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Enabling Georgian language support on GNU/Linux

Enabling Georgian language support on any GNU/Linux distribution consists of three steps: Installing Georgian locale; installing Georgian unicode font; Configuring keyboard input method.

Please note that Mandrake Linux 10.1 (or newer) already has most of theese steps pre-configured. All you have to do it to select Georgia as your location during installation. You will still need to install the scalable Georgian fonts thiugh (Step 3).

Installing Georgian locale
If you haven't already done so, you may install the locales-ka package (i.e. Georgian locale) from the installations CDs of your distribution. You can also download locales-ka-2.3.4-2mdk.i586.rpm, the latest Georgian locale packaged for Mandriva Linux. The very same locale is also included on Mandriva Linux installation CD/DVD 1.
Installing scalable Georgian unicode fonts
Even though you may already have some bitmap fonts with Georgian glyphs installed on your system, it is very important to install nice scalable Georgian fonts. The leading font vendor of professional Georgian typefaces BPG Info-Tech was kind enough to provide us with the special GNU GPL versions of some of its Georgian fonts, some of which you can downloaded from here, or you can visit the vendor's site directly (see the links below). The fonts provided are licensed under GNU GPL and are part of ttf-bpg-georgian package.
The fonts are: BPG Glaho (proportionally spaced, fixed-width font), BPG Courier (fixed-width, typewriter-like font), BPG Elite (proportionally spaced, variable-width font) and BPG Rioni (proportionally spaced, fixed-width font).
The fonts are in TrueType format. Many GNU/Linux distributions have been supporting TrueType fonts since very eraly versions and currently almost all the GNU/Linux distributions do so. Just download the fonts from the links below, extract and install them using the font configuration utility of you distribution (e.g. "Configure your System" Menu item on andriva Linux; "KDE Control Center" etc).
1. BPG_Glaho.ttf
2. BPG_Glaho_Bold.ttf
3. BPG_Rioni.ttf
4. BPG_Rioni_Bold.ttf
5. BPG_Elite.ttf
6. BPG_Elite_Bold.ttf
NOTE: Thanks to BPG Info-Tech, theese fonts will be included in the next release of Mandrake Linux and will default for the Georgian language fonts.
You can also download the full package, as well as number of nice Georian unicode fonts from BPG Info-Tech website (http://bpg.sytes.net)
Configuring keyboard input method
If you would like to type in Georgian, you will need to configure the xkb, which is responsible for typing in various languages on X Environment. The recent versions of popular GNU/Linux distributions should already come with the correct Georgian keyboard input scripts. You just need to add Georgian keyboard input during installation or later.
If you do not see Georgian keyboard layouts (like Georgian QWERTY, Georgian Ergomonic etc) in you keyboard layout preferences, please take a look at http://www.gakartuleba.org/layouts/index.php.


That's it. You should now be able to read and write in Georgian without problems. Don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions (change _AT_ with @ symbol).