m17n-ne

Nepali input method variants for ibus-m17n.

1 Getting It

1.1 Requirements

System	supporting ibus
Dependencies	ibus, m17n-db

1.2 Install

# make install

restart the ibus for changes to appear.

$ ibus restart

2 About layouts

We provived some of the layout not offered by the m17n-db. m17n provides the handy way to add, layout see tutorial.

Layout	Description
lipi	lipi (लिपि) is designed for programmer/localizers
rom-imp	improvement with 99% backward compatibility

2.1 Why ?

• Few frequently used symbol (i.e. “~!@#$%^&*(){}<>”) unavailable in romanized layout, resulting in constant switching, which is major headache for programmers and localizers.
• Vanilla Romanized doesn’t do ovious corrections.
• Romanized layout was designed for fixed layout, where composite entries were not possible

2.2 Design

Layout	Control Char	phonetic	visual	vowel	remap
lipi	2	14	5	8	10
rom-imp	2	14	5	8	0

2.2.1 escape sequence

Use escape sequence backward slash (\) for accessing default mapping. The all other mapping for the backward slash \ has revoked in all layouts. e.g. for typing / use \/.

2.2.2 unicode control character

Most of us never knew the secret of typing “न्‍न” since you always got “न्न”. Problem was special character Zero Width Joiner (ZWJ), which was invisible cumbersome to find!

NOTE: If you see no different between “न्‍न” and “न्न” your have a smart renderer.

#	Sequence	Tokens	Result
1	/	्	्
2	//	् + ्	् + ZWJ
3	///	् + ् + ्	् + ZNWJ

2.2.3 phonetic completion

Most of the people have hard time remembering the sequence for special characters, here we provide phonetic/trasliterative completions. And wait, old method still works and there few more too!

NOTE: If you see no different between “त्र” and “त्‌र” or “श्र” and “श्‌र” your have a some problem in your renderer.

#	Symbol	in Romanized	Alternatives
1	इ	key: ‘[’	sequence: ‘ie’
2	ई	key: ‘{’	sequence: ‘iee’
3	त्र	sequence: ‘t/r’	sequence: ‘traa’
4	क्ष	sequence: ‘k/z’	sequence: ‘chyaa’
5	ज्ञ	sequence: ‘j/Y’	sequence: ‘gyaa’, ‘jyaa’
6	श्र	sequence: ‘t/r’	sequence: ‘shree’
7	द्य	sequence: ‘d/y’	sequence: dhyaa
8	ङ	key: ‘<’	sequence: naa
9	ळ	key: ‘L’	sequence: ‘lll’
10	ॐ	key: ‘'	sequence: ‘oom’
11	ऋ	key: ‘Z’	sequence: ‘rii’
12	ॠ	None	sequence: ‘riii’
13	ऌ	None	sequence: ‘lree’
14	ॡ	None	sequence: ‘lreee’

2.2.4 Visual Similar Corrections

While writing by hand, each glyph is seen separately but ironically each section is character on its own, combined to create a new character.

for example:

आ ≠ अा (अ + ा)

ओ ≠ अो (अ + ो)

ऐ ≠ एे (ए + े)

But, in computers characters is represented by code, which is infact different even though they looks same/similar. This is why spell checker flags them, now its all right to make those mistakes. No more hunt and peak for आ, ओ, औ, ऐ.

#	Symbol	Sequence
1	आ	अ + ा
2	ओ	अ + े
		अ + ो
		अ + ा + ो
3	औ	अ + ौ
		अ + ो + े
		अ + े + ो
		अ + ा + ै
		अ + ा + े + े
4	ऐ	ए + े
5	ॐ	ऊ + ँ + ँ

2.2.5 Vowels

2.2.5.1 semivowel sequence

Semivowel(diacritic) in sequence of 2 will create the independent vowel form.

#	Character	Sequence
1	आ	ा + ा
2	इ	ि + ि
3	ई	ी + ी
4	उ	ु + ु
5	ऊ	ू + ू
6	ए	े + े
7	ऐ	ै + ै
8	ओ	ो + ो
9	औ	ौ + ौ

2.2.5.2 higher vowel

Independent vowel followed by semivowel.

#	Character	Sequence
1	आ	अ + ा
2	ई	इ + ि
		इ + ी
3	ऊ	उ + ु
		उ + ू
4	ऐ	ए + े
		ए + ै
5	औ	ओ + ो
		ओ + ौ

2.2.5.3 Idiomatic completions

#	Symbol	Sequence
1	ओ	अ + े
2	औ	अ + ै
3	ङ	ड + ं + ं
4	ँ	ं + ं

2.2.6 remap

We have remapped some of the symbols specially in lipi layout.

NOTE: This section is not applied for all layouts.

#	Symbol	in Romanized
			key	visual	vowel	phonetic
1	उ	f	Y		ु + ु
2	ऊ	F			ू + ू
3	इ	[	f		ि + ि	ie
4	ई	{	F		ी + ी	iee
5	ए	]	z		े + े
6	ऐ	}		ए + े	ै + ै
7	ऋ	Z				rii
8	ङ	<		ड + ं + ं		naa
9	ष	z	Z
10	ॐ	\		ऊ + ँ + ँ		oom

3 Cross Map Hacks

Since ibus runs setxkbmap in background, which alternative layout, is reset to us (qwerty).

as they say:

Go Away Or I Will Replace You With A Very Small Shell Script

3.1 How to install

for now it only works for dvorak layout, see hijack.sh script to change to other layout. Here is back story of endeavor.

# make hijack