Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6
Belay
Amharic on a keyboard. I never knew how and didn’t attempt to learn.
That changed when I became recently infatuated with Ge'ez, which I
just started taking a class today. I needed to be able to write in
Ethiopic script to retain the material and help me understand the
language.
I use a dual boot : a Fedora 6 on Windows XP. Rarely, I am obliged to
use windows, but mostly I can survive on Linux (If you indulge me that
Fedora is also Linux ). While goggling I came across your group and
am amazed how much you accomplished on http://www.google.com.et/. Yes
I can read it all in Amharic and what a delight.
I found 2 Amharic rpm with yum and installed them. I came across an
amazing set of fonts at http://www.senamirmir.com/projects/typography/typeface.html
and added them. The fonts are listed on Abiword and OpenOffice writer
but I had trouble changing the default language from English to
Amharic. Must I edit the X configuration? I am scared to touch it.
Fedora will crash when you slightly mess up the font of X server. I
had a bad experience. Can you help?
On the other note: I have successfully installed WashRa4.0 on Windows
XP, and that Yigezu calligraphy is really, really, awesome.
http://www.yigezubisrat.com/yigezu_calligraphy.htm . I can write most
of the Amharic letters and for the rest, I will have to work on it. It
is not as difficult as I imagined it to be. If only I can do on Fedora
what I can do Windows XP, I don’t need to switch my grub.conf, and I
will be content.
Can you help changing the language setting on FC6 ?
tegegne tefera
I have not tried it on Fedora. But I would guess it would not be that different form ubuntu with gnome. I use SCIM with KMFL. http://kmfl.sourceforge.net/
The documentation at the above site can lead you through. You can get links to the Amharic keyman files at http://www.tavultesoft.com.
By the way I sujust using the keyman keyboard driver with AmharicEZ+ or AmharicEZ+i mapping on winxp too to promote standard. There are lots of keyboard mappings and this is the only one that I found to based on some logic. Find the reasoning behind this keymaps at http://www.geez.org/IM/
tegegne tefera
http://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Can%27t_see_the_font%3F
look at http://am.wiktionary.org too
Belay
able to write in Amharic on bluefish editor. Per your suggestion, I
used SSERA-EZ + Amharic Table : http://www.geez.org/IM/sera-ez-plus/
sera-ez-plus-am_ET.utf8.html
I see a lot of good fonts inside openOffice word processor but the
keyboard is still writing English alphabet. I just had to get that
Yigezu font to work. Worst case scenario, I will switch grub to
Windoze.
Again thank you for the prompt response! That is what they call here
customer service, at its best!
Thanks
Belay
On Feb 5, 3:22 am, "tegegne tefera" <tefera.tege...@gmail.com> wrote:
> To add some more resourceshttp://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Can%27t_see_the_font%3F
>
> look athttp://am.wiktionary.orgtoo
>
> On 2/5/07, tegegne tefera <tefera.tege...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi Belay
>
> > I have not tried it on Fedora. But I would guess it would not be that
> > different form ubuntu with gnome. I use SCIM with KMFL.
> >http://kmfl.sourceforge.net/
> > The documentation at the above site can lead you through. You can get
> > links to the Amharic keyman files athttp://www.tavultesoft.com.
> > By the way I sujust using the keyman keyboard driver with AmharicEZ+ or
> > AmharicEZ+i mapping on winxp too to promote standard. There are lots of
> > keyboard mappings and this is the only one that I found to based on some
> > logic. Find the reasoning behind this keymaps athttp://www.geez.org/IM/
>
> > On 2/5/07, Belay <BelayTekal...@gmail.com > wrote:
>
> > > Until two days ago, I never thought I would have a need to write in
> > > Amharic on a keyboard. I never knew how and didn't attempt to learn.
> > > That changed when I became recently infatuated with Ge'ez, which I
> > > just started taking a class today. I needed to be able to write in
> > > Ethiopic script to retain the material and help me understand the
> > > language.
>
> > > I use a dual boot : a Fedora 6 on Windows XP. Rarely, I am obliged to
> > > use windows, but mostly I can survive on Linux (If you indulge me that
> > > Fedora is also Linux ). While goggling I came across your group and
> > > am amazed how much you accomplished onhttp://www.google.com.et/. Yes
> > > I can read it all in Amharic and what a delight.
>
> > > I found 2 Amharic rpm with yum and installed them. I came across an
> > > amazing set of fonts at
> > >http://www.senamirmir.com/projects/typography/typeface.html
> > > and added them. The fonts are listed on Abiword and OpenOffice writer
> > > but I had trouble changing the default language from English to
> > > Amharic. Must I edit the X configuration? I am scared to touch it.
> > > Fedora will crash when you slightly mess up the font of X server. I
> > > had a bad experience. Can you help?
>
> > > On the other note: I have successfully installed WashRa4.0 on Windows
> > > XP, and that Yigezu calligraphy is really, really, awesome.
> > >http://www.yigezubisrat.com/yigezu_calligraphy.htm. I can write most
tegegne tefera
By the way keyboard standard and support and standardization for Amharic is one of the major difficulties we are facing in Linux at the moment. The reason is not many people are paying attention or asking for it. It seems you have quite an experience with linux. Do you think you can raise the issue with developers (GTK, Xorg...etc)??
tegegne tefera
I have come across plethora of fonts such as Geez, Serra EZ+, Washra,
Fidel etc.. and I have no clue which one to use. As long as I can
print my material all would do, but to store it electronically I have
to select one of them which can out live the others. Amharic EZ+ seems
easier.
As long as you set the characterset of your document to unicode you can open it using any of the above fonts. Word prossesors and DTP programs may remember the format therefore the font but simple text programs remember only the character. So what ever you fancy you can use:-)
I asked Alemayehu if I can be of assistance to your efforts and he
gave me a long list of reading, and mentioned to contact you
afterwards. I am still doing my reading homework. So far I have
installed poedit and I see 1536 lines in three colors. 974 are
untranslated. Although I have poedit on both fedora and XP, the keyman
is easier to work with in Windows XP.
That i agree. Have you tried ubuntu. fedora with gnome has almost the same flavor but ubuntu would impress you on few more fronts. According to http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1357 linspire is going to change its bast to ubuntu. that is very good news for windows users. Linspire include commercial drivers that make life easy on windows. People who are used to windows could easily use linspire.
Can you assign me a section so I can get my hand wet on this marvelous
project? I prefer to use Windows XP and Amharic EZ+, if there is an
option.
It has more translated terms.
How about from 60-69. This would be the talley
00-09 tegegne
10-19 Million
20-29 Tegegne
30-39 Alemayehu
40-49 Birhanu?
50-59
60-69 Belay
70-79
80-89
n Feb 5, 5:28 am, "tegegne tefera" < tefera.tege...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You are welcome. I call this sharing knowledge in opensource way:-) I hope
> you will share your experience like wise.
> By the way keyboard standard and support and standardization for Amharic is
> one of the major difficulties we are facing in Linux at the moment. The
> reason is not many people are paying attention or asking for it. It seems
> you have quite an experience with linux. Do you think you can raise the
> issue with developers (GTK, Xorg...etc)??
>
> > > > > what I can do Windows XP, I don't need to switch my grub.conf , and I
tegegne tefera
find my answer in between the questions.
Thank you Tegene for the guide-line and for allocating me a slice.
I recognized, I have a need to be familiar with Amharic computer
jargons before I embark on the task. Hence, I am currently collecting
a list of words on a notebook from the translations made by others in
the group. The Addis Abeba University has a large database, but the
person who designed the website did not make it easy to get the data.
Is it possible to download the whole dictionary via wget.
Yes there is an excel copy of the database you can download. But it is useless because it is edited with non unicode fonts that are not compatible with each other. You might be able to read few translations but that is all. What i did is every time i need a word from the aau server i copy it also to http://am.wiktionary.org/wiki/computer_glossary so the next time i can easily access it. If all of us do that we would build a complete glossary of terms that are easily accessible. Even better to add the as a wiktionary term like this. http://am.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:%E1%8A%A0%E1%88%B5%E1%88%8A
I wish they
had a better pagination. Currently you only go one forward or back or
all the way to end. I jump using URI hack but the server is slow
because it is a long way from here in California.
I have another question. Which pronoun should we use ? Shall we use a
male second person singular አንተ or a respectful አንቱ or a female
singular አንቺ . I think this is important because it is not
professional to say some time አንተ another time አንቺ and also አንቱ .
Until I hear from some one I will use አንተ.
1. If it is a command like "open" "close"...etc. we can assume that the person is ordering the computer. then ክፈት, ዝጋ would be apropriate. Some times it is difficult to determine which is which. On such occasions we just have to use our judgment.
2. If the message is addressed to the person using then we have to consider cultural practices. It would upseting if አንቱ የተባሉ ሽማግሌ "አንተ እንዲህ አድርግ፣ እንዲህ አድርግ" ቢባሉ። therfor it would be correct if the computer or form... adreses the person in አንቱታ. (True it would be worrisome if one day computers become conscious and start demanding for respect, or start a liberation movement :-))
Is this a good translation attempt. ...
Line #468
Your CD-ROM drive may be an old Mitsumi or another non-IDE, non-SCSI
CD-ROM drive. In that case you should choose which module to load and
the device to use. If you don't know which module and device are
needed, look for some documentation or try a network installation
instead of a CD-ROM installation.
ተነባቢ ሲዲው ያረጀ ሚትሱሚ ወይም የዱሮ ኢ-IDE ኢ-SCSI ማጫወቻ ይመስላል ። ችግሩ ይሕ ከሆነ የትኛው
ሞጁል እና የትኛው መሣሪያ መጫን እንዳለበት ራስሀ ምረጥ ። ምርጫው ካስቸገረህ የተጻፉ ማስረጃዎችን ተመልከት
ወይም ከተነባቢ ሲዲ መጫኛ ይልቅ የመረብ መጫኛ ዘዴ ምረጥ ።
-------------------------------
The አንቱታ issue aside I have few things to say. Some times you might have noticed terms that are not well suited to what they represent in English. Or when translated directly do not make much sense in Amharic. That means we do not need to translate terms directly. What we have to worry about is if they make sense and convey the message to the Amharic reader. I personally have never been satisfied with the translations I make.
That is why it is important
1. to re-read the translations we make.
2. To run by others to check if it makes sense.
More importantly we need a more organized approach to do a quality job. We should have translators, proof readers, testers...etc.
what if we call CD-ROM and all other CD varieties ሲዲ and the driver ማጫወቻ. From a user point of view it does not really make any difference except making it easier. If we need to show the differences for technical reasons we can give and use the appropriate terms where they are needed. No one says CD-ROM in every day use in English. We can simplify the terms in Amharic by focusing on the right descriptions and the user.
At last if you encounter a term that is not in the dictionaries above please add it and make your suggestion too. If you have better alternatives to the existing terms add the alternatives too.
cheers
tegegne
On Feb 10, 8:43 am, "tegegne tefera" < tefera.tege...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I have come across plethora of fonts such as Geez, Serra EZ+, Washra,
> > Fidel etc.. and I have no clue which one to use. As long as I can
> > print my material all would do, but to store it electronically I have
> > to select one of them which can out live the others. Amharic EZ+ seems
> > easier.
>
> As long as you set the characterset of your document to unicode you can
> open it using any of the above fonts. Word prossesors and DTP programs may
> remember the format therefore the font but simple text programs remember
> only the character. So what ever you fancy you can use:-)
>
> I asked Alemayehu if I can be of assistance to your efforts and he
>
> > gave me a long list of reading, and mentioned to contact you
> > afterwards. I am still doing my reading homework. So far I have
> > installed poedit and I see 1536 lines in three colors. 974 are
> > untranslated. Although I have poedit on both fedora and XP, the keyman
> > is easier to work with in Windows XP.
>
> That i agree. Have you tried ubuntu. fedora with gnome has almost the same
> flavor but ubuntu would impress you on few more fronts. According tohttp://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1357linspire is going to change its