened the base of interest in Tamil Computing and Internet
applications. In this evolution, the first
Tamilnet'97 Conference in
Singapore identified the key issues and outlined the scope for further intensive
efforts. The second Conference,
Tamilnet'99 held in Chennai
provided the basis for evolving common schemes for Tamil font encoding and Tamil
keyboard configuration.
Since then, there has been a sharp increase in he level of activities in
development of products and initiating efforts in new directions responding to
the rapid advances in information technology. Current momentum includes,
attention to operating systems, OCR, Text to Voice, Tamil Browsers, remote
communication, printers, font and Tamil menus, dynamic fonts, Tamil e-mail,
Tamil Domain Names, Tamil Virtual libraries, Web-based Tamil Courses and so on.
This paper presents an overview of the efforts in Tamil Nadu.
Introduction
Since the early eighties, when personal computers became
available extensively, a number of persons with deep interest in Tamil began
development of Tamil fonts for use in the computers. A large number of Tamil
fonts were created as glyphs allocating the upper half of the 8 bit ASCII Table.
Individual font developers assigned different code positions to different
characters and modifiers.
Since most of these initial developments were in English speaking countries
with easier access to personal computers than India, many chose to adopt
Romanised Keyboards, with some small variations in using the QWERTY keys for
some Tamil fonts. There were also developments of Tamil keyboard configurations,
either resembling largely the Remington Tamil Typewriter or with configurations
of individual taste and reasoning.
The
Singapore Tamilnet 97 Conference organized by
Dr. Naa Govindasamy
highlighted these variations and the consequent handicaps in promoting use of
Tamil in computers and in effective penetration of Tamil in Internet. This
challenge was articulated extensively by a group of enthusiastic persons through
the discussion group
TSCII (Tamil Standard Character for Information Interchange). At the same
time Dr. Naa Govindasamy
evolved font encoding schemes and keyboard
configurations through the IRDU (Internet Research and Development Unit) of
Singapore.
The Tamilnet 99
at Chennai provided an occasion to review these initiatives and
suggested that the Tamil Glyph Encoding should consist of a monolingual (TAM) as
well as a 2 bilingual (TAB) scheme. It also recommended a
phonetic
keyboard layout. The conference drew attention to the various important and
urgent efforts required to be undertaken.
Convergence in
Font Encoding
Most, if not all, of the Font Developers are since converging
towards one of the following encoding schemes:
Anjal,
TSCII,
TAM, TAB , and
Unicode
The user community is getting accustomed to the products
based on one or the other scheme determined by their convenience for exchange of
documents, e-mail communication, operating environments and ease of availability
and support. In Tamil Nadu all of these schemes are in use. There are also a
few, mainly some Tamil newspapers on the Internet, who continue to use
fonts outside these schemes either due to inertia or backend compatibility.
Convergence in Keyboard Configuration
The Tamil keyboard configuration in computer has also been converging towards
the following:
Romanized
Tamil 99 (phonetic)
Typewriter
Unicode
The
Romanized keyboard
is mostly akin to Anjal sequence. Some variations in this need to be
resolved. It is very convenient for those familiar with the English language.
The
Tamil 99
keyboard does not require the use of shift key except for Grantha
characters. Since one needs to remember only about half the key positions as
compared to other systems, the new learners are attracted to this. The
availability of bilingual keyboards based on Tamil 99 configuration facilitates
its widespread use. The automatic - pulli - is an add-on convenience.
The typewriter keyboard is used by persons accustomed to the Remington Tamil
Typewriters. The Government of Tamil Nadu has also recommended a common
configuration for the
typewriter
keyboard configuration for computers.
The recent introduction of Unicode Tamil in Windows 2000 will require
familiarity with its keyboard configuration. It may be pointed out that it
does not matter which keyboard configuration is used as long as the associated
keyboard driver is available. It is a matter of individual's choice and
convenience.
Certification
Objective
For the users in Tamil Nadu Government system it has been
decided that they would use TAM or TAB primarily to ensure transportability of
data and information. To ensure that the purchases of Tamil Software products by
Government users are assured of compatibility, the Government designated the
Kanithamizh Sangam to
undertake the responsibility to evaluate and certify that the software products
conform to the TAM/TAB encoding scheme.
It also required the keyboards to
conform to the
Tamil99 and/or the
recommended
typewriter configuration and the associated prescribed key sequence. The
process of evaluation by Kanithamizh Sangam has built-in transparency and
checks. It has been helpful in expediting product evaluation and to build in
confidence in government purchases without procedural hurdles. It is also a
convenience for Tamil software developers. The users outside the government
system need not insist on certification for encoding.
Certified Products
After the
Tamilnet 99 Conference
on 7-8 February 1999, the Government of Tamil Nadu announced on 13.06.1999
the
encoding standards for TAM/TAB
fonts and Keyboard configuration of Tamil 99.
Kanithamizh Sangam
has so far certified
17 products for conformity to Tamil 99 standards.
Other Products in Use
Apart from the certified products, many other products
that are now available in the market have followed the Tamil 99 Standards
exclusively or as one of the options, as for example:
| MURASU ANJAL 2000 |
With 6 Keyboard and 6 Encoding Options,
including TAM and TAB Fonts and Tamil 99 Keyboard Works with TAM Fonts and
Tamil 99 Keyboard |
| MIN TAMIL |
Works with Tam Fonts and Tamil 99 Keyboard |
| TAMIL ANJAL |
Email Software Works with Tamil 99
Keyboard |
| TAMIL DOMAIN NAMES |
By I-DNS, Singapore - incorporate TAB
Fonts |
| i-LEAP |
Word Processor with TAM and TAB Fonts and
Tamil 99 Keyboard as one of the options |
| TEXT TO SPEECH SOFTWARE |
Multilingual software developed by IIT,
Madras including TAB Fonts |
Ongoing Activities
A number of initiatives are currently underway in developing new Tamil softwares
and tools such as:
- IDHAM 2000 - An Advanced Tamil Interface for MS Windows**
- Bilingual Search Engine for Tamil and English Sites**
- Tamil JAVA - A Tamil Pre-processor for JAVA**
- Tamil 99 Keyboard Driver under DOS**
- Optical Character Reader (OCR) Software** (** These are described in separate
papers sub-nitted for the Conference.)
- Text to Speech Synthesizer - This will convert any machines readable text into
speech
- PONN - A Tamil Operating System - This will provide an operating environment
both in Tamil and English with facility for user communication and design to
execute the commands given in Tamil.
Conclusion
Considering the rapid changes in
the hardware systems, application software, operating
environments and communication devices, there are many new
challenges that are to be undertaken with time-bound goals and
involving the best talents available worldwide. It would be
useful to assign the primary responsibility for undertaking the
development tasks to a particular institution or a research
group who should be funded adequately. The progress of work
should be reviewed at predefined intervals not only by the
funding agency but also through another designated mechanism
such as INFITT.
New demands for development of unique
products which are of immediate relevance should also be
identified through such a mechanism and evolve a method to
analyse the involvement of competent persons. It is high time
that the perspectives on Tamil computing and Tamil Internet are
guided by vision and hope far beyond font encoding and
keyboards. |
