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.
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