A tamil transliteration pluggin for Gaim

Gaim is a popular opensource IM utility. I use Gaim to communicate with my friends using various protocols like Yahoo/MSN/IRC etc. It works both in Linux & Windows (also in BSD, MacOS X )

For typing tamil in any windows program, I use a keyboard driver software by name ekalappai (which is also created by me). But somehow ekalappai cannot be used with Gaim. It simply does not work. So far no time to debug this. So whenever I use Gaim in windows I type tamil text in notepad then copy & paste in Gaim and send it.

Now there is a solution to this problem. Anna University student Varun has created a plugin for Gaim transliterate english text typed in gaim message window to tamil.

You can read about this plugin in Varun's blog.

Congrats Varun !

Tamilkey - a firefox extension to type tamil.

I am happy to announce the release of tamilkey firefox extension on this Pongal day.

Using tamilkey firefox extension firefox users will be able to type tamil without need for any external programs like ekalappai.
Currently tamilnet99 and Anjal keyboard layouts are supported by tamilkey. I am planning to add more keyboard layouts in future.
Tamilkey can be downloaded from http://tamilkey.mozdev.org

An Online Tamil Keyboard to type tamil from anywhere...

I have often found myself unable to write tamil from cyber cafes. Many cybercafes dont have tamil input software installed in their computers. To address this problem i wrote a javascript utility for typping tamil and have hosted in my developer.thamizha.com site.

I have named it as Online Tamil Keyboard. URL for Online Tamil Keyboard : http://developer.thamizha.com/tamilkey.html

As of now I have given option for two keyboard layouts
1. Anjal layout - This is most popular keyboard among tamils who havent learned Tamil typewriter or Tamilnet99 keyboards.

2. Tamilnet99 keyboard layout - This is the keyboard recognised by Tamil Nadu Government. Using this keyboard we can type tamil very fast. I personally use this.

I plan to add Bamini keyboard (which is popular among Srilankan Tamils) and TamilTypewriter layout (which is popular among those who have learned Tamil Typewriter) in future.

And this only works in Firefox browser as of now. I am trying to figure out a way to make it work in Internet Explorer (I would greatly appreciate if any one helped me on this ).

I hope this Online Tamil Keyboard page would be helpful in some way to Tamil users :)