5/10/2019 How to convert different legacy formats of Tibetan texts into standard Unicode Tibetan - Digital Tibetan

How to convert different legacy formats of Tibetan texts into

standard Unicode Tibetan
From Digital Tibetan

Contents

1 UTFC converter
2 Offline conversion
2.1 Attu
2.2 UDP
2.3 Tibetan/Dzongkha Font Based Formats[2]
2.4 How to use UDP
2.4.1 First time configuration
2.4.2 Converting files
2.5 Using UDP in Linux or OS-X with Wine
3 Converting between Wylie and Tibetan Unicode
4 Converting Tibetan Unicode into phonetics
5 Converting Tibetan fonts
5.1 Sources

UTFC converter
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The trace foundation has developed a converter Yalasoo UTFC (http://www.yalasoo.com/English/docs/yalasoo_en_utfc.html):

encodings txt unicode txt rtf html

ACIP Transliteration yes yes yes yes

ALA-LC Transliteration yes yes yes yes

Bandrida yes no yes yes

Beida Founder yes no no no

Huanguang yes no no no

LTibetan no no yes yes

National Standard
no yes yes yes
Extended

Sambhota 1.0 (Sama) no no yes yes

Sambhota 2.0 (Dedris) no no yes yes

TCRC Bod-Yig no no yes yes

THDL Wylie yes yes yes yes

Tibetan Machine no no yes yes

Tibetan Machine Web no no yes yes

Tongyuan yes no yes yes

Unicode no yes yes yes

Wylie Transliteration yes yes yes yes

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Offline conversion
Attu

The makers of PechaMaker (http://www.pechamaker.com/) have developed a Windows program that converts RTF documents that use a
large number of legacy Tibetan fonts into Unicode: Attu (http://www.pechamaker.com/attu/).

Attu currently supports the conversion of the following legacy fonts into Unicode:[1]

Monlam

Monlam ouchan 1, Monlam ouchan 2, Monlam ouchan 3, Monlam ouchan 4,

Monlam yigchong

Nitartha International (Sambhota)

Dedris, Drutsa, Ededris, Khamdris, Sama

Tibetan Computer Company (TCC) Converter for legacy Tibetan fonts: Attu
(http://www.pechamaker.com/attu/)
TibetanMachine, TibetanChogyal, TibetanClassic, TibetanCalligraphic,
DzongkhaCalligraphic

Tibetan Computing Resource Center (TCRC)

TCRC Bod-Yig, TCRC Youtso, TCRC Youtsoweb

Tibetan Library of Works and Arts (TLWA)

TB-Youtso, TB-TTYoutso, TB2-Youtso, TB2-TTYoutso

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Others

LTibetan, LTibetanExtension, LMantra

See the Attu website (http://www.pechamaker.com/attu/) for more information.

While Attu is a Windows program, is does run on Mac and Linux with Wine (http://www.winehq.org/).

UDP

For an overview of different available fonts see: Tibetan Fonts.

Tibetan/Dzongkha Font Based Formats[2]

A very useful conversion program for legacy Tibetan text formats is UDP (http://udp.leighb.com/). UDP converts the following legacy
Tibetan text formats into Tibetan Unicode:

TibetanMachine (free download: pktc.org (http://www.pktc.org/pktc/download.htm#FreeTypeface)) and TibetanCaligraphic,

TibetanClassic, DzongkhaCaligraphic (commercial fonts: www.pktc.org (http://www.pktc.org/pktc/SFTtypefaces.htm))
TibetanMachineWeb (free download: www.pktc.org (http://www.pktc.org/pktc/download.htm#FreeTypeface))
Tibetan Modern A (free download: virginia.edu (https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/wiki/site/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-
f16ce7908a6a/tibetan%20modern%20a.html).)
Robillard (Ltibetan, etc) (free download: UDP website (http://udp.leighb.com/robillard.exe)).
Sambhota including Dedris, Eedris, Esama/b/c, Sama/b/c, Samw (was a free download if only used to view ACIP
(http://www.asianclassics.org/) documents, otherwise commercial license required, see updated at: nitartha.net
(http://www.nitartha.net/).)
TIBETBT (free download via THDL, (broken) (https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/wiki/site/26a34146-33a6-48ce-001e-
f16ce7908a6a/tibetbt.html)

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fonts derived from the "P.R.C. National Standard for Tibetan (Extension A)" (aka "Set A"). For a documentation see Chris Fynn's website:
Tibetan Extension A (https://sites.google.com/site/chrisfynn2/home/tibetanscriptfonts/standarization/precomposedtibetan-parta).
Chris Fynn's Jomolhari supports this standard.
TCRC Bod-Yig, TCRC Youtsoweb, TCRC Youtso (free download: www.tchrd.org (http://www.tchrd.org/tibetan/download/)
All Tibetan Unicode fonts (of course) (see: Tibetan Fonts)

How to use UDP

First time configuration

1. Get a copy of UDP from UDP website (http://udp.leighb.com/download.htm) and install the application. UDP can be installed on
computers running Windows or on computers running Linux and Wine (http://www.winehq.org/).
2. Start UDP and select Options/Font... Select Unicode and chose a Unicode Tibetan font.
3. Select Options/Advanced... and select Document are saved by default in: Unicode RTF.

Now every document you will load into UDP will be displayed using a Unicode font and will be saved by default as RTF Unicode. RTF
Unicode files can be directly edited using OpenOffice or Microsoft word. See How to edit Tibetan texts.

Converting files

Note: This conversion procedures work best with Windows, but it is also possible to run UDP using Wine for Linux (see below).

TibetDoc documents:

1. No conversion needed, continue with: Steps common to TibetDoc and Word documents

Word documents:

1. Export as RTF: Save the document containing legacy Tibetan fonts as RTF document.

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2. Simplify the RTF encoding: Many word processors (like Microsoft Word) create RTF files whose encoding is too complex for UDP to
understand and that might cause UDP to crash. It is possible to simplify the RTF encoding by loading the RTF file with wordpad (comes
with Windows) and directly saving the file in wordpad again. Wordpad writes the file in a format that is easier to process for UDP.
Steps: (1) Load RTF file created in step 1 with wordpad. (2) Save it without changes in wordpad.

Steps common to TibetDoc and Word documents

1. Load into UDP: Load the TibetDoc or RTF file that has been saved in steps above into UDP
2. Create a Tibetan Unicode RTF file: In UDP, chose File/Save as... and select "Rich text Unicode" as output format.
3. Done: Use any Unicode application (e.g. OpenOffice) to work with the resulting file.

Using UDP in Linux or OS-X with Wine

UDP can be installed in Linux if Wine (http://www.winehq.org/) is installed. Simply start the installation program for UDP which can be
downloaded from the UDP website (http://udp.leighb.com/download.htm).

Mac OS-X users need to install wine (http://davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/) first, using for example macports
(http://www.macports.org/).

Converting between Wylie and Tibetan Unicode

You can use the following online converter to convert between Tibetan Unicode and Wylie:

DigitalTibetan.org (http://www.digitaltibetan.org/cgi-bin/wylie.pl)

Converting Tibetan Unicode into phonetics

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The following online converter automatically gives the pronunciation of Tibetan Unicode text according to THDL and Rigpa phonetics
systems:

Rigpa phonetics converter (http://www.digitaltibetan.org/cgi-bin/phonetics.pl?type=rigpa-en)

THDL simplified Tibetan phonetics (http://www.digitaltibetan.org/cgi-bin/phonetics.pl)

Converting Tibetan fonts

If you want to convert legacy Tibetan fonts to Unicode, have a look at Platform Independent Tibetan Unicode Fonts

THDL offers a table with several Converters & Reverters For Tibetan:
http://www.thlib.org/tools/scripts/wiki/Tabular%20Survey%20Of%20Converters%20%7Camp%7C%20Reverters%20For%20Tibetan.html

Sources

1. List is taken from Attu's website (http://www.pechamaker.com/attu/)

2. Table taken from UDP website (http://udp.leighb.com/convert.htm)

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