Ankur Group
Encyclopedia
Ankur is working toward supporting Bengali language
(Bangla) on GNU
/Linux
operating system. Most of Ankur's projects are focused on XFree86
.org's XServer. Some of its projects are in fact platform independent and add language support to other operating systems.
The group is also working on providing Bangla support for some major XServer applications such as office suites, databases, development tools and desktop environments such as GNOME
and KDE
. Ankur's intention is to help develop and maintain open source/free software targeted towards the Bangla speaking user and to provide a completely functional, user intuitive localised desktop that is easily usable and easily deployable.
Taneem Ahmed of Bangladesh, the founder of Ankur, was developing and maintaining the http://www.BengaLinux.Org website - a one stop mall for Unix based Bangla Free Software. He was also the author of the bn_BD locale
for the GNU C library
. This established his identity as major figure in the Bangla open source community. In October 2002, he launched the bengalinux-core mailing list.
This list became a focus of Bangla related Open Source enthusiasts. In January, 2003, Taneem Ahmed announced the GNOME
Bangla Translation Project and began recruiting for the project. The recruitment call was taken seriously and the project began to expand. After some discussion on a group name of discussion, 'Ankur', proposed by Kaushik Ghosh. On 3 March 2003, the name Ankur was officially adopted.
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
(Bangla) on GNU
GNU
GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
/Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system. Most of Ankur's projects are focused on XFree86
XFree86
XFree86 is an implementation of the X Window System. It was originally written for Unix-like operating systems on IBM PC compatibles and is now available for many other operating systems and platforms. It is free and open source software under the XFree86 License version 1.1. It is developed by the...
.org's XServer. Some of its projects are in fact platform independent and add language support to other operating systems.
The group is also working on providing Bangla support for some major XServer applications such as office suites, databases, development tools and desktop environments such as GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
and KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
. Ankur's intention is to help develop and maintain open source/free software targeted towards the Bangla speaking user and to provide a completely functional, user intuitive localised desktop that is easily usable and easily deployable.
History
Initially, Ankur started as the bengalinux-core mailing list. This later worked as the nucleus for forming Ankur.Taneem Ahmed of Bangladesh, the founder of Ankur, was developing and maintaining the http://www.BengaLinux.Org website - a one stop mall for Unix based Bangla Free Software. He was also the author of the bn_BD locale
Locale
In computing, locale is a set of parameters that defines the user's language, country and any special variant preferences that the user wants to see in their user interface...
for the GNU C library
GNU C Library
The GNU C Library, commonly known as glibc, is the C standard library released by the GNU Project. Originally written by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU operating system, the library's development has been overseen by a committee since 2001, with Ulrich Drepper from Red Hat as the lead...
. This established his identity as major figure in the Bangla open source community. In October 2002, he launched the bengalinux-core mailing list.
This list became a focus of Bangla related Open Source enthusiasts. In January, 2003, Taneem Ahmed announced the GNOME
GNOME
GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
Bangla Translation Project and began recruiting for the project. The recruitment call was taken seriously and the project began to expand. After some discussion on a group name of discussion, 'Ankur', proposed by Kaushik Ghosh. On 3 March 2003, the name Ankur was officially adopted.
Major achievement
- Creation of the first Bangla graphical Desktop in any Linux distributionLinux distributionA Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
. - Design and release of the first Open Type font (Akash) which made possible the use of Unicode-based Bangla.
- Organising the Bangla-speaking open-source developers (Unix-based) under a single platform.
- Release of the first Bangla OS (i.e. Ankur Live CDLive CDA live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
) in 2004. - Best .org project at LinuxAsia 2006
Current projects
- GUIGuiGui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
(Graphical User Interface) translation (or localization in short L10nL10nFor L10n or L10N , see:* Language localisation* Internationalization and localization...
), - Font designing/maintenance,
- Archiving copyright-expired literature,
- Maintaining a Linux Live CDLive CDA live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a CD or DVD containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive...
with Bangla-specific add-ons, - Developing various Bangla-language-processing software,
- English-to-Bangla translator Anubadok,
- Bangla OCROCROCR may refer to:* Optical character recognition, conversion of images of text into characters** The OCR-A font, designed to simplify character recognition** The similar OCR-B font* Transvaginal oocyte retrieval, a technique used in in vitro fertilization...
, - Bengali Dictionary