Using Thai on the Zaurus

You can use easily use Thai on the Zaurus, QT embedded uses Unicode representations for all internal data. However there are a few things that need a little setting up.

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Fonts

The Zaurus does not come with any Thai fonts installed. I have converted some Thai TrueType fonts (TTF) to Qtopia Prerendered Font (QPF) format. Please see my Thai Zaurus Fonts page.

Entering Thai Text

I have written a small plugin input method for entering Thai letters on a virtual keyboard, TIM.

Thai Environment

The user interface (QPE) has not been translated into Thai so you will not be able to use Thai in the GUI. You can set the locale to Thai so that if you do find any software that has been translated it will default to Thai.

Start a terminal:
The terminal application is not installed by default. If you have not yet installed one, you can find one on the CDROM that came with your Zaurus.
Change directory:
```
bash-2.05$ cd ../Settings
```
You should now be in /home/zaurus/Settings.
Edit the locale file:
This file sets the language your Zaurus uses.
```
bash-2.05$ su
# vi locale.conf
```
After typing su the prompt changes to "#".

Change the language from ja (Japanese) to th (Thai) or en (English). If you choose Thai then default names will be English if Thai is not available so it doesn't make much difference.

Using the arrow keys, move the cursor over the letters ja. Press x to delete the character under the cursor. Press i to insert new letters.

When you have finished press cancel to return from insert mode. Type :wq when finished to save and quit vi.

In the image I have Timezone set to London but you may choose any location you like at any time simply by changing the location in the System Settings (tap on the clock in the right of the taskbar).
Close the terminal.
Reset:
From the Q menu in the bottom left of the screen, select reboot, second option from the bottom.

You can also edit the desktop file for each program so that Thai is used for the icons.

Useful Tools

thaiconv

If you want to use Thai plain text files on the Zaurus, they should be in UTF-8 format. My thaiconv program is available for the ARM platform (as well as other architectures). It can be used to convert TIS-620 coded text files (a common format for Thai plain text) or HTML Unicode into UTF-8 and back.

thaicheck

You can verify that plain text files are valid Thai letter order using this tool. thaicheck examines files and looks for letters that cannot go together e.g. tone markers in impossible places. Everything on Zaurus is Unicode so you will have to convert to TIS-620 using thaiconv first

Language Study

Thai Dictionaries

I have built some Thai dictionaries that are intended to be used on Zaurus. They are in a standard format so can easily be converted for use with other programs.

Thai Glossaries

These are glossary files for toMOTko. Note, these files are using the format for toMOTko 0.10.0.

Installing: Download the file and transfer it to your Zaurus. From toMOTko choose "Import..." from the Actions menu.

Alphabet

This file covers the 42 Thai consonants (akson thai) that some might call the Thai alphabet. Note that each letter is shown with it's counterpart word, i.e. similar to "a is for apple", that are commonly used in Thailand. Also shown next to the English is the transliteration for when the consonant is in the initial or final position in the word. You can also find which classification the letter is in the comments field.

Download: Thai Alphabet.zip.

Numbers

Numbers, exceptions, larger numbers, mathematical operators, a lot, a little, many, classifiers for counting, etc.

Download: Thai numbers.zip.

Time

Telling the time (12/24 hour clock), basic time questions, days, months, now, soon, etc.

Download: Thai time.zip.

Everyday Phrases

I feel good, I feel ill, are you hungry, hello, thank you, where is, etc. The user should think for themselves about adding polite particles (krap/ka) to the end of each phrase.

Download: Thai everyday phrases.zip.