The benefits of Dzongkha Linux

  • - Dzongkha Linux is a Free and Open Source Software, with the freedom to modify it according to the needs and creativity of the country which is also free of licensing fees.
  • - It will help take the advantages of ICTs to all sectors of the population overcoming the language barrier. It will play an important role in dissemination of information and services that e-government and e-governance opens for the entire population specifically the rural communities.
  • - Dzongkha Linux will help in permeating the use of Dzongkha throughout the country.
  • - It will help standardize the Dzongkha computing environment and make extinct the incompatible legacy fonts that are still in use.

Objectives of Dzongkha Linux

  • - To develop sustainable human capacity in Bhutan for R&D in local language technology. The human resource pool in Bhutan needs capacity-building to become skilled in enhancing the existing technology to support Dzongkha.
  • - To incorporate technological support for Dzongkha. Dzongkha, for computing, is much more complex than English, with complex writing systems. The current technology, initially developed to support English, does not completely support the requirements of Dzongkha and needs to be developed.
  • - To advance policy for local language problems to devise and recommend effective policy framework to address problems related to accessibility and publication of relevant local content through ICTs and devise short-term and long-term solutions.
  • - To provide an alternative to proprietary software like Microsoft Windows.
  • - The primary goal of this project is to create a Linux distribution that supports Dzongkha Language at all levels.

Dzongkha Localization in Linux Operating System

The goal of this project is to incorporate Dzongkha script into the Linux Operating System to enable computing in Dzongkha thereby striving to provide the benefit of Information Technology to the Bhutanese masses who cannot read English. This project was undertaken with this notion of enhancing the accessibility of technology to a wider range of Bhutanese masses.

Dzongkha, Sometimes called Bhutanese, is the national language of the Kingdom of Bhutan. Dzongkha is written using the letters of the same script used for writing the Tibetan language (\x0F00 - \x0FCF).

The work of incorporating Dzongkha language support in the Linux operating system is being carried out by the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Information & Communications(MoIC), Royal Government of Bhutan along with assistance regarding language from the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC).

This project is supported through the PAN Localization Project (www.PANL10n.net) grant by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada, administered through the Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Pakistan.