Linux now in 5 Indian languages

MUMBAI: C-DAC has released GNU Linux enabled for five Indian languages - Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi, using the specially developed Bharatiya engine.

Department of IT (DIT) secretary Kamal Kant Jaswal carried out the enabling of the five Indian languages, release of the Bharatiya engine and launching of IndiX website at a function `PanchaBhasha Yoga’ held at C-DAC, Mumbai.

A team of scientists and font design specialists at C-DAC, Mumbai has implemented IndiX, which enables Indian language support by modifying the inner framework of the core window system on Linux. Typefaces such as JanaSanskrit., JanaKannada, JanaTamil, JanaMalkayalam and JanaMarathi, in Open Type format based on Unicode international standards have been designed and integrated for the purpose.

According to the release, IndiX offers the advantage of supporting international applications for Indic text without recompilation or modification. An enabling infrastructure, will allow many applications to use Indian languages with the same ease as English.

For example, web browsers such as Netscape and Mozilla can be used on IndiX.

DIT, Ministry of Communication and IT have funded the IndiX project under its TDIL program.

(Cyber News Service)