medhA-6 : Unicode Sanskrit Keyboard Layout

Version 6 of medhA keyboard for Unicode Sanskrit is ready.
It is similar to old version, medhA-3. So, it also follows phonetics. In that way you don’t need to remember most key. They come to you naturally. Previous guides posted at my website and that of svAmI nIlakaNTha will help you.
A few changes :
Alt Gr allows you to type full stop(.), comma(,), Rupee Sign(₹), exclamation(!), etc. and some vaidika signs.
Details are in pictures.
So, from now you don’t need to switch keyboard to English for comma, full stop, etc.Installation package is available here : medha-6.exe.(new link)
A detailed change log may be posted later.

medhA-6 in normal condition (without pressing any additional key)
medhA-6 with Shift key pressed
medhA-6 with AltGr(Right Alt) key pressed
medhA-6 with Shif+Ctrl keys pressed

Download : medhA-3 (in a single bundle)

swAmI nIlakaNThAnanda giri ji was always a part of development of ‘janani’ and ‘medhA’ keyboard-layouts. I always asked him to help me improve these as he was more involved in devanAgarI typing.
Now, he suggested to make a self-extracting self-installing archive for medhA to get rid of iso-explorers. This was a good idea. I thought to bring it to reality but delayed. So, he created one. I checked it, improved it and it is now made available to all.
Now, what’s its use?
You can install “medhA-3” in less steps and you don’t need additional softwares to extract or open .iso image.
This version is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10.

Help for medhA-3 is available in hindi at swAmI nIlakaNTha’s blog.

Download “medhA-3”(for new version see below.)

Scheme for medhA-3

Here I present two pictures explaining scheme used to make medhA – 3 keyboard layout. The first one is for normal-state and the other one is for shift-state(when keyboard is used with shift key pressed).

medhA-3 normal
This is medhA – 3 in normal-state.

medhA-3 shift
This is medhA – 3 in shift-state.

Providing this picture is helpful for those who want to develop their own keyboard-layout and for those who want to use my keyboard-layout efficiently, both.
For both groups, I will suggest to go through my previous related posts and this can be done by clicking the “Sanskrit Keybord” menu tab above.
Although pictures presented here are not big enough to make everything clear, there is nothing to worry. Why? Because you will be able to see bigger view by clicking them from my “Public Picasa Web Album”.
Another thing I will like to make clear is that although this keyboard is bearing name Sanskrit Keybord, it is not only for Sanskrit. You will be able to write any language which uses Devanagari script. So, it means you can write Hindi, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Nepali, etc. directly with it. So, it is actually Devanagari-keyboard-layout and not Sanskrit-keyboard-layout.
Then, why am I presenting it with that name? Because I developed it to make me able to write Sanskrit language in Devanagari script. 🙂

medhA-3

What Is This ? 
medhA 3 is a keyboard-layout (a software) for Devanagari Script. Its third in the series. More about it is here.

 

What It Does ? 
It makes you able to write any language using Devanagari script on Windows OS(starting from XP to Windows 10).
Devanagari is used to write Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Newari, Magahi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Gujari, Pahari (Garhwali and Kumaoni), Konkani, Marwari, Bhili, Santhali, Tharu. Sometimes Sindhi, Sherpa and Kashmiri are also written in this script. Formerly it was used to write Gujarati too.

So, you can write all these languages in Devanagari script with “medhA” keyboards.

 

Why A New Version ? 
Older version of medhA is working fine. So, it is not left totally. medhA is base of this series of keyboard-layouts. But, we needed some special characters to write. They were not available in older layout. So, we have a few modifications here.

 

So, What Is New Here ? 
“medhA 3” keyboard layout for devanAgarI has some modifications. Now, you can use these combinations on keyboard –

  1. ctrl+shift+1 for ‘zero width joiner’
  2. ctrl+shift+2 for ‘zero width non-joiner’
  3. ctrl+shift+3 for ‘udAtta’
  4. ctrl+shift+4 for ‘anudAtta’
  5. ctrl+shift+5 for ‘swarita’

 

How To Use These Combinations ? What Will I Get ? 

1.
‘zero width joiner’ is used to write half letters, as क्‍त. (See the first one in the above picture, if it is not displayed well).

To write this, use
k + , + (ctrl+shift+1) + t = क+्+ ‍ + त = क्‍त
And remember that ‘zero width joiner’ is not visible character.

Special Use
zero width joiner is also used to show newArI or marAThI half-र, as in र्‍क.
To write this, use

र+्+zero width joiner.

 

2.
‘zero width non-joiner’ is used to write consonants with visible virAmam, as क्‌त. (See the middle one in the above picture, if it is not displayed well).
To write this, use
k + , + (ctrl+shift+2) +t = क + ् + ‌ + त = क्‌त

 

3.
If you don’t use them, you will get क्त. (See the third one in the above picture, if it is not displayed well).
To write this, use
k + , + t = क + ् + त = क्त

 

4.
udAtta, etc. are for Vedic uses.

 

Who Should Use? 
Those, who don’t want to use complex ligatures, can use zero width joiner or non-joiner to make all consonants visible while combining.
Unicode Fonts, like Sanskrit2003, support many complex ligatures. Some of them are very rarely used. Many people find them strange and difficult. So, you may like to write them in simple way.
These combinations will help you do that.
For more details, please check this one.
Download

medhA 3 is available to be downloaded at My Skydrive (*Link Removed).
Please Download newer version HERE.

“medhA” – keyboard layout for sanskrit

WHAT IS THIS ? WHAT IS IT’S USE ?
medhA keyboard-layout is a small program which maps Devanagari letters to your conventional keyboard to make you able to write Sanskrit, Hindi, etc. in Devanagari script.

 

Convert Various Fonts to Unicode

What is Font ?
A font is a set of printable or displayable text characters in a specific style and size.

Types of Fonts
Here I’ll be talking about Unicode Fonts. So, the other type is Non-Unicode. Simple.

Unicode
Fonts contain a wide range of characters, letters, digits, etc., mapped
into the standard Universal Character Set, derived from many different
languages and scripts from around the world.
Non-Unicode Fonts are specific to a particular language or legacy character set.

Why Conversion of Text written with Non-Unicode Font to Unicode ?
The first answer is choice. And, the cause of choice is their standard.
Actually,
I had many devanAgarI texts written with Non-Unicode fonts. I started
using Unicode fonts and keyboard supporting them. I was unable to edit
old texts with Unicode supporting keyboard. I had to switch between
different fonts now and then. Even after this exercise what I got was
looking bad. Using different fonts in a single word can’t make you happy
with it’s looks. I’d to choose one of them. I chose Unicode-fonts.

So, Why You Used Non-Unicodes Ever ?
Because Unicode-fonts were unavailable. Or, because I did not know. Or,…ohhh…..many causes. Listen my story :-
A
few years back I was not much familiar with computing and
sanskrit-hindi-typing. I used to write sanskrit-texts in roman script. I
used “I-TRANS-encoding” for it. (Its a transliteration scheme.) Then the encoded text was converted to devanAgarI script by I-translator. It was a two-step procedure.
At that time I-translator was using font “Sanskrit-99” . So, I had too many Sanskrit-texts written with that font. Its necessary to mention here that it was not an Unicode-font as “Sanskrit 2003” or “Mangal” etc.

So What You Did ?
I searched to get any software able to make my all Non-Unicoded texts Unicoded.

What were your ideas?
First
transliterate my texts to I-trans encoding and then to Unicoded text
with the help of I-translator. But, I couldn’t do that.
Why?
There was no software to convert Non-Unicoded text to I-trans scheme. The new I-translator was supporting conversion of Unicoded devanAgarI text to I-tran scheme. But my texts were not in Unicode-font.

What’s The Solution ?
I went for other search.
This time I found a Google-Group dealing with this problem. It provided a HTML-page to convert font of text from “Sanskrit99” to “Sanskrit 2003”.
I downloaded the page, and tried to convert my texts. And wow….my texts were Unicoded.
I
checked my text thoroughly and found some less-used ligatures still
Non-Unicoded. So, I edited that HTML page as per my uses and needs. And
now, it was working superb.
Thanks to THAT GOOGLE GROUP. It has many other tools also. One should have a look.
Due to change in policies of Google Groups, all fonts, convertors and other files are stored on Google Sites by Group Moderators.

इति

श्रीमल्ललितालालितः॥