"Palladam" was developed using Fontographer, which generates the bitmaps as well as the necessary PostScript files.
The screen bitmap fonts are not very "pretty". However, they print nicely on a laser printer. They should also print reasonably well on an Imagewriter. For ease of use while you are in a word processor, I recommend that you type using Size 18, and print using Size 10 or 12. (The letters of the same size look larger for Palladam than for other fonts. Therefore, size 12, for instance, requires more space than a size 12 Courier or other font. This has not been a problem for me. I normally print in 10 or 12 size, and use 1 1/2 spacing.)
I do have a bitmap font (written using Fontastic Plus) that I may decide to distribute (under the same conditions, free) after I fix some inconsistencies. That font "looks" nicer on the screen.
Keyboard mappings
Tamil letters have been mapped to English letters by sound and/or type (vowels or consonants). While I have mapped most letters to letters normally used for them, (e.g., z for zh), the letters Q, W, X, and B (as well as [ and ]) have been used somewhat arbitrarily. My justification is that I had to find some letters and the ones I found were the most convenient.
Back quote (`) is used for the dot required for the consonants.
Option and Shift Option keys are used to represent the conjugations of consonants with vowels.
Option-
Option-
Shift-Option-
Some words and symbols have been adapted from the following sources.
Kazhakath Thamizh Agarathi, June 1985
T. Burrow and M. B. Emeneau (1984). A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary,
Second Edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
The incentive for writing this font has been my mother. She never
asked that I write her using a computer, but I wanted to do it
anyway! Though my folks would prefer to see my handwriting rather
than some mechanized version of it, they have gotten used to it and
even seem to like it (or not mind it). I thank everyone in my
family, in the US and in India. They deserve all the credit, and I
accept any blame (or is it the other way around?!).
Palladam Tamil Font is free. You are free to use it and free to
distribute it on a free basis. Palladam Tamil Font is NOT in the
public domain; it is copyrighted by its author, T. Govindaraj,
1752, Crestline Court, Atlanta, Georgia 30345.
Background and a brief history
I (T. Govindaraj) wrote this font over a period of about a year.
It has been modified almost continuously. Since I could not find
a commercially available font that I liked, I decided to create
one. It took a rather long time since my professorial responsibilities
in the top industrial and systems engineering program in the US left
me with little spare time. While there is always room for improvement,
I decided to release the font at this time (July 1990) since it appears
usable at the current state of its development.
The font is named after the little town where I come from. I am actually
from a "suburb" of Palladam.
Since my background is engineering and not linguistics or Tamil
literature, I had to use letter mappings that seemed reasonable.
I am open to suggestions concerning mappings that may be more
appropriate. However, I do not know when I will be able to make
any major changes.
Even though the font was developed on an Apple Macintosh II, it is
very unlikely that I will do more work on a Mac font. While I was
an admirer and promoter of the user interface philosophy
popularized by Apple, I have been extremely unhappy with Apple's attitude
concerning the "look and feel" issue and their legal "maneuvers".
As a past user of Xerox lisp machines and a current user of Sun and
NeXT machines, I have not been happy with what Apple is doing. I do
not plan to recommend or purchase any more Apple computers until
Apple adopts a more egalitarian attitude.
I am an admirer and supporter of the Free Software Foundation
(FSF). I plan to develop the Palladam Tamil Font into ghostscript
compatible form and turn over complete control to FSF. In the
meantime, I have decided to retain the copyright and impose minimal
restrictions on the use and distribution of Palladam Tamil Font. The
restrictions and terms are in the spirit of GNU General Public License
from FSF.
Versions of this font for other computers and operating systems may
become available at some later date.
Directory: Non-Latin/Serbian/Wolga_serb
I list below two restrictions. If you have any questions about the
use or distribution of this font or suggestions, please contact me
via e-mail or telephone (tg@chmsr.gatech.edu, +1 404 325 7446).
Palladam Tamil Font is licensed free of charge and I provide
absolutely no warranty. You use the font entirely at your own
risk. The author, T. Govindaraj, or anyone who distributes this
font under the terms mentioned above is not liable for any losses
or damages resulting from the use of this font.
I, T. Govindaraj, reserve the right to make any changes in the terms
and conditions under which this font or any derivatives are
distributed to the extent permitted by the copyright laws of the
United States of America or the Berne Convention, whichever is
deemed the most beneficial to humanity.
a (amma / mother) a (option a = +a; +a = kaal)
a_ (a_lamaram / banyan) sh a A (a_ = a underbar)
i (ilai / leaf) i
i_ (i_ / fly) sh i I
u (ural / mortar) u
u_ (u_si / needle) sh u U
e (eli / rat) e
e_ (e_ni / ladder) sh e E
ai (aindhu / 5) option i i
o (ottakam / camel) o
o_ (o_nayy / wolf) sh o O
au (auvvai / the poetess) option i o
ah (ehhu / steel) f
k (kappal / ship) k
ng (singam / lion) g
c (sangu / conch) c
n~ (gnayiru / sun) w
t. (padam / picture) d
n (kinaru / well) ] * (option /)
th (thavalai / frog) t
n (nandu / crab) n * (sh opt n = nu; sh op o = nuu)
p (pambaram / top) p
m (mayil / peacock) m
y (yanai / elephant) y
r (raja / king) r
l (valai / net) l
v (vandi / cart) v
zh (pazham / fruit) z
l.. (vilakku / lamp q (l over one or two dots)
rr (paravai / bird) b
n (maan / deer) [ * (option [ [)
h (hari) h
j (raja) j
s (swami) s
sh (shankara) x
xsh (laxshmi) none
Acknowledgements
Font Formats:
Font ID: 47272
If you like and use this font, I would recommend a donation to the
Free Software Foundation at the following address:
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
675 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
(Your donations to FSF are tax deductible.)
(1) You should not receive any money from anyone who gets
a copy of the font from you, except for nominal charges
to cover the cost of media and postal expenses.
I encourage distribution via appropriate networks.
(2) Any fonts derived from this font, for use on any
hardware and/or with any free or commercial software,
will also be available under the same terms as this font,
subject to the current US copyright laws governing software.
(3) Any distribution of this font in any form will be accompanied
by this notice in its entirety.
No warranty