How to activate Sinhala & Unicode Support in Ubuntu 9.10.

before you begin.

  • This guide is for Ubuntu 9.10 - Karmic Koala
  • Ubuntu 9.10 uses IBus as the input method chooser in places of SCIM, which was used by previous versions of Ubuntu. So, we have to follow a different method to activate Sinhala Unicode on Ubuntu 9.10.

  • Step 0: Removing SCIM, if installed.

    You cant use IBus with SCIM installed on your computer. If you have upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 from a previous version, or if you happened to accidentally install SCIM on Ubuntu 9.10, you have to remove it first to activate Sinhala Unicode on Ubuntu 9.10. Use following command to remove SCIM.

    sudo apt-get remove scim

  • Step 1: Configuring IBus.

    Go to System -> Preferences -> IBus Preferences and open "IBus Preferences" dialog box.

    Configuring IBus

    Go to "Input Method" tab and select a preferred keyboard layout under "Sinhala;Sinhalese" from "Select an input method" drop-down menu.

  • Step 2: Essential.

    Goto your home directory (~) and open the file named ".bashrc" and add following lines to the bottom of it.

    export GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
    export XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
    export QT_IM_MODULE=ibus

  • Step 3: Make IBus auto-start on sart-up.

    Go to System -> Preferences -> Startup Applications and open the dialog box called "Startup Applications", and click "Add" button. In the next dialog box, enter "ibus-daemon" in "Command:" text box, enter "IBus" in "Name:" text box.

    Make IBus auto-start on sart-up

  • Step 4: Font settings.

    Ubuntu's default Sinhala Unicode font should be replaced for a better performance. Go to /usr/share/fonts/truetype as root and delete "freefonts" directory. Install new Sinhala Unicode font and update Ubuntu's font cache.

    sudo fc-cache -f -v

    With a re-login, you are good to go