Sunday, February 16, 2020

Layout for Nepal Bhasa in Prachalit lipi

𑐖𑑂𑐰𑐖𑐮𑐥𑐵
𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑐮 𑐨𑐵𑐫 𑐥𑑂𑐬𑐔𑐮𑐶𑐟 𑐮𑐶𑐥𑐶 𑐮𑐾𑐁𑐄𑐚

This is a input method for Prachalit lipi (Newa character set introduced in Unicode 9.0) made for those who are comfortable with TTF fonts like Kantipur and Preeti.

Very limited font support for Newa script so far. One font that does is Noto Sans Newa

Detailed instructions for similar layout in नेपाली

Keyman

This layout is available for Keyman as Newa Traditional layout which can be used on variety of platforms

Online

You can use this layout on your browser without having install anything.

Go to KeymanWeb and under Languages select Asia -> Newar

Browser addon - Visit KeymanWeb and drag Browser Addon button to bookmarks

Desktop

Keyman is available for all major desktop environments

  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Linux (there is also an alternate method not needing keyman)

Mobile

Keyman is available for Android and iOS. It also supports autocomplete, be sure to install Nepal Bhasa dictionary

Newa Romanized layout

A romanized layout for Prachalit is also available in keyman

Linux only #

This needs ibus or fcitx packages. I have tested this on ArchLinux but it should work in other distros if you can get those packages installed.

Installation

This is an extension of the m17n-db project and has been included in m17n-db since v1.8.2.

  • If you want to use ibus install ibus, ibus-m17n and m17n-contrib packages. 
    sudo apt-get install ibus ibus-m17n m17n-contrib
    sudo pacman -S ibus ibus-m17n m17n-contrib
  • If you want to use fcitx install fcitx, fcitx-m17n and m17n-contrib packages.
    sudo apt-get install fctix fcitx-m17n m17n-contrib
    sudo pacman -S fcitx fcitx-m17n m17n-contrib
  • Restart IBus / fcitx if its running
  • New layout newa-traditional should be available under Nepal Bhasa in your input manager preferences under Input method tab. Find and add this layout. 

Here is a screenshot of fcitx config