SiWriter allows Linux users to type in Sinhala easily. It supports Unicode input. As of now, it is available for Ubuntu.
Once SiWriter is installed and enabled in your system, you can directly type in Sinhala. A keyboard shortcut allows switching between languages quickly. Most of the SiWriter key mappings are easy to remember and beginners will be able to learn to use SiWriter very fast. Check the Web Demo section below to learn the SiWriter way of typing in Sinhala without installing the Linux package. The screenshots shown below illustrate how SiWriter appears in the Linux desktop.
SiWriter is distributed free of charge! Enjoy!
Installation:
Open a terminal and run the following commands. You may want to copy and paste the commands to avoid typing mistakes. You need to have administrative permissions to run them.
1. Add our GPG key to your system:
wget -q -O- https://apt.software.lk/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
2. Add our software repository details to your system:
If you are using Ubuntu 20.04:
echo "deb http://apt.software.lk/ubuntu focal main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/software.lk.list > /dev/null
If you are using Ubuntu 18.04:
echo "deb http://apt.software.lk/ubuntu bionic main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/software.lk.list > /dev/null
If you are using Ubuntu 16.04:
echo "deb http://apt.software.lk/ubuntu xenial main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/software.lk.list > /dev/null
3. Update available package data from the repository:
sudo apt update
4. Install the ibus-table-siwriter package:
sudo apt install ibus-table-siwriter
5. Your Linux installation could be using the software known as the X11 display server to display graphics. In case you are using the Wayland display server instead of X11 display server, try installing the ibus-wayland package too:
sudo apt install ibus-wayland
Configuration:
If you are using Ubuntu Desktop:
- Go to System Settings and select Language Support.
- If a popup window appears asking to install some packages, skip by clicking 'Remind Me Later' button.
- Select 'IBus' as the Keyboad input method system.
- Close.
- Logout or reboot the system and login again.
- Go to System Settings and select Text Entry.
- Click on the + sign to add the new Input source. Add Sinhala, SiWriter.
- Note the 'Shortcut to next source using'. This keyboard shortcut allows switching between different input sources. You can change it if you want.
- Close.
If you are using Mate Desktop:
- Go to System->Control Center and select Personal->Language Support.
- If a popup window appears asking to install some packages, skip by clicking 'Remind Me Later' button.
- Select 'IBus' as the Keyboard input method system.
- Close.
- Logout or reboot the system and login again.
- Go to System->Preferences->Other->Ibus Preferences.
- Go to 'Input Method' tab
- Click on 'Add' button and select Sinhala language, SiWriter. Add it.
- Go to 'General' tab. Notice the keyboard shortcut for the 'Next input method'. It could be SUPER + SPACE or CTRL + SPACE. This keyboard shortcut allows switching between different input methods. You can change it if you want.
- Close
Using SiWriter:
While in a GUI application, press the keyboard shortcut (for example, SUPER + SPACE or CTRL + SPACE) to select SiWriter. Start typing in Sinhala. Press the keyboard shortcut to switch between input methods.
Web Demo:
If you are interested in learning the SiWriter way of typing in Sinhala without installing the Linux package, a web based version is available but with some differences in the key mappings. Visit this page to try it: http://demo.software.lk/siwriter/
Typing:
| Type | Type | Type | Type | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| අ | a | ර | r | ක | k | අම්මා | amwma |
| ආ | aa | ත | t | කා | ka | ටකය | Tky |
| ඇ | q | ට | T | කැ | kq | ඩක්කුව | Dkwkuwa |
| ඈ | ය | y | කෑ | kqq | ථාමය | tHamy | |
| ඉ | i | ප | p | කි | ki | බස | bs |
| ඊ | ii | ඵ | P | කී | kii | භය | bHy |
| උ | u | ස | s | කු | ku | අඹ | abG |
| ඌ | uu | ෂ | S | කූ | kuu | සඳ | sdG |
| එ | e | ද | d | කෙ | ke | ළඳ | LdG |
| ඒ | ee | ඩ | D | කේ | kee | ගණන | gNn |
| ඔ | o | ෆ | f | කො | ko | ඵලය | Ply |
| ඕ | oo | ග | g | කෝ | koo | ශ්‍රී | sHRii |
| ඍ | U | ඟ | G | කෘ | kU | මඤ්ඤොක්කා | mzwzokwka |
| ඎ | UU | හ | h | කෲ | kUU | ඥානය | Zny |
| ඓ | I | ජ | j | කෛ | kI | විද්‍යාව | vidYav |
| ඖ | O | ඣ | J | කෞ | kO | මධ්‍යම | mdHYm |
| ං | x | ක | k | ක් | kw | ෂඩස්‍රය | SDsRy |
| ඃ | xx | ඛ | K | ක්‍ර | kR | ශක්තිය | sHkwtiy |
| ල | l | ක්‍ය | kY | ක්‍රමය | kRmy | ||
| ළ | L | ක්‍රෝධය | kRoodHy | ||||
| ච | c | ක්ෂය | kwSy | ||||
| ඡ | C | ක්ෂය | kWSy | ||||
| ව | v | ධර්මය | dHrwmy | ||||
| බ | b | ධර්මය | dHrWmy | ||||
| න | n | ඉන්ද්රීය | inwdRiiy | ||||
| ණ | N | ඉන්ද්රීය | inWdRiiy | ||||
| ම | m | අං | ax | ||||
| ඤ | z | අඃ | axx | ||||
| ඥ | Z | සඞ්ඛාර | sXwKar | ||||
| ඞ | X | මජ්ඣිමා | mjwJima | ||||
| ශ | sH | ||||||
| ඛ | kH | ||||||
| ඝ | gH | ||||||
| ඟ | gG | ||||||
| ඡ | cH | ||||||
| ඣ | jH | ||||||
| ඦ | jG | ||||||
| ඨ | TH | ||||||
| ඪ | DH | ||||||
| ඬ | DG | ||||||
| ථ | tH | ||||||
| ධ | dH | ||||||
| ඳ | dG | ||||||
| ඵ | pH | ||||||
| ඹ | bG | ||||||
| භ | bH |
Known issues:
- A key repetition problem has been observed while typing into Google Chrome.
- If Sinhala typing stops while SiWriter is selected as the input method, try saving the file being edited or use the keyboard shortcut to switch to another input method and back to SiWriter.
- Sometimes you may want to end typing while auto suggestions are visible. To make the auto suggestions disappear in such a case, press 1. Pressing 1 selects the first suggestion.
සයිරයිටර් භාවිතා කෙරුමේදී ඔබට යම් ගැටලුවක් වේ නම් අපගේ විවෘත මූලාශ්‍ර මෘදුකාංග සාකච්ඡා මණ්ඩපයට ඔබගේ ගැටලුව යොමු කරන්න. එහිදී අන් අයට ද උපකාර කරන්න.
