aashiks'in

Enabling Malayalam on Mandriva Linux 2009 is slightly different from Mandriva 2008 . I am using an installation from  Mandriva One 2009 KDE version disc

This is how you do it :

Download and install latest Meera and Rachana from
http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/smc/fonts/malayalam-fonts-04/ .
Installing involves right clicking on the file and choosing actions->install. ( This is with KDE, something similar should be there on GNOME )

1. Invoke the Mandriva Control Centre [ Menu->Tools->System Tools->Configure your Computer ] choose Software Management -> ‘Install & Remove Software ‘
2. There are two drop down lists on the top left , choose ‘All’ in both .
3. Search for scim-tables-ml and select it.
4. Accept the dependencies. It will also ask you to choose from scim-, scim-bridge, and skim. Just choose scim
5. Click on Apply.
6. Invoke the Mandriva Control Centre [ Menu->Tools->System Tools->Configureyour Computer ] choose System->’Manage localization for your System’ . Now choose Malayalam in the Window that shows up. Click next and carry on with the default choices to complete the wizard. When the last Ok button is clicked, it will present you with a logout/restart/shudown window. Click logout.
7. Log in now
8. Open up a terminal ( ALT+F2 invokes a run dialogue and then type in ’konsole’  (without quotes) in it and press enter )
9. Type in ‘su -’  (without quotes)  and enter your root password when prompted.
10. Now run ‘kwrite /etc/sysconfig/i18n’ (without quotes)
11. Add the following text to its end

GTK_IM_MODULE=scim
XIM_PROGRAM=”scim -d”
QT_IM_MODULE=scim
XMODIFIERS=@im=SCIM

Now  Logout and log back in.

The scim icon should be there in the system tray and you should be able to type in Malayalam anywhere now, just by pressing Control+Spac and choosing Swanalekha/inscript  from the input method list that pops up.

I was editing a document today . And I needed a dictionary . At office ( where i do most of my editing ) I have to use Windows XP . I had wordweb there . Of course I can use Openoffice.org’s spell check , but then I wanted something like wordweb. I was looking around and suddenly remembered that Anoop John uses KDict to do the job. It looks kind of odd on his desktop because he uses GNOME .He had written down the instructions for setting up KDict here. The instructions are for Ubuntu – GNOME .  The following instructions are for Mandriva KDE ( Mandriva Spring 2008 ) . Actually from step 6 onwards, it should be generic and should work for any KDE system. Instructions before that simply installs dictd and Wordnet .

1. Menu-> Install Remove Software
2. Search for ‘dictd ‘ and select it
3. Now search for Wordnet ( Make sure you click the binocular icon near search box and select ‘in Descriptions’ )
4. In the results that come up select the one with description  ‘WordNet for dictd’
5. Click on Apply
6. Run KDict from Menu->Tools->Dictionary
7. Go to Settings menu and choose ‘Configure Dictionary’
8. In the dialogue that shows up , type  localhost .
9. If there is some error saying there is no server , just do a reboot or do the following CLI magic : Menu->Tools->Konsole .Type su and then your root password . Then type service dictd-server restart . Now repeat steps 6 to 8 .

10. Well KDict installation and config is finished , but now to make it act like wordweb , something more has to be done. Go to Menu->Tools . Now right click on Dictionary and choose ‘Edit Item’
11. In the dialogue that shows up , there is a field called Command. Its contents would be kdict -caption "%c" %i %m. Change it to kdict --clipboard -caption "%c" %i %m
12. Towards the bottom of that window , there is a button with description ‘Current Short Cut Key’. Click on it and then press a key combination that you would like to use to invoke KDict . I chose CTRL + ALT + W .
13. Press the save button in the window and close it. We are done.
14. Select any text in any window and press your chosen key combination to invoke KDict.
15. Get back to me if this doesn’t work

I tried installing Malayalam on Mandriva Spring 2008. It turned out to be easy.

Step 1 : Install Mandriva

Step 2 : Log in and update your system from Menu->Tools->System Tools->Configure your Computer

Step 3 : From from Menu->Tools->System Tools->Configure your Computer choose ‘install & Remove Software ‘

Step 4 : There are two drop down lists on the top left , choose ‘All’ in both .

Step 5: search for scim-tables-ml and select it

Step 6: Accept the dependencies. It will also ask you to choose from scim-, scim-bridge, and skim.I chose SKIM.

Step 7 : Click on Apply .

Step 8 : After software finishes installation, search for scim-qtimm Or scim-gtk and select it

Step 9 : Accept the dependencies , click on apply and wait for software install to complete.

Step 10 : Download and install latest Meera and Rachana from http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/smc/fonts/malayalam-fonts-04/ . Installing involves right clicking on the file and choosing actions->install

Step 11: open a console . become root user by typing ‘su’ (without quotes ) , and then typing in your admin password when prompted.

Step 12 : Run the following commands one by one

echo ‘GTK_IM_MODULE=scim’ >> /etc/sysconfig/i18n
echo ‘XIM_PROGRAM=”scim -d”‘ >> /etc/sysconfig/i18n
echo ‘QT_IM_MODULE=scim’ >> /etc/sysconfig/i18n
echo ‘XMODIFIERS=@im=SCIM’ >> /etc/sysconfig/i18n

Step 13: Reboot your system

Step 14: Log in . There should be a keyboard icon on the taskbar . You can click on it and choose your input method

Step 15: Send mails to friends and tell them that GNU is awesome.

Some issues :

Hitch number 1 : Firefox rendering is shit. libpango is v1.20 . How do i fix this ?
Hitch number 2 : Open office doesnt have ml language pack.