[Localization] Installing the Vietnamese Keyboard for the XO

Fri Apr 16 09:22:49 EDT 2010

Thanks for your help, Chris. :)

On 16/04/2010, at 2:44 AM, Chris Leonard wrote:

> On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 6:50 AM, Clytie Siddall <clytie at riverland.net.au> wrote:
> My XO-1 is running Sugar 0.8.21, build 802. I'll ask Nguyệt about hers.
> 
> How old is this system? I selected "Vietnamese" in the Language prefs and restarted, but hardly anything is translated.
> 
> 
> Build 802 was rolled out in May of 2009.
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/8.2.1
> 
> It is distinctly possible that many of your translations were not there at the time the image used on your laptop was flashed.

I did the first complete Sugar translation in February 2009. I suppose it might have not got to the XO by May.

> There is however a method for getting more recent versions of the language files using language packs.
> 
> See:
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Localization/Testing
> 
> For an 8.2 series Sugar, you will find the relevant language pack here:
> http://people.sugarlabs.org/sayamindu/langpacks/8.2/
> 
> It looks like they were last updated in Feb of 2010, so there may still be some difference between current Pootle PO files and the MO files you'll get from the language pack link above.
> 
> There are also directions for manually going from downloaded PO files to MO files, if there was substantial work done on lang-vi 0.82 files since Feb 2010, that might be necessary, or you could ask Sayamindu to refresh the 8.2 language packs.

OK, thanks. I'll start with the current language packs.
> 
> Also, this language pref. does not enable a Vietnamese keyboard layout. I can't access our language in the Write activity. My XO-1 does not have a key to switch between layouts, if that's relevant.
> 
> This really does bring up the need for testing before implementing localizations. :(
> 
> 
> Yes, unfortuantely OLPC does not have unlimited resources and so depends a great deal on local deployment partners to help out with many of the specifics of their language requirements.  In the case of Vietnamese, there is no "officially OLPC-sponsored" in-country program, just volunteers like you.  This is part of the reason that Contributor's Program laptops are made available to volunteers willing to work through the many details involved in a full local-language experience on the XO and pursue or provide fixes for any issues that arise in the testing process.  The lessons learned by the early pioneers are captured to smooth the road for those that follow later.

I would suggest making the Localization Testing wiki page:

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Localization/Testing

prominent on the SugarLabs Pootle, so we at least have somewhere to start.
>  
>> On the OLPC wiki, there are some pages that may be of interest:
>> 
>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Keyboard_layouts
> 
> This doesn't list a Vietnamese layout.
> 
> The layouts listed are those for which manufacturing designs for the membranes have been proposed or finalized.  That is typically done for languages where a major deployment is planned, thereby justifying the cost of a localized keyboard membrane.  There is also a link on that page to the XKB files, which might be the issue that needs investigation.

That page also doesn't include a Vietnamese layout. As I said, some of the necessary keys are listed, but what I really need now is to find the current Vietnamese keyboard layout.
>> 
> 
> I'm a little hesitant to set a Vietnamese keyboard layout if there isn't one on the machine. I don't know this machine well enough to mess with its setup on the command line.
> 
> Well if you don't try it, I'm not sure who will.

I don't mean I'm not willing to try things on the command-line. I just don't want to mess around there without some guidelines. ;)

> Starting to work a bit with the command line is probably going to be important to do the sorts of things you want in localization testing for Vietnamese.  It is just not possible for an XO laptop to be ready for every language in the world fresh out-of-the-box.  One of the beauties of the XO laptop is that reflashing from a USB stick is really quick and easy.  This page gives a recipe to get back to a basic build 802 install, no matter how badly you've messed around on the command line.
> 
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/No-fail_update
> 
> It is not just an update process, it is a complete re-imaging of the machine back to 802 baseline.

Thanks, I may well need that. ;)
> 
> 
> I was also a bit puzzled by this one-sentence page:
> 
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Vietnamese
> 
> as Vietnamese hasn't been an ideographic language for nearly 200 years. It's Latin-based. We have a very old ideographic script (Chữ Nôm) which is only used in historic documents.
> 
> 
> If there is anything on the OLPC wiki that you think is wrong or confusing, you should change it.  It's a wiki and there is probably no one better qualified to make corrections on lang-vi issues than you.

As Serge says, the ideographic language did exist, but it's more of a curiosity now than anything else. For those interested, we could link to the Chinese page for Chữ Nôm, but the Vietnamese page does need information on our current writing system. Once I have the input working, I'll update the page.

from Clytie 

Vietnamese Free Software Translation Team

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