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Help Amharic input and to use it on ooo

Asked by Gerard Beck

I was able to install the Keyboard (KFLM) and the fonts (abyss.Sil) into my ubuntu 10.04. Hence I can type in Amharic or Tigtigna (the base fonts plus the vowels interpreted correctly) on Text editor but not on ooo. When I type on ooo the base fonts in Abys,sil are there but the vowels are in latin. So anybody has any idea how to solve? Gerard

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Jacobsallan (jacobsallan) said : 		#1

Tools->Options->Language Settings in LibreOffice (a derivative of OpenOffice delivered into the next release of Ubuntu) brings up a dialog.

One section of the dialog that appears is entitled "Default languages for documents." This section is allows for three choices of Western, Asian, and CTL languages. Tigtigna is one of the choices in the Western chooser. Amharic is one of the choices in the CTL chooser. So, there is at least the pretense of support for both.

Another section of the dialog is labeled "Enhanced language support." There are two checkboxes. One of these checkboxes is labeled "Enabled for complex text layout (CTL)." This checkbox should be checked if you wish to type in Amharic.

Your problem is reported elsewhere in 2009. So it's probably a bug. The comments fuss over input methods -- since you have Text editor working, it sounds like this is not your problem.

I did a search for Amharic and other CTL language names within comments in bugs (using LibreOffice's bug page https://bugs.freedesktop.org/ ) . There are not that many hits, which is encouraging.

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Jacobsallan (jacobsallan) said : 		#2

Go to Keyboard Layout. Select Amharic. Click on the Options... button. There should be an option "Key to choose 3rd level."

Are any of the checkboxes checked? Which box? "Any Alt key"?

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Jacobsallan (jacobsallan) said : 		#3

I should have read your original post more carefully. You installed a keyboard. Probably because the input method that Ubuntu delivers with it's operating system is faulty. Is that correct?

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Best Jacobsallan (jacobsallan) said : 		#4

It is definitely possible to type Amharic (base + vowels) into OpenOffice. The key step is to NOT use an Amharic keyboard. Instead, use the English keyboard and utilize a Sera input method. The Sera input method is available through Ibus.

I'm running 11.10, so I'll document steps for that OS here. If 10.04 uses Ibus (instead of SCIM), then these comments will still be relevant.

Use the Dash to bring up System Settings. Click on the Language Support icon. In the Language Support dialog, use the Language tab. There is a list box labeled "Keyboard input method system": choose 'ibus', (the default is 'none').

Then restart your computer.

Use the Dash to bring up 'Ibus Input Methods'. In the Ibus dialog, there are three tabs: General, Input Method, and Advanced. In the General tab, make note of the fact that the keyboard shortcut for Enable or disable is a CTRL-Space. We will use that later. In the 'Input Method' tab, add an input method; in this case, Amharic->Sera. Click on the Add button. Use system keyboard layout should be checked.

Verify that the ibus daemon is running using ps. The Ibus dialog will have an option to start it if it is not running.

Ensure that an 'en' keyboard is set. Do not use 'am'. Start up OpenOffice and begin a new document.
Type CTRL-Space.
Then type in character sequences appropriate to the SERA input method. For instance, hahihohuh . The result, which will be visible to our Ethiopian friends (if they have Abyss SIL font installed): ሃሂሁሆህ .

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Gerard Beck (beck-gera) said : 		#5

Thank you very much this question is closed. I mean the problem is solved - as explained earlier
1/Install: kmfl-keyboard-sil-ethiopic_1.3-1_all.deb
2/Install: fonts-sil-abyssinica_1.200-developer-1_all.deb

Now log out and login - with no restart of the OS/ubuntu
If you open the Text editor and right click and choose Amharic, then start writing, there you are!

But now to bring the whole Amharic keysystem to Libreoffice or Openoffice (to be able to write there, not only on text editor)
1/System>Adminst>Language Support (here you might be prompted install this, if it is not already). After you finish installing or opening it, the 'Language & Text' window will appear: there
2/Click on Install/Remove language. From installed languages list choose Amharic and check the box on the right side of it.
3/In the same window, click Apply changes
4/ If asked to authenticate to install he pkge, do that and after the process you'll come back to 'Language & Text' window.
5/ There you choose the from Keyboard input method system (clicking the small arrow): Ibus
6/Now close this, 'Language & Text' window and for the better integration of things you did, Logout and login. (I've tried both ways actually it works, but why not logout and login)
7/By now you've a keyboard icon on your panel. Click this icon>Preferences>(you're in IBUS Preferences window), click Input Method (Tab)>Choose Amharic ለ(sera m17)>Add (now you will see the selected 'Amahric-sera 17m' with your other languages already in the list, including your default language.
8/ Close the IBUS Preferences window
Again, if logout and login it is not bad, as to me.
9/Start Libreoffice/Openoffice
10/Ctrl+Space
11/ Now start writing. (Caution: when you type you do not see the amharic/Geez characters, but latin. Don't panic, when you type a word and click the space bar (as you always do after typing word), then the word will be in Amharic. That is all.
If zou fail to have as written here, please do the Input method process again.
That is all / and the question is closed here