# Indian Language support in GNOME2.4  & XFCE4

## Kream

Indian Language support in GNOME2.4 & XFCE4 

This mini-HOWTO details the steps involved in getting Indian language support in Gentoo Linux - as of this time of writing (KDE 3.2), KDE does not yet support Indian languages with anything like the ease with which they are supported in GNOME. We will be using Indlinux 0.73 which can be downloaded here.

Guntupalli Karunakar is the dude who packages Indlinux and writes the install scripts.. I've just modified them so that they work on Gentoo, that's all. All credit should go to him. Thanks also to Mary for first helping me install Indlinux on Gentoo and showing me the correct way to install fonts.  :Embarassed: 

You have to be root to install IndLinux.  Create a temporary directory and download the tarball there. Enter the directory and unpack the tarball using: 

```
tar xzf Indlinux-Hindi-0.73.tar.gz

cd Indlinux-Hindi-0.73
```

 In this directory, you'll find scripts to install Indlinux. DO NOT RUN THESE SCRIPTS. They are designed for RedHat / Mandrake / Debian. We need to edit these scripts before running em or duplicate the commands they issue manually.

Installing the locale

Edit inslocale.sh

```
$EDITOR inslocale.sh
```

In this file, edit LOCALEDIR so that it points to /usr/share/locale

Run inslocale.sh

```
inslocale.sh
```

Installing the fonts

```
cd fonts

tar xzf pango-fonts-0.3.tar.gz

mkdir -p /usr/share/fonts/default

cp -R pango-fonts-0.3 /usr/share/fonts/default

cp -R indic /usr/share/fonts/
```

```
$EDITOR /etc/X11/fs/config
```

in the catalogue section of this file, add   /usr/share/fonts/default/pango-fonts-0.3/indic and /usr/share/fonts/indic/OpenType	

Make sure that the last line in the catalogue section is the only one that does not end with a comma. all other lines have to end with a comma. 

```
catalogue =/usr/share/fonts/default/pango-fonts-0.3/indic,

        /usr/share/fonts/indic/OpenType
```

Restart the X Font Server and, just to be on the safe side, re-initialise the font cache... 

```
/etc/init.d/xfs restart

fc-cache -fv
```

Install the Keymap

```
cd ..

inskeymap.sh
```

You will need to add GKB - the keyboard switching layout tool - to the Gnome panel. In GNOME,  right click on the  panel - Add -> Utility ->Keyboard layout switcher. Then right click on the GKB applet, select Prefrences , click Add. Then add all the Indic layouts. Indic options are avaialble as Hindi -> India -> Hindi inscript xkbmap. Indic GKB settings will be available by default in future  versions of Gnome. If anyone is using XFCE4 and wants to know how to easily switch language layouts, please mail or pm me.

Install the Translations

```
cd trans
```

	if /usr/share/locale/hi/LC_MESSAGES doesnt exist then create it, using  

```
mkdir -p /usr/share/locale/hi/LC_MESSAGES
```

```
cp  -v mo-2.4/*.mo /usr/share/locale/hi/LC_MESSAGES

cp -v xfcemo/*.mo /usr/share/locale/hi/LC_MESSAGES

cd ..

$PAGER README
```

[edit] inserted missing code that installs pango fonts  :Embarassed:   :Mad: Last edited by Kream on Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## tuxlearner

great to see support for Indian languages!

i use XFCE4, kream could you provide the furthur details ?

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## trumee

Thanks a lot for writing this howto. I also would like to use it under XFCE-4. any ideas?

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## Appu

I had followed Karunakar's instructions to have Telugu support in yudit and after a lot

of self-torment (if that's the word!) I got around to making Telugu docs in yudit. However

I use KDE and maybe that's the reason why I was unable to really *see* it working

under KDE.

Do you have any idea what needs to be done to enable support under Mozilla? I use

the Pothana2k font and it doesn't seem to me that X recognizes it. Yudit gets it because

I have the ttf placed ~/.yudit and edited the properties/conf. file accordingly.

Great work, Kream!

Bye,

Appu

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## rush_ad

good to see someone doing work on asian language.

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## kavurip

Hai All,

Great to see that Indian languages are working on Lunux.  Thanks to all who involved in this.

Besides that I need a help, Iam using KDE, so is there any chance of installing this on KDE.

If so please help me ...

Thanks,

Prasad.

----------

## Kream

 *kavurip wrote:*   

>  is there any chance of installing this on KDE.
> 
> 

 

kde-i18n already has hindi.

I use gentoo so before emerging kde-i18n, I just pass a LINGUAS="hi" to it ... works great for me..

cheers

k

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## krall

Can anyone explain what is the way to easily switch layouts in XFCE4?

Is there a solution similar to the one in Gnome, where you can associate a

different layout for each window?

----------

## karmac0ma

@krall and others who might be stuck with this,

Not sure if this is what you wanted; since xfce4-xkb cannot handle the layouts by itself, we just need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

In my example I'm alternating between the standard US layout (which will be the default choice) and European Portuguese.

```
Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Keyboard"

    Driver      "kbd"

    Option      "XkbLayout" "us,pt"

EndSection

```

(note that the relevant line is the "XkbLayout" one; the rest of the section probably doesn't need more tweaking)

This is quite a simple-ish workaround without using locales or the like. Still, it's fine for users like me that just need to switch layouts frequently and don't want to get Gnome stuff on their XFCE desktops.

----------

