openinkpot and middle eastern languages Arabic, Persian (Farsi)

ali_sade · 04-14-2009, 08:18 AM

I was working on creating a reasonably smart parser for eastern languages Arabic, Persian (Farsi) - which have are right to left and depending on the position of the letter in the word, the letter forms change, and are included in Unicode fonts.

My initial direction was to try to figure out the SDK from Jinke and try and write a new parser for Arabic using epub.

The second thing i did was study the code of nano-x (http://www.microwindows.org/) which is a lightweight X server which can run on appliance to find out if I can enable the Arabic support right from there. There is a viewer in nano-x which seems quite capable.

However as I am getting to know openinkpot more and more now I am wondering if a better approach is to go ahead with this project.

Do you have any pointers to give me? Does openinkpot support Arabic intrinsically?

Jellby · 04-14-2009, 10:36 AM

Why do you need a parser? If the right Unicode character/glyph are used, all you need is pick it from the font, dont you? (and maybe switch between left-to-right and right-to-left rendering).

dottedmag · 04-14-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ali_sade

I was working on creating a reasonably smart parser for eastern languages Arabic, Persian (Farsi) - which have are right to left and depending on the position of the letter in the word, the letter forms change, and are included in Unicode fonts.

Not sure what you're trying to achieve. Pango already should support complex scripts rendering, and if it is not, then it's better to work with Pango developers directly to implement it.

Probably some OI UI is not RTL-aware, and this may be fixed if you point out what need to be fixed.

ali_sade · 04-15-2009, 01:58 AM

Are OI readers pango enabled?

dottedmag · 04-15-2009, 03:19 AM

FBreader uses Pango to output text, IIRC. Though it need to be double-checked

lunohod · 04-15-2009, 03:34 AM

I've rewritten the rendering part of FBReader using only freetype2, because pango was too slow. Right now RTL languages are not supported. However, I've tried to add RTL rendering and I was able to read hebrew (without nekudot). But it's much harder to render arabic.

ali_sade · 04-15-2009, 03:40 AM

So one has to do what is done in Pango using freetype2 to render Arabic or you would suggest working with pango developers to create a light-weight pango enabled library for ebook readers?

dottedmag · 04-15-2009, 04:49 AM

Better work with Pango devs -- OI is just a one distribution amongst the horde, and pango optimizations will benefit many (including desktop users).

If you will, please keep us informed

ali_sade · 04-16-2009, 04:53 AM

I contacted Pango devs and they believed that I should profile to find where the slowness comes from, could you please let me know where to tweak in OI to enable Pango support to start debugging the slow performance.

ali_sade · 04-16-2009, 05:07 AM

Kdrive as OI X windows system seem to pose some problems rendering complex scripts, have you considered an alternative?

dottedmag · 04-16-2009, 05:08 AM

Oh SHIT.

NO, WE DID NOT CONSIDER SWITCHING, BECAUSE THIS F**KING X SERVER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FONT RENDERING.

And I hate explaining it AGAIN and AGAIN.

lunohod · 04-16-2009, 05:12 AM

It's in the FBReader: zlibrary/ui/src/ewl/view/ZLEwlPaintContext.cpp.
You can compare it with gtk backend: zlibrary/ui/src/gtk/view/ZLGtkPaintContext.cpp

ali_sade · 04-16-2009, 05:21 AM

Really sorry to upset you, And thanks for the pointer for tweaking FBReader.

dottedmag · 04-16-2009, 05:22 AM

Ok, apologies accepted

Regarding pango speed - it's also possible to build some pango examples and run'em on device to test the speed.

lunohod · 04-18-2009, 04:58 AM

ali_sade, here is a simple RTL patch for FBReader: http://users.openinkpot.org/~lunohod/fbreader-rtl.patch

04-14-2009, 08:18 AM	#1
ali_sade Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Sony PRS-700BC, Hanlin V3	openinkpot and middle eastern languages Arabic, Persian (Farsi) I was working on creating a reasonably smart parser for eastern languages Arabic, Persian (Farsi) - which have are right to left and depending on the position of the letter in the word, the letter forms change, and are included in Unicode fonts. My initial direction was to try to figure out the SDK from Jinke and try and write a new parser for Arabic using epub. The second thing i did was study the code of nano-x (http://www.microwindows.org/) which is a lightweight X server which can run on appliance to find out if I can enable the Arabic support right from there. There is a viewer in nano-x which seems quite capable. However as I am getting to know openinkpot more and more now I am wondering if a better approach is to go ahead with this project. Do you have any pointers to give me? Does openinkpot support Arabic intrinsically?

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04-14-2009, 10:36 AM	#2
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,515 Karma: 18512745 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Why do you need a parser? If the right Unicode character/glyph are used, all you need is pick it from the font, dont you? (and maybe switch between left-to-right and right-to-left rendering).

04-15-2009, 01:58 AM	#4
ali_sade Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Sony PRS-700BC, Hanlin V3	Are OI readers pango enabled?

04-15-2009, 03:19 AM	#5
dottedmag OpenInkpot co-founder Posts: 407 Karma: 845 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis	FBreader uses Pango to output text, IIRC. Though it need to be double-checked

04-15-2009, 03:34 AM	#6
lunohod OpenInkpot developer Posts: 211 Karma: 5627 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Device: N516,V3,PRS505,iLiad,eSlick,E60,K3,K4NT,M90,PB912,KoboMini	I've rewritten the rendering part of FBReader using only freetype2, because pango was too slow. Right now RTL languages are not supported. However, I've tried to add RTL rendering and I was able to read hebrew (without nekudot). But it's much harder to render arabic.

04-15-2009, 03:40 AM	#7
ali_sade Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Sony PRS-700BC, Hanlin V3	So one has to do what is done in Pango using freetype2 to render Arabic or you would suggest working with pango developers to create a light-weight pango enabled library for ebook readers?

04-15-2009, 04:49 AM	#8
dottedmag OpenInkpot co-founder Posts: 407 Karma: 845 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis	Better work with Pango devs -- OI is just a one distribution amongst the horde, and pango optimizations will benefit many (including desktop users). If you will, please keep us informed

04-16-2009, 04:53 AM	#9
ali_sade Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Sony PRS-700BC, Hanlin V3	I contacted Pango devs and they believed that I should profile to find where the slowness comes from, could you please let me know where to tweak in OI to enable Pango support to start debugging the slow performance.

04-16-2009, 05:07 AM	#10
ali_sade Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Sony PRS-700BC, Hanlin V3	Kdrive as OI X windows system seem to pose some problems rendering complex scripts, have you considered an alternative?

04-16-2009, 05:08 AM	#11
dottedmag OpenInkpot co-founder Posts: 407 Karma: 845 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis	Oh SHIT. NO, WE DID NOT CONSIDER SWITCHING, BECAUSE THIS F**KING X SERVER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FONT RENDERING. And I hate explaining it AGAIN and AGAIN.

04-16-2009, 05:12 AM	#12
lunohod OpenInkpot developer Posts: 211 Karma: 5627 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Device: N516,V3,PRS505,iLiad,eSlick,E60,K3,K4NT,M90,PB912,KoboMini	It's in the FBReader: zlibrary/ui/src/ewl/view/ZLEwlPaintContext.cpp. You can compare it with gtk backend: zlibrary/ui/src/gtk/view/ZLGtkPaintContext.cpp

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04-16-2009, 05:21 AM	#13
ali_sade Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Sony PRS-700BC, Hanlin V3	Really sorry to upset you, And thanks for the pointer for tweaking FBReader.

04-16-2009, 05:22 AM	#14
dottedmag OpenInkpot co-founder Posts: 407 Karma: 845 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis	Ok, apologies accepted Regarding pango speed - it's also possible to build some pango examples and run'em on device to test the speed.

04-18-2009, 04:58 AM	#15
lunohod OpenInkpot developer Posts: 211 Karma: 5627 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Device: N516,V3,PRS505,iLiad,eSlick,E60,K3,K4NT,M90,PB912,KoboMini	ali_sade, here is a simple RTL patch for FBReader: http://users.openinkpot.org/~lunohod/fbreader-rtl.patch