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Malayalam Unicode. Installations of Key Boards Hope by this time, you are well aware with Malayalam Unicode Computing except, the key boards. We were discussing (i) How to Enable Malayalam Unicode Computing in your computer & (ii) How to install Malayalam Fonts. All things considered, ISM ML proves to be a simple software solution that helps users convert Unicode Malayalam fonts to ISM ML fonts quickly. Although, it cannot be considered the most powerful. Aggregator = A software that frequently checks blogs for new content and displays the new content in a single place for easy reading. Anjalioldlipi = Most widely used Malayalam unicode font, created by Kevin. Displays the Malayalam letters in old lipi, most satisfactorly. Atom = A machine readable format of a blog entry.
Malayalam Unicode Fonts
There are different methods to input Malayalam in computer. ISM, Google IME / Transliteration, InScript etc are some to name a few, that lead the chaos. It is a sad fact that Malayalam still does not have a standard or perfect keyboard, which is compatible in all machines or works in all environments.
Majority of the publishing houses and DTP centers use ISM 4(cracked) to input Malayalam. The said technology has far outlived its original life span. It is because, ISM is based on ASCII (8bit) font and is no longer supported by Windows. A document created in ISM cannot be emailed unless the recipient too have ISM installed in their computer. It can neither be searched nor indexed. The hard truth is ISM is dead. It is better for everyone to move out of ISM and adopt new technologies to input malayalam.
The next popular method is Google IME / Transliteration. The said technology is based on phonetics or ManEnglish. It is most popular among youngsters and bloggers. In fact, Google IME is the true reason for the rampant increase in malayalam blogging in the Internet. However, the said technology has its own limitations. Google IME cannot be used for professional malayalam typing. It is more for fun, than for serious substance.
The least popular, but the true future of malayalam, lies in InScript Malayalam Keyboards. They are supported by all including, Google, Microsoft and Government of Kerala as well. Inscript Keyboards uses Unicode Font (32bit) and it permits sorting, searching, emailing etc, without any trouble. This blog is in quest for the perfect-standard In script Unicode keyboard for Malayalam.The layout for this keyboard is based on C-Dac’s Inscript keyboard provided here, and Ralminov’s keyboard provided here.
Features of August 2012 Version
- Inta ‘ ന്റ ‘ in a single key keystroke ( Shift + )
- Included Rupee Symbol ‘ ₹ ‘ (Shift + 4)
- Imba ‘ മ്പ’ single key keystroke (Alt Gr +Y )
- Immba ‘ബ്ബ’ moved to ( Shirt + Alt Gr + H)
- Vu (Va small) ‘്വ’ moved to (Alt Gr + B)
- yya (Double ya) ‘യ്യ’ moved to (Shift +Alt Gr + )
- Included ‘/’ symbol at ( Shirt + Alt Gr + / )
- kr ‘ ൿ ‘ moved to Shit + Alt Gr + – )
- $ moved to Shit + Alt Gr +3
- Rs inserted at Shit + Alt Gr + 4
2013 Edition
- Letter `ൊ` & `ഒ` shifted to Q for greater convenience
- Letter `ൌ` & `ഔ` shifted to ` , left to number 1
- Letter dot (small of ർ) included in Shirt+AltGr+
- See the layout pictures for more information
Sept Edition
- Letter `ണ്ട` movied to Alt Gr+Z for greater convenience
- ‘ങ്ങ’ placed to Shirt+U & ‘ങ’ movie to Alt+U
—->>Click here to download Malayalam keyboard 2013<<–
—>>Click here to download the latest compatible Malayalam Unicode fonts<<–
(I suggest you use, either anjalinewlipi or kaumadi as the font)
Keyboard Layout Screenshots
Shift Key +
Right Alt Key (Alt Gr) +
Shit + Right Alt Key (Alt Gr) +
Requirements
Windows 7, Office 2010 (Preferred)
- If your windows in old version, see how to setup malayalam reading here [Do not download the old fonts suggested there]
Windows update to support the new currency symbol for the Indian Rupee : Click Here
- If your windows in not genuine download the above update from : For x86 machines ; For x64 machines
Office Language Interface Pack : Click Here
“ന്റെ” യുടെ ഒടുവിലത്തെ കഥ.
The main reason which prompted me to develop a keyboard of my own was due to the inconsistency in inputting the letter ‘nte’ (ന്റ) in Malayalam. Till 2001, ‘nte’ was inputted through keys ന+്+റ. However after 2001, Microsoft introduced Kartika Unicode Font along with Windows XP, which permitted typing ‘nte’ only by ന+്+zwj+റ. Many authors and developers criticized the said method as incorrect here, here and here.Unicode suggest an altogether a third method by ൻ+്+റ (See here)
So I have used ന+്+റ, the first and oldest method, still followed in ubundu and all, as the standard, for the time being, till the matter is resolved finally.
InKey-Mozhi™
InKey-Mozhi is the Malayalam Transliteration keyboard that uses Mozhi Scheme.
After installing to toggle between English and Malayalam press the CTRL key twice.
Downloads
InKey-Mozhi Installer
Full InKey Software™ installer including the latest InKey-Mozhi keyboard. See Downloads page for important notes/instructions regarding InKey installation. |
InKey-Mozhi Keyboard:
If you already have InKey (v 2.0 or above) installed on your computer, you can download the Malayalam InKey-Mozhi keyboard and install it
mlym-mozhi_2015-07-13.inkey | Add-on keyboard package for existing InKey installations |
InKey-Mozhi Keyboard: Source Code
Source code of InKey-Mozhi Tinker Keyboard | Link to the github repository of InKey-Mozhi Keyboard. |
History of InKey
The first version of InKey was created by Daniel McCloy in 2008, and was available only through limited distribution channels. InKey 2.0 was released to the public in 2015.
History of InKey Mozhi Keyboard
In March 2015, a discussion in the Nalla Malayalam Facebook Community, some members raised the issue that they are facing while typing Malayalam in Windows platform using the existing typing tools. The tools that they are using started giving issues from Windows 7 onwards. The 32 bit/64 bit version also added more issues with the existing typing applications. Also some of some of the existing software that they had used had become paid software. Hence the requirement for a new solution arose. This requirement from Malayalam windows users was reported to the InKey development team. Inkey Mozhi is the result of this request.
The InKey Mozhi Keyboard is written in Tinker Keyboard Description Language. The source code of the InKey Mozhi keyboard is available online at github. If you are interested in creating your own keyboard (or modifying the Mozhi to match with your own preferences, you can do so by downloading and modifying the InKey-Mozhi Keyboard. To learn more about InKey Tinker Keyboard Description language, please visit http://inkeysoftware.com/devguide.html.
Other info
If you have a previous version of InKey running on your computer, please uninstall it before installing this new version.
Thank you for your interest in using InKey. If you have suggestions, feedback, bug reports, or feature requests for the InKey system, please notify the developers through the Forums page.
For issues relating specificially to the InKey Mozhi keyboard, or to provide any feedback or in Malayalam, please write instead to Sorry, you need Javascript on to email me.
Known Issues
Malayalam Unicode Software Typing
- While testing it is reported that in some cases the second keystroke is losing if the same key had to press twice. There are cases in the Mozhi keyboard layout where need to press the same key twice. For eg. to obtain ട്ട്, you need to type ‘tt’. However on all other systems, it worked just fine. We are still investigating this issue and a solution is yet to be found. If you experience this (or similar) behaviour, please report it to the the developers through the Forums page.
- The ‘nta (ന്റ)’ is not represented as per the current Unicode standard. This is because most of the current Malayalam unicode fonts still follow the non-standard way of representing ‘nta’. However we will soon include an alternate way of typing the standard form of ‘nta’ in InKey Mozhi.