Re: [Freetype] freetype layout when ???

[Antoine Leca]

Bon dia,

Aditya Gilra va escriure :
> 
> We are anxiously waiting for Linux to support Unicode
> Hindi. I have in hand two UNicode Hindi ttf fonts with
> conjunct ligatures which work on Windows

Good. Can you tell me if they are based on Uniscribe
(i.e., if they work seemlessly in Windows 2000/xp, you type
in Notepad with the default Hindi keyboard or the Inscript
keyboard), or if they are of some other kind? (I do know
quite a number of these beasts)

> but not on Linux.

> I have been regularly visiting the freetype.org pages
> for over 3 months hoping to see the freetype Layout
> project complete. This will allow us to use our Hindi
> Unicode fonts on Linux.

As you may have noted, Freetype Layout is more a future
project than a completed one. I should add that we welcome
any contribution (and particularly from native Indian
writers, since Indic scripts is one of the complex areas
involved).

 
> But it doesn't even start.

Yes, we are quite busy; Freetype is a hobby for most of
us; sometimes David is able to have a contract to work
fulltime at Freetype while being payed for that, but
until now this did not happen for Indic scripts,
unfortunately.

 
> CAN someone on the development team please tell me
> when I can expect freetype layout to complete
> 6 months, 1year, 2 years?????

I won't bet less than 2 years, given the present state
of affairs, the implication of the developpers in other
tasks, and more importantly the rate at which projects
can be completed.

 
> I am a Linux fan but I get frustrated when I can't
> type my language when I can easily do so in Windows.

Hmmm. This I can understand, but I also know there are
other solutions (like TeX or Itrans), that may seem
impractical, but nevertheless work.

 
> I know there's pango in the latest gtk (which I
> downloaded) but it only uses a buggy bitmap for Hindi
> which has many ligatures wrong.

It would help describing (in a separate, private, mail,
or more productively in a Web site or a ad hoc mailing
list if you can set up something like that) the problems
you noticed.
Perhaps some of them that you may view as wrong are
artefacts of something other, perhaps there are bugs in
Pango that Owen would be happy to hear from, perhaps
they are genuine bugs with the fonts that the developper
ought to correct; but in any case, you ought to report
these bugs.

 
> I want to use my true types which have most ligatures
> correct.
> 
> I hope someone will oblige me with an interim if not
> final date.

I am affraid this is not likely to happen until the end
of this year, unless things change drastically (like
some organisation contracting some of us to work at
fulltime on this!) Also please note that Freetype Layout
will only be a library, which means this is next to
nothing without tools using it; and at the moment there
is no such application...


Ben cordialment.
Antoine