Home » Blogs » faqing's blog

How to use IBus to type Romanized Pali and Sanskrit in Ubuntu 9.10

Ubuntu 9.10 changed input method from scim to IBus. IBus is more flexible and powerful than scim.

Setp 1: Enable IBus
Form Menue, System -->Administration -->Lanuage Support
Under "Keyboard input methos system", choose ibus.

Step 2: create a new input method file for Transliteration

sudo gedit /usr/share/m17n/sa-translit.mim

The following is the complete content of the file which can be easily copied and pasted and tweaked according to your taste. Save it, before closing the file:

;;; <li> sa-translit.mim
;;;
;;; Input method for Sanskrit transliteration using the ITRANS scheme.

(input-method t sa-translit)

(title "sa-translit")

(map
(trans

("aa" "ā")
("AA" "Ā")
("ii" "ī")
("II" "Ī")
("uu" "ū")
("UU" "Ū")
(".r" "ṛ")
(".R" "Ṛ")
(".rr" "ṝ")
(".RR" "Ṝ")
(".l" "ḷ")
(".L" "Ḷ")
(".ll" "ḹ")
(".LL" "Ḹ")
(".M" "ṁ")
(".m" "ṃ")
(".h" "ḥ")
(".H" "Ḥ")
(";n" "ṅ")
(";N" "Ṅ")
("~n" "ñ")
("~N" "Ñ")
(".t" "ṭ")
(".T" "Ṭ")
(".d" "ḍ")
(".D" "Ḍ")
(".n" "ṇ")
(".N" "Ṇ")
(";s" "ś")
(";S" "Ś")
(".s" "ṣ")
(".S" "Ṣ")
))

(state
(init
(trans)))

Step 3: Add Sa-translit to IBus
From menu, System --> Preferences --> IBus Preferences --> add input method: under the "Other" category, choose "sa-translit:.

ITRANS Method
aa = ā
AA = Ā
ii = ī
II = Ī
uu = ū
UU = Ū
.r = ṛ
.R = Ṛ
.rr = ṝ
.RR = Ṝ
.l = ḷ
.L = Ḷ
.ll = ḹ
.LL = Ḹ
.M = ṁ
.m = ṃ
.h = ḥ
.H = Ḥ
;n = ṅ
;N = Ṅ
~n = ñ
~N = Ñ
.t = ṭ
.T = Ṭ
.d = ḍ
.D = Ḍ
.n = ṇ
.N = Ṇ
;s = ś
;S = Ś
.s = ṣ
.S = Ṣ

For Devanagari Input:
From menu, System --> Preferences --> iBus Preferences,
under Sanskrit, choose "harvard kyoto" or under Hindi input, choose "hi-itrans"
#1Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2010-12-01 07:52.

including sa-translit.mim in m17n-contrib package

Hi,

Is it possible to include your sa-translit.mim in the m17n-contrib package?

#2Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2010-11-01 16:28.

Great site

Hello i am shawn lee.Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.This site is very helpful for me and others.your site is such a great site in the world.Ubuntu’s latest version 9.10 (Karmic Koala) comes with a brandnew pre-installed input method for complex scripts (to which Devanagari belongs). It is named Ibus and was adopted because it integrates itself more smooth in the GNOME environment.i hope you are satisfied my comment TAKE CARE

Thanks

shawn lee

#3Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2010-02-13 03:43.

Thanks! Need help in configuring an Arabic-translit IBUS file

I found your discussion pretty helpful. Never knew one could make a custom file like that. I've added the hi-trans option to my IBUS preferences list and it rocks!

However, I'd also like the ability to have such a transliteration function for the Arabic script. I have the following installed:

ibus 1.2.0.20091215-1
    Next Generation Input Bus for Linux
ibus-m17n 1.2.0.20091217-1
    M17N engine for IBus
ibus-qt 1.2.0.20091206-1
    IBus Qt input method plugins.

And this gives me a keyboard option for Arabic. There isn't an 'itrans' option like for Hindi which I'm missing a lot.

I found this page on google www. arabic-keyboard .org /pages/arabic-transliteration.php with the key mappings used by the website for transliteration. I was wondering how to make a custom file based on the mappings given there. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance and keep up the good work!