Bidirectional (Right-To-Left) text support?

[NeatNit]

I'm interested in Pebble as my next smartwatch, but does it support RTL text display? This is a must for me.

I searched around a bit, and it seems like this project existed 10 years ago: https://elbbep.cpfx.ca/ (Source code: https://github.com/cpfair/elbbep). Is custom firmware like this still required for the relaunch?

I think this is basic functionality that should be added to the mainline PebbleOS project. Bidirectional text rendering support is required for Unicode conformity: https://unicode.org/reports/tr9/

[NeatNit]

Relevant forum thread: https://forum.repebble.com/t/pebble-time-2-obelix-sf32lb52-emulator-does-one-exist/366

[DX37]

Isn't it was added recently? https://ndocs.repebble.com/pebbleos-changelog
In this PR #793

[NeatNit]

Yup, that seems to be it! Thanks, I didn't find it myself. Wasn't sure where to look.

I guess there's a pretty good chance I'll get one now :)

[NeatNit]

I am not sure if the implementation conforms to the Unicode spec I linked, but even if not, it seems good enough for daily use and can be improved later. @EladDv thanks for this!

[EladDv]

Hi :D glad you like it! It probably doesn't conform to the unicode standard - it was coded in an afternoon with a bunch of test cases as the calibration targets based on my personal preferences, if you find any issues I'd love to fix them but conforming to a standard wasn't really a consideration.

[NeatNit]

After some surface-level research, it may be possible to use existing and tested libraries like https://github.com/Tehreer/SheenBidi to get full compliance without having to painstakingly implement and optimize it. (The Unicode reference implementation is not optimized and is only meant for comparing against.)

But even without that, thanks to Elad's work, bidirectional text is probably going to be readable in the majority of real-world scenarios with the current PebbleOS.