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Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6
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Belay  
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 More options Feb 5 2007, 2:01 am
From: "Belay" <BelayTekal...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:01:14 -0800
Local: Mon, Feb 5 2007 2:01 am
Subject: Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6
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 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 ?


 
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tegegne tefera  
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 More options Feb 5 2007, 6:18 am
From: "tegegne tefera" <tefera.tege...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 12:18:18 +0100
Local: Mon, Feb 5 2007 6:18 am
Subject: Re: [Google Amharic] Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6

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 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/

On 2/5/07, Belay <BelayTekal...@gmail.com> wrote:


 
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tegegne tefera  
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 More options Feb 5 2007, 6:22 am
From: "tegegne tefera" <tefera.tege...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 12:22:00 +0100
Subject: Re: [Google Amharic] Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6

To add some more resources
http://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Can%27t_see_the_font%3F

look at http://am.wiktionary.org too

On 2/5/07, tegegne tefera <tefera.tege...@gmail.com> wrote:


 
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Belay  
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 More options Feb 5 2007, 8:06 am
From: "Belay" <BelayTekal...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:06:38 -0000
Local: Mon, Feb 5 2007 8:06 am
Subject: Re: Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6
Thank you Tegene for the useful info. After a little struggle, I am
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:


 
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tegegne tefera  
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 More options Feb 5 2007, 8:28 am
From: "tegegne tefera" <tefera.tege...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 14:28:04 +0100
Local: Mon, Feb 5 2007 8:28 am
Subject: Re: [Google Amharic] Re: Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6

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)??

On 2/5/07, Belay <BelayTekal...@gmail.com> wrote:


 
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Belay  
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 More options Feb 9 2007, 8:03 pm
From: "Belay" <BelayTekal...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:03:14 -0800
Local: Fri, Feb 9 2007 8:03 pm
Subject: Re: Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6
ወነድም ፡ ተገኝ ፣
Like all works in their infancy, Amharic letter standardization will
also be subject to time and effort. Standardization will not be
implemented until one system crashes all the others and become
victorious - supported by merit and ease-of-use. I don't mind writing
as a user to the developers, but I don't know what result it will
yield. However, as they say, there is nothing wrong in trying ...

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.

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.

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.

ከምስጋና ጋር ...
በላይ

On Feb 5, 5:28 am, "tegegne tefera" <tefera.tege...@gmail.com> wrote:


 
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tegegne tefera  
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 More options Feb 10 2007, 11:43 am
From: "tegegne tefera" <tefera.tege...@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:43:49 +0100
Local: Sat, Feb 10 2007 11:43 am
Subject: Re: [Google Amharic] Re: Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6

> 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.

Please first download the latest file from here
http://www.foss-ethiopia.net-a.googlepages.com/am.po
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:


 
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tegegne tefera  
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 More options Feb 25 2007, 4:45 am
From: "tegegne tefera" <tefera.tege...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 10:45:56 +0100
Local: Sun, Feb 25 2007 4:45 am
Subject: Re: Help Rendering Ethiopic Script on Fedora 6

Selam Belay

find my answer in between the questions.

On 2/25/07, Belay <BelayTekal...@gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.

This was a question that i thought a lot. At last i got a convincing
argument from another translator. the rule goes like this.

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:

...

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