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The information presented here will enable you to type Telugu text in any computer program found on a GNU/Linux system.

First, we need to associate Telugu characters with the keys on your keyboard. Then, when you press certain keys on your keyboard, the Telugu character(s) associated with those keys will appear on your computer monitor.

There are several ways to perform such association. These ways are known as keymaps.

       Contents[hide] 
   1 Inscript Keymap
         1.1 GNOME 2.8.x and above
         1.2 GNOME 2.6.x
         1.3 GNOME 2.4.x and below
         1.4 KDE
   2 Rice Transliteration Standard (RTS) Keymap
         2.1 RTS with IIIM
               2.1.1 Requirements
               2.1.2 Installing the keymap
               2.1.3 Enabling IIIM in GNOME
               2.1.4 Enabling IIIM in KDE
         2.2 RTS with SCIM
               2.2.1 Requirements
                     2.2.1.1 Fedora Core 6 ( Zod )
                     2.2.1.2 Debian Etch and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10
                     2.2.1.3 Ubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10
                     2.2.1.4 Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06
               2.2.2 Installing the keymap
               2.2.3 Enabling SCIM in X
               2.2.4 Enabling SCIM in GNOME
               2.2.5 Enabling SCIM in KDE
   3 WX Keymap
         3.1 Installing WX Keymap

Inscript Keymap

The Inscript keymap is ideal for a beginner because each key on the keyboard is associated with exactly one Telugu character. In this manner, it is very similar to a standard English keyboard, where each key is associated with exactly one English character. Also, it is readily available in most GNU/Linux distributions so you don't need to install any additional software to use it.

  • Information on Inscript standard can be found on the Department of Information Technology site.
  • The keyboard layout also available there.

To enable Inscript on your system, find your graphical desktop environment in one of the sections below and follow the instructions presented there.

GNOME 2.8.x and above



1. Enable the Keyboard Indicator

    Right click on panel
    Choose Add to Panel...
    Choose Keyboard Indicator
    Click Add    

You should now see a Keyboard Indicator applet on your panel.

2. Add Telugu as one of the layouts

    Right click on Keyboard Indicator
    Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
    Choose Layout tab
    Select Telugu in Available Layouts list
    Click Add

On the keyboard indicator, when you see tel you will be typing in Telugu.

3. Assign a shortcut to switching between US and Telugu keyboard layouts.

    Right click on the Keyboard Indicator
    Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
    Choose Layout Options tab
    Select an option from Group Shift/Lock Behaviour in Avaiable Options list
    Click Add
    

You will now be able to switch the groups using a keyboard shortcut depending on the option you have chosen.

GNOME 2.6.x



1. Enable the Keyboard Indicator

    Right click on panel
    Choose Add to Panel
    Choose Utility
    Choose Keyboard Indicator

You should now see a Keyboard Indicator applet on your panel.

2. Add Telugu as one of the layouts

    Right click on Keyboard Indicator
    Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
    Choose Layout tab
    Select Telugu in Available Layouts list
    Click Add

On the keyboard indicator, when you see tel you will typing in Telugu.

3. Assign a shortcut to switching between US and Telugu keyboard layouts.

    Right click on the Keyboard Indicator
    Choose Open Keyboard Preferences
    Choose Layout Options tab
    Select an option from Group Shift/Lock Behaviour category in Avaiable Options list
    Click Add

You will now be able to switch the groups using a keyboard shortcut depending on the option you have chosen.

GNOME 2.4.x and below



1. Enable the Keyboard Switcher

    Right click on panel
    Choose Add to Panel
    Choose Utility
    Choose Keyboard Layout Switcher

You should now see a Keyboard Layout Switcher applet on your panel.

2. Add Telugu as one of the layouts

    Right click on the Keyboard Layout Switcher applet
    Choose Preferences...
    Click add
    Select the language you want to add

When the Keyboard Layout Swither shows Telugu, we will able to type in Telugu. You can press and Left alt and Left Shift to switch between the layouts.

KDE



1. Enable the Keyboard Layout Switcher

    Open KDE Control Center
    Choose Regional & Accesibility
    Choose Keyboard Layout
    Select Layout tab
    Select Enable keyboard layouts

2. Add Telugu as one of the layouts

    Choose Telugu from Available layouts list
    Click Add

3. Assign a shortcut to switching between US and Telugu keyboard layouts.

    Select Xkb Options tab
    Select Enable Xkb options
    Select an option from the Group Shift/Lock Behaviour category in the Options list
    Click Apply
    Close Control Center

You should now see Keyboard Layout Switcher in the notification area.You can switch keyboard layouts by clicking on the Keyboard Layout Switcher or by using the keyboard shortcut you have chosen.

Rice Transliteration Standard (RTS) Keymap



The RTS keymap is convenient for people who know English and can already type on an English keyboard. For example, it allows us to simply type rAmuDu or raamud'u when we wish to write రాముడు in Telugu. This process is called transliteration, and the rules which govern it are specified by the RTS.

The technology described in the previous section is insufficient for transliteration because it simply transforms a single key-press into a single character. In this manner, it is impossible to transliterate words which contain more than one character, such as rAmuDu. Therefore, we need a more powerful piece of software, called an input method editor, which has the ability to transliterate words of any length.
RTS with IIIM



This section describes how to install and use RTS with the Internet Intranet Input Method (IIIM) input method editor.

Screen shot of Telugu RTS with IIIM on a Fedora Core GNU/Linux system. Enlarge Screen shot of Telugu RTS with IIIM on a Fedora Core GNU/Linux system. Requirements

Ensure that the following packages are installed on your system: Package Minimum version iiimf 11.4-43

  • If you are using Ubuntu GNU/Linux, you can run the following command to install the necessary packages:
    sudo apt-get install iiimf-htt-le-indic
  • If you are using Fedora Core GNU/Linux version 3 or newer, then you already have the necessary packages.

Installing the keymap

Note: The paths shown in the subsequent instructions pertain specifically to Fedora Core 3 and Debian GNU/Linux. However, the process should be very similar on any GNU/Linux distribution. In particular, you may find that the paths shown below are only valid if they are fully written in lower-case on your system. For example, the path UNIT/TELUGU/ (shown in the instructions below) may correspond to unit/telugu/ on your system.

 1. Obtain and extract the newest release of IIIM Indic Maps.
    wget http://sarovar.org/download.php/882/iiim_indic_maps-0.4.tar.gz
    tar -xvzf iiim_indic_maps-0.4.tar.gz
    cd iiim_indic_maps
 2. Prepare the keymap for use with IIIM.
    /usr/lib/im/locale/UNIT/common/txt2bin telugu_rts.utf telugu_rts.data
 3. Install the keymap onto your system.
    su -c "cp telugu_rts.data /usr/lib/im/locale/UNIT/TELUGU/data/"
    or
    sudo cp telugu_rts.data /usr/lib/im/locale/UNIT/TELUGU/data/
 4. Notify IIIM about the newly installed keymap by adding the following line to the [ te_IN ] section of the /usr/lib/im/locale/UNIT/sysime.cfg file.
    telugu_rts common/ctim.so TELUGU
    The [ te_IN ] section will finally appear like this:
    [ te_IN ]
    telugu_rts common/ctim.so TELUGU
    inscript common/ctim.so TELUGU
 5. Restart IIIM. If you are not sure how to do this, simply reboot your system.

Enabling IIIM in GNOME

 1. Open a text editor and create a file named .Xsession with the following contents
    export GTK_IM_MODULE="iiim"
    export XMODIFIERS="@im=htt"
    export LANG=te_IN
    htt_xbe -if unitle &
    gnome-session
    killall htt_xbe
 2. Logout and login again

Now you can activate IIIM in any application by pressing Control-Space. Also, you can press the F6 function key to switch between the Inscript and RTS keymaps. Enabling IIIM in KDE

 1. Open a text editor and create a file named .Xsession with the following contents
    export GTK_IM_MODULE="iiim"
    export XMODIFIERS="@im=htt"
    export LANG=te_IN
    htt_xbe -if unitle &
    startkde
    killall htt_xbe
 2. Logout and login again

Now you can activate IIIM in any application by pressing Control-Space. Also, you can press the F6 function key to switch between the Inscript and RTS keymaps. RTS with SCIM

This section describes how to install and use RTS with the Smart Common Input Method (SCIM) input method editor. Demonstration of Telugu RTS with SCIM on an Ubuntu GNU/Linux system. Demonstration of Telugu RTS with SCIM on an Ubuntu GNU/Linux system. Requirements

Ensure that the following packages are installed on your system: Package Minimum version m17n-lib 1.3.1 m17n-db 1.3.1 scim 1.2.2

The following sections show you how to install these packages for your particular GNU/Linux distribution. Fedora Core 6 ( Zod )

Run the following command to install the necessary packages:

su -c “yum install scim m17n-db-telugu”

Debian Etch and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10

Run the following command to install the necessary packages:

sudo apt-get install m17n-db scim scim-m17n im-switch scim-gtk2-immodule

Ubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10

Run the following command to install the necessary packages:

sudo apt-get install scim-m17n language-pack-te language-support-te

Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06

Run the following command to install the necessary packages:

sudo apt-get install scim scim-gtk2-immodule scim-m17n m17n-lib m17n-db language-pack-te language-support-te

Note that Dapper provides an old version of the m17n libraries, so you need to upgrade them to the required versions (see version numbers above). You can either install my prebuilt packages for Dapper or build the libraries from source yourself. Installing the keymap

Note: The paths shown in the subsequent instructions pertain specifically to Ubuntu GNU/Linux. However, the process should be very similar on any GNU/Linux distribution.

 1. Obtain the keymap.
    wget "http://cvs.m17n.org/viewcvs/m17n/m17n-contrib/im/te-rts.mim?view=co" -O te-rts.mim
 2. Install the keymap onto your system.
    su -c "cp te-rts.mim /usr/share/m17n/"
    or
    sudo cp te-rts.mim /usr/share/m17n/
 3. Restart SCIM. If you are not sure how to do this, simply reboot your system.

Enabling SCIM in X

 1. In your home directory, create a file named .Xsession with the following contents:
    export XMODIFIERS='@im=SCIM'
    export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim"
    export QT_IM_MODULE="scim"
    scim -d &
 2. Restart X

From now onwards, you can activate SCIM in any application by pressing Control-Space. Also, you can press Control-Alt-Up and Control-Alt-Down to switch between keymaps. Enabling SCIM in GNOME

 1. In your home directory, create a file named .gnomerc with the following contents:
    export XMODIFIERS='@im=SCIM'
    export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim"
    export QT_IM_MODULE="scim"
    scim -d &
 2. Log out of GNOME
 3. Log into GNOME

From now onwards, you can activate SCIM in any application by pressing Control-Space. Also, you can press Control-Alt-Up and Control-Alt-Down to switch between keymaps. Enabling SCIM in KDE

 1. In your home directory, create a file named .Xsession with the following contents:
    export XMODIFIERS='@im=SCIM'
    export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim"
    export QT_IM_MODULE="scim"
    scim -d &
    startkde
 2. Log out of KDE
 3. Log into KDE

From now onwards, you can activate SCIM in any application by pressing Control-Space. Also, you can press Control-Alt-Up and Control-Alt-Down to switch between keymaps. WX Keymap

WX is another phonetic keymap mostly similar to the RTS keymap above but is less phonetic in nature compared to RTS. Installing WX Keymap

Installing WX keymap is similar to installing RTS Layout expect that you need get the file telugu_wx.utf instead of telugu_rts.utf. The file is available as a part of the package IIIM-Indic-Maps.

keyboard.txt · Last modified: 2018/03/24 11:13 (external edit)