Arabeyes Newsletter - Issue 1

[Isam Bayazidi <bayazidi at accessme dot com>]

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		 Arabeyes Monthly Newsletter
		   Issue 1 -- November,201
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Table of Contents
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1. First Release of QaMoose Dictionary
2. New release of Akka is coming
3. VIM Arabic support coming soon
4. QT3 Available now
5. KDE3 Arabic Support
6. KDE translation team News
7. Arabic Keyboard Setup HOWTO
8. Future plans for Arabeyes



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1. First Release of QaMoose Dictionary
--------------------------------------------------------------

After extensive work from Nadim Shaikli to complete the English-
Arabic dictionary,Arabeyes is proud to announce the first release
of QaMoose. QaMoose (previously named dict) is what the KDE
translation team asked for from day one, and now that it is ready,
it will help translators unify the translation of terms, and will
act as a resource for technical terms translation. QaMoose's main
focus to be retain consistency across all translations undertaken
by Arabeyes. To try QaMoose go to :

http://www.arabeyes.org/qamoose/index.cgi
http://www.arabeyes.org/projects/qamoose.php

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2. New release of Akka is coming
--------------------------------------------------------------

Chahine Hamila announced on the 'developer' mailing list that a
new version of Akka is  coming soon. Akka is a server that will
monitor text consoles in order  to enable right to left displays
and input. It makes it possible to use almost every existing
text software to write and read Arabic (and other Semitic-based
scripts) without recompilation or code change, so translators can
focus on localization (translation) only. To follow the Akka
latest news go to :

http://www.arabeyes.org/projects/akka.php

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3. VIM Arabic support coming soon
--------------------------------------------------------------

Having an Arabic enabled text editor is essential for the Arabic
development and for Open Source software translation.So this was
one of the first projects Arabeyes wanted to conquer; needless to
say expect Arabic support for VIM-6 (VI IMproved) soon.This crucial
ability will allow all users to type and save text in UTF-8 Arabic
for their daily usage and needs.

http://www.arabeyes.org/projects/vim.php

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4. QT3 Available now
--------------------------------------------------------------

The first stable release of QT3 toolkit has been released. This
is important because QT3 is the backbone of the KDE desktop
environment, and because QT3 has Arabic language support.
This means that the QT3 based applications will have added
support for Arabic text shaping and input, allowing the Arabic
language to have presence in these applications in general,
and in KDE3 in particular.

http://www.trolltech.com

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5. KDE3 Arabic Support
--------------------------------------------------------------

The Alpha version of KDE3 is now available, and it is the first
version of KDE that has Arabic support, and includes an Arabic
interface. This version of Alpha KDE3 is intended to be tested
by developers, and is in an early stage in terms of reliability
and usability, but it is very promising. The main difference
between KDE3 and KDE2.2.x is the support of QT3 libraries, which
has added Arabic support and more internationalization features.
The Arabization of the interface of KDE is still underway by the
translation team at Arabeyes.org . Hopefully by the first stable
release of KDE3,which is expected by end of February next year,
the essentials of an Arabic interface will be completed.

http://www.kde.org


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6. KDE translation team News
--------------------------------------------------------------

It's been about 3 months since the launch of the KDE translation
Project, a lot of work has been done since, and still a lot more
left. Mohammed Gamal have been consistent and dedicated to the
Translation Project, having the most files claimed by him; current
percentage-standing is at about 17% of the TOTAL Translations
required to certify the KDE Translation complete. So for those
who haven't started, there is still a lot to do, join us.

http://www.arabeyes.org/projects/kde.php


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7. Arabic Keyboard Setup HOWTO
--------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Hesham Hasan a HOWTO about Arabic Keyboard setting is
now available in Arabeyes' Resources section. This HOW TO covers
the Arabic Keyboard setup under the KDE3 and QT3 running with
XFree86-4.1 ..

http://www.arabeyes.org/faq/keyboard-howto/index.html

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8. Future plans for Arabeyes
--------------------------------------------------------------

Arabeyes' mandate and charter is to make all *nix (unix, Linux,
*BSD) systems capable of utilizing the Arabic language in every
day tasks which include, but are not limited to, the creation of
documents (editing files), ability to spell-check, ability to
send/receive mail in Arabic ,etc.  Arabeyes will also furnish and
work towards the translation of session environments (KDE, Gnome,
etc) as well as furnishing a unified set of fonts, etc to ease
future development work and to heighten interest in unix/linux.
Arabeyes is a grass-roots effort conducted and run by volunteers
passionate about unix/linux and the Arabic language and the
challenges posed there-in.

http://www.arabeyes.org/about.php
http://www.arabeyes.org/projects/project_list.txt

As always Arabeyes is in need of more volunteers, both with
technical acumen (programming, website development, etc) as well
as in non-technical fields (promotions, recruiting, administrative,
etc).

Your help would be greatly appreciated in all field - Join us !!