Time-stamp: <2022-07-09 10:16:10 pbpal> bangtex


Bangtex : A package for typesetting documents in Bangla using the Tex/Latex systems


Created by Palash B. Pal
First released: January 2001.
Latest update: See time-stamp at top of the page.
(Check updating information below.)
Sections on this page: Sample output, Downloading and installation, Supporting software, Updating information, bangtex group on the internet

Sample output

I know you should not be interested in the package unless you see the output. So click here to view or download a sample page of text (ps / pdf) or letter (ps / pdf). If, after viewing them, you are interested in downloading it, read on. The software is free.

Downloading and installation

Prerequisites:

  1. The basic bangtex files have a total size of about 68 kb in zipped form. The postscript font package is about 230 kb. Once you unzip them (follow the instructions to find out when and where to unzip), they will take a total of about 500 kb space on your disk. You need that much free space on your disk to begin with. Then, if you write documents using the program, they will take disk space according to the length of the document.
  2. You will have to have Tex/Latex installed on your system. The Bangla font and style files can run only with their help.
  3. You need to have a working knowledge of Tex/Latex. By "working knowledge", I mean that you should know how to produce a printout (or a screen-image) if you have a source file for Tex/Latex. Bits and pieces of this knowledge should be available from the installation guidelines, but they are not meant to be complete.
  4. For Unix/Linux systems, you should have the tar command working in order to unpack the files. For Windows systems, you should have WinZip for unpacking the files.

Instructions:

  1. Download the following files and keep them in any directory. I suggest that you create a separate directory for this purpose so as not to erase any files with the same names that might exist in your existing directories. Windows users might choose to keep them on the Desktop.

  2. I recommend that you read through the end of this page before performing the installation. In particular, read carefully through the section on "Supporting software". You might want to download some of them as well. Near the bottom of this page, you will find directions for the installation procedure.

  3. At the end of the installation procedure, you will find how to print out a copy of the manual for typesetting in Bangla.


Supporting software

Since the time bangtex was first introduced, many people have contributed towards making it better and more user-friendly. Some of these contributions come as suggestions which have been implemented into the basic bangtex package. Some others have created supporting packages. While none of these are absolutely essential for the basic functioning of bangtex, they are all recommended because they make bangtex work much better: either the output or the input. Here are some of those, with a brief description of each.
  1. The bpsf package, created by Ananda Kumar Samaddar. These are postscript fonts for bangtex. If you want to get a feel for what it does, see the postscript files created from the same latex file, with (ps / pdf) and without (ps / pdf) using these fonts. If you are convinced of the merits of using the postscript fonts after seeing these samples, download the file Keep it in the directory where you have kept the earlier files.
  2. The program seicor, created by Somendra Mohan Bhattacharjee. This is a unix/linux shell program which allows you to write the input file with much less effort. If you have used bangtex before, you will appreciate the advantage of using this file by looking at the instruction page for seicor. This is a pdf file.

    If you have never used bangtex before, probably it is difficult to explain the advantage gained by using seicor. Roughly speaking, it makes typing of Bangla text faster and easier. In Bangla, some of the vowel signs go to the left of the associated consonant. For example, if you want to write "pen", the order of the characters appearing in Bangla type is "epn". But if you type it in the latter form, it is hard to recognize the word as "pen" on the screen. Normal bangtex provides a solution whereby you can typeset it as "\*p*en". If you use seicor, you can typeset this word as "pen" in your input tex file, run seicor on it, and the output contains "\*p*en". Then you run LaTeX on the resulting file.

    It is recommended that you download seicor:

    Keep it in the directory where you have kept the earlier files.
  3. The program mkbangtex, created by Koushik Ray. It is also a preprocessor for bangtex. In other words, writing bangla would be much simpler if you use this program. You create a file using mkbangtex rules (which are simpler than usual bangtex), run mkbangtex on the file, and your output is a bangtex file with the usual bangtex symbols and syntax.

    Like in seicor, you will not need to use the bangtex \* commands for i-kar, e-kar etc. In addition, you do not have to use many of the capitalizations which are needed in bangtex. For example, "ataeb", after running mkbangtex, turns to "AtoEb", which is usual bangtex.

    To learn more about the program and to download it, click here.

  4. A front-end for bangtex created by Abhijit Dasgupta. It enables one to type directly in Bangla, using any Unicode text-editor and font. Of course, the TeX/LateX commands will have to use ASCII characters, but whenever you want to type Bangla text, you can directly see it on the screen, without any processing of the file. The details can be found by clicking here.
  5. A software for unicode conversion from bangtex, called sei2uni, developed by Proyag Pal and Palash Baran Pal. It is a perl program. It operates on a bangtex file written in the almost-phonetic form by using the \* commands, or the seicor version in which the \* commands are suppressed. The output is a unicode file for everything except commands and formatting statements.

    To learn more about the program and to download it, click here.


Updating information

April 2001 update

  1. Original release had only the class file bbook.cls, suitable for books. This release has, in addition, barticle.cls and bletter.cls, suitable for articles and letters, respectively. A new sample file has also been added to illustrate the use of the bletter class.
  2. The bbook.cls class file did not have the sectioning commands properly. The \chapter command was okay, but the commands for \section, \subsection etc were not. It has been fixed in the present update.
  3. Some typesetting exceptions, mainly regarding na-fala, have been made regular. See manual for details.

January 2002 update

  1. Now bangtex is Windows compatible. The instructions for downloading in Windows have been added.
  2. Nothing has changed for a Unix/Linux user except that in a very few cases, the shape of some letters have been changed a bit in order to make the fonts Windows compatible. The changes are imperceptible for all practical purposes.

December 2002 update

  1. Bangla can now be used in the math mode.
  2. The manual is bigger now, containing instructions for the math mode, and some other frequently asked questions on earlier versions.
  3. Shapes of a few characters changed. The changes will be imperceptible to the eye. But, with these changes, it is easier to create fonts of arbitrary size.

March 2003 update

  1. Bangtex now comes with postscript fonts. These fonts have been created by Ananda Kumar Samaddar. All the credits should go to him, and I thank him for allowing me to include these fonts in the main bangtex distribution. Any question, comment and appreciation on these fonts should be sent to him directly by clicking on his name above.

August 2003 update

  1. A new set of fonts introduced. These are hollow fonts, or outline fonts, i.e., the output will contain only the outline of a charater. The inside will be hollow.
  2. Some shortcuts introduced in typesetting. For example, NG/g can now also be typeset simply as n/g. Similarly, NG/k as n/k, NJ/c as n/c, NJ/j as n/j etc. The manual gives details.

December 2005 update

  1. The program seicor introduced. It has been created by Somendra Mohan Bhattacharjee. All the credits should go to him, and I thank him for allowing me to include this program in the main bangtex distribution. Any question, comment and appreciation on the program should be sent to him directly by clicking on his name above.

April 2008 update

July 2009 update

October 2010 update

February 2021 update


Do you want to install bangtex now? Click here.

bangtex group on the internet

Starting July 2003, there is a group on the internet which discusses various issues related to bangtex. The membership to this group is open, and free.

You can join this group. This is what you can do as a member of the group:

  • Take part in discussion about future projects related to bangtex. This can help you or others in developing new software related to bangtex, and in making bangtex better.
  • You can just read the discussion taking place in the group.
  • You can receive announcements related to bangtex. For example, when a new version will be released, or some software related to bangtex will be released, you can get a message through e-mail.
You can choose what kind of involvement you want to have. For example, if you only want to receive the important annoucements, you can choose it as an option.

If you want to join this internet group, simply fill out this 1-line form.

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This page is created and maintained by Palash B. Pal
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