This is the help file for the Lalitha keymap for Malayalam in XIM.

About Lalitha

As the name suggests, it is a simple to understand keymap for malayalam. It is easy to type and understand. The keymap is given along with.

After installation it can be used by adding India Malayalam-Lalitha layout in gnome-keyboard-properties

The layout is a four layer one, that is a single key maps to a maximum of 4 characters. For example,

in case of 'o',
'o' gives ൊ
'Shift+o' gives ോ
'Right Alt+o' gives ഒ
'Right Alt+Shift+o' gives ഓ

The advantage of the layout is, 
1) It retains all additional characters, like '/','[','{' etc.
2) It codes both arabic and malayalam numerals.
   i.e pressing '1' gives you 1
       combination of 'Right Alt+1' gives you ൧ 
3) The mapping is done with similarity of sounds i.e, 'f' is mapped to ഫ, and g mapped to ഗ. Some exceptions are there in   case of 'q', which map as follows:

'q' gives ൈ
'Shift+q' gives ൌ
'Right Alt+q' gives ഐ
'Right Alt+Shift+q' gives ഔ
   
4) Important additional characters like, ZWSP,ZWNJ and ZWJ are mapped as follows

   ZWSP-'Shift+x'
   ZWNJ-'Alt+\' 
   ZWJ -'Shift+v'


Installation Instructions:

Untar it
# tar zxvf Lalitha.tar.gz

Install it
# cd Lalitha-in
# ./install.sh

Setup Instructions:

use
 
#setxkbmap -layout us,ml_Lalitha

to set us and Lalitha as two options.
and use group select key to switch between them.

otherwise, goto the following path in gnome desktop

desktop->preferences->keyboard 

select layout option and add malayalam-Lalitha under india.

the path varies by versions on gnome. 

in kde goto KDE control centre, select regional & accessibility and select keyboard layout.

try out the layout and send your suggestions and bug reports to smc-discuss@googlegroups.com and jinesh.k@gmail.com