Kannada on Ubuntu Edgy Eft

From Kannada l10n Wiki

On Ubuntu Edgy, ttf-kannada-fonts package comes with Kedage and Mallige fonts by default. There is some issue with the default setup, although. Removing Mallige fonts from the system does the trick:

cd /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-kannada-fonts/

sudo rm -rf Malige*

(be careful while you attempt the above command - *do not* blindly cut, paste and execute). The idea is to remove the Mallige set of fonts (while naming these fonts, they've made a blunder and named it Malige - go ask the IISc folks :P )

fc-cache -fv

Optional If you like, you can install fonts from TDIL. These fonts are more of stylish fonts (better suited for DTP or just publishing work) although and not so comfortable for use as default fonts. Firefox on Edgy ¶

On Edgy, if you use Kannada Locale, Pango is enabled on Firefox by default (which means Kannada is rendered fine). If you're using en_US (default) or en_UK locale, make sure you edit the following lines on /usr/bin/firefox suitably.

OR

edit /usr/bin/firefox:

$sudo nano /usr/bin/firefox

Look for the below lines:

if [ "x${MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO}" = x ]; then

   if egrep '^(bn|gu|hi|kn|ml|mr|ne|pa|si|ta|te)_' \
       /var/lib/locales/supported.d/*[^~] >/dev/null 2>&1; then
       MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO=0
   else
       MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO=1
   fi
   export MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO

fi

and replace that with:

if [ "x${MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO}" = x ]; then

   MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO=0
   export MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO

fi

and edit as necessary. SCIM-m17n on Edgy ¶

Thankfully, SCIM with m17n poses no problems on Edgy and can be used without many issues. Note that m17n makes itrans - Baraha like Input available for you (select the kn-itrans keymap from the set of keymaps).

But you'll need to see through few steps to make sure SCIM is your default IME. Follow this link for a wonderful piece of Documentation on that. Troubleshooting ¶

   # If Telugu letters are showing up instead of Kannada on Ubuntu, make sure you remove "free-fonts" package:

sudo apt-get remove ttf-freefont

   # Mozilla Firefox rendering is fine for most websites, but on some websites the letters split and show up garbled.

If this is the issue you're facing, make sure you read the below short write-up on it:

   * Indic related bugs on Firefox 

   # ಎಂ renders with a split matra each time.

This is a known bug and is being worked upon. Check: http://kannada.sampada.net/node/54

for more information on it. Also Read ¶

   * Kannada on Ubuntu Dapper
   * Kannada on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
   * SCIM-m17n on Ubuntu (for Baraha like Input) 

External Links ¶

   * Ubuntu Edgy
   * Setting SCIM as default Input Method on Ubuntu Dapper and Edgy
   * How to Fix Indic Rendering on Ubuntu 

Related Bug reports ¶

   * https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ttf-freefont/+bug/6134
   * https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ttf-indic-fonts/+bug/48280
   * https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/48326