Re: Arabic on Zaurus/Ipaq

[Nadim Shaikli <shaikli at yahoo dot com>]

--- Abdulhaq Lynch <al-arabeyes at alinsyria dot fsnet dot co dot uk> wrote:
> > > The font package doesn't really need maintenance any more than the
> > > current fonts on arabeyes - it's just a different format to ttf. I was
> > > hoping we could add the .ipk package file to the khotot project.
> >
> > If there is use for it then by all means sure; either mail it to me and/or
> > submit a bug report and attach a bzipped file and I'll see what I can do.
> 
> As soon as I'm happy with the basics (probably when shaping works properly
> in qt/e) which should be very soon, I'll wrap up the .qpf font files into a 
> package and mail it to you - I don't want to do all the wrapping up now if I 
> have to make a few changes in a couple of days and do it again. I should have
> it to you before next weekend in shaa' allah.

Great.

> > If Arabic learners will see value in this then by all means.  You are
> > continuing development on this yet-to-be-named application, right ?  We've
> > had a few people in the past interested in either developing a "teaching
> > and/or learning tool" or helping customize one so this might be of interest
> > to others.
> 
> I am continuing development on the vocab program and once this qt/e blitz 
> quietens down I'll email contact for a project/account etc.

Just add it to your Todo list and let us know when you are ready.
 
> > To be completely honest I was thinking more of something for kids (3-9 year
> > olds or so).  The MadinaArabic site doesn't seem to fit what a kid would
> > like to see and/or what would keep his/her interests going (ie. they are
> > lacking the games and challanges kids seem to require :-).
> 
> The type of thing you're thinking of is a huge task. It's hard enough to
> write a course on paper never mind on PC, don't you think? It would need
> lots of clip art, cleverly designed coursework, a multimedia controlling
> program like Director etc. It would a be wonderful thing if done, but I
> feel tired just thinking about the work involved... The content itself
> would be very hard to produce (wouldn't it?).

Yeah it would be a daunting task, but we can dream and inch towards that
goal.  There are plenty of open source kiddie programs out there that we
can either enlist and/or use to expand upon ([1] comes to mind).  But I
do agree that this would be a tough thing to do and get right - it will
nonetheless continue to be on my personal wish-list of things I want to
see done sooner rather than later (and I have a feeling lots of people
share that thought esp. if we really want to get Linux into every classroom
out there).

[1] http://www.ofset.org/gcompris/

> > > > In short, let us know (email to 'contact') if -
> > > >  1. You want a Qt/E bidi/shaping patch project page (until the main
> > > >     project adds its own and/or adopts the patch)
> > > >  2. You want to house your 'vocabulary program' (didn't know what name
> > > >     to use).
> 
> Somewhere to put the patches for safekeeping and future reference would be 
> useful as I think it will take a long time to get the OpenEmbedded team to 
> accept patches to the qt/e library. I've put everything inside #ifdefs as you
> suggested and I'll wait until the code settles down before submitting 
> anything else. My initial patch for tashkeel has been met with total silence 
> so far - I'll just take it slowly.

Keep at it - the occasional "hey, remember me" and "I have a patch that
adds much needed functionality, is done and is completely isolated, please
include" might help :-)

> To summarise, somewhere to put the qt/e patches will be very useful  - I'll 
> email 'contact' now. When things settle down a bit I'll email about hosting 
> the font package and the vocab program.

Wonderful, we'll go from there then.

Salam.

 - Nadim


	
		
__________________________________ 
Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! 
Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web 
http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/