Adding Unicode Sinhala (සිංහල) to GNU/Linux (ලිනක්ස්)
This project began in 2003 on a lug.lk mailing list.
Enabling Unicode Sinhala in GNU/Linux (Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu)
What is available?
- LKLUG Unicode Sinhala font
- Wijesekera, phonetic and transliterated input methods
How to install
Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) and Above (may work on older versions)
-
As root/superuser, run:
apt-get install ttf-sinhala-lklug ibus im-switch ibus-m17n m17n-db m17n-contrib
-
From your user account (i.e. not root) run:
rm -f ~/.xinput.d/* ; im-switch -z all_ALL -s ibus
Logout and login again. Environment variables need to be set/updated (NO NEED TO REBOOT)
-
From your user account (i.e. not root) select your keyboard layouts by running:
ibus-setup
Fedora 10 (Cambridge) and Above (may work on older versions)
-
As root/superuser run:
yum groupinstall sinhala-support
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From your user account (i.e. not root), select and configure the Input Method by running:
im-chooser
Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) and Above (may work on older versions)
-
The Universe repository should already be enabled (wiki.ubuntu.com/AlwaysEnableUniverseMultiverse). If not, first enable the Universe repository.
-
As root/superuser, run:
apt-get install ttf-sinhala-lklug ibus im-switch ibus-m17n m17n-db m17n-contrib language-pack-si-base
-
From your user account (i.e. not root) run:
rm -f ~/.xinput.d/* ; im-switch -z all_ALL -s ibus
Logout and login again. Environment variables need to be set/updated (NO NEED TO REBOOT)
-
From your user account (i.e. not root) select your keyboard layouts by running:
ibus-setup
How to test
Visit si.wikipedia.org and see if the Sinhala letters render correctly.
Copy and paste some of the content from Sinhala Wikipedia to Open Office Writer. Then highlight the Sinhala text and choose the LKLUG font to display them.
To test typing, press Control-space whilst you are running a GNOME application. Then select one of the Sinhala input methods.
CVS
HOWTO
IRC
- Server: irc.oftc.net
- Channel: #debian-lk