2. Introduction

Arabic support has been non-existent in Linux until recently. What this means for you as the user is that enabling Arabic is not straight-forward or out of the box. What it also means is that this document may at some point be outdated as things are changing at a very fast rate. It is the intentions of the author to keep this HOWTO up-to-date at all times, but this does not guarantee it.

It is advised that you follow this document from the beginning till the end. This is mainly because it is organized as building blocks. This is particularily true to the fonts.

2.1. Acknowledgement

One must give credit to those who have made this document possible. Many thanks go to Nadim Shaikli for the wealth of information he has posted throughout the months. Thanks also go to Isam Bayazidi for his Gnome and KDE instructions, as well as Mohammed Sameer for his reading Arabic filenames information.

There are also countless people who have contributed indirectly to this HOWTO by posts they have made on the various mailing-lists who are too numerous to list here.

2.2. Translations

Mohammed Sameer has volunteered to translate this document to Arabic (if no one else sticks their neck out).

2.3. Feedback

The sources for this document vary from different mailing-lists, personal experiences and feedback from others on what needs to be addressed.

If you have any questions or suggestion, please do make them known on the 'doc' mailing list here: http://lists.arabeyes.org/mailman/listinfo/doc