Tibetan Geeks

programs

Most of these program downloads are for MSWindows, A couple have versions for MacOSX also.

On Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.) most of these programs are already on your system when you installed. Or you can get them through your Linux Package Manager.

books

Each section below may also have free tech books about using the program.

(Also see the TibetanGeeks books section for more free tech books.)

The fonts below are all TrueType (.ttf) files, and will work on all systems. Just drop them in your fonts folder.

• Monlam Bod-Yig Version 3
  The latest version of the Unicode Tibetan fonts by Lobsang Monlam, with keyboard input and other programs, for MSWindows and MacOSX.
• More Unicode Tibetan fonts
  Any operating system can use these fonts, just put them in your fonts folder.
  In Linux you may wish to get these through your Package Manager instead, so your system will have a record of their existence. Search for "tibetan".

Go to the directory to download these free books:

• 1984, by George_Orwell
• Alice in Wonderland
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell
• Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau
• Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
• Peoples History of American Empire, by Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki

You may find hard copies of these books at the Dharamshala Community Library.

More books:

• Find books about WordPress, PHP Programming, Linux, and other tech subjects, in their categories below.
• Find places to get more free books in the Books section.

Very useful ("powerful") text editors for doing coding and web pages.

Web page/Programming editors: MS Windows

I'm wishing i could find a good Windows html/programming editor (line numbers, search and replace, syntax highlighting, code completion) that also handles Unicode Tibetan well! So far, on Windows, BlueFish can do both, but it is lacking in some html/programming features. NotePad++ sems like the best for that, but does not display the Unicode characters. (They will show in your output ok though — browser or program — just in the editor itself, you will only see question marks.)

• Bluefish — Editor plus references
  Has references and code insertion, for html, css, and php, as well as the usual good editing features.
  There is a verson for Linux also — can get through your Package Manager.
• Notepad++ — Editor, with many useful features for programmers.
  Has references and code insertion, for html, css, and php, as well as the usual good editing features.
• Vim — vim is what is called a "modal" editor: command mode and insert mode. This makes it confusing at first, but also makes it fast and powerful. It has all the usual good editing features, and has many useful features for programmers: references and code insertion, for html, css, and php, and more.
  Also in this folder are some good free e-books for learning vim.

Web page/Programming editors: Linux

Can also type Unicode

On Linux you have Vim and Emacs already, and probably gEdit.
Vim on Linux is used in the making of many Tibetan websites,

There are other excellent editors you can get through the Package Manager, including BlueFish.

(Search for "editor" in your Package Manager.)

In the vim folder are some good free e-books for learning vim.
(The zip file there is for vim on Windows. If you are on linux you don't need that.)

Web page/Programming editors: Macintosh

Can also type Unicode

• TextWrangler — An ok text editor. There don't seem to be any good free html/programming editors for Mac.

Unicode editors: MSWindows

Specialise in typing Unicode. You don't need a separate keyboard program (IME). They have a lot of specialised features for handling complex Unicode. However they don't have the features that we need for making web pages and programming, like line numbers, and syntax highlighting.

• BabelPad – Unicode Document Processor
  Is used in the making of TibetGov.net
• UDP – Unicode Document Processor

Unicode editors: Linux

All Linux text editors handle Unicode.
I have seen pages about specialized Unicode editors for Linux, but haven't tried. Let us know what you know about them!

Character Map: MSWindows

These show you all the characters in a Unicode script (such as Tibetan). You can select characters, then copy and paste into your editor.

• BabelMap – Unicode Character Map
  has more characters and features than the built-in Windows Character Map.

Character Map: Linux

You have a Unicode Character Map, under the "Accessories" menu.

• FileZilla   FTP program. Does SFTP (secure connection) as well.
  (For Linux, get it through your Package Manager.)
• april 2011 HTTrack   HTTrack is a free program to download websites, or parts of websites. Then you can view the website without being on internet.
  Very useful for getting TibetanGeeks pages onto your own computer!
• SKDownloader   Download manager. For Windows and Linux, plus Firefox extension.

If you do complicated graphics, and need a free "PhotoShop", here it is:

• The GIMP   the GNU Image Manipulation Program — MSWindows installer
  On Linux, get it through your Package Manager.

But — most of us don't really need big heavy programs like PhotoShop or GIMP! Try these:

• Blender
• IrfanView
• PIXresizer

On Linux, you can get these through your Package Manager. Search for graphics, or for the app names.

• Fedora
  A Linux distribution that is optimised for server (such as web server) and programming.
  Most web hosts are using Fedora, or related RHEL or CentOS.
  It also has a fine desktop, using the same Gnome as Ubuntu.
  It has stricter requirements than Ubuntu for non-open_source code, so you have to get drivers separately, that would be built-in in Ubuntu.
• Ubuntu
  A graphically-friendly Linux distribution.
  Ubuntu's goal is to replace MSWindows.
  It has looser requirements than Fedora for non-open_source code, so it may have drivers built-in, that you have to get separately in Fedora.

• Skype
  For techies, Skype is more useful than Yahoo Messenger. You can save chats, copy and paste from chats, and upload files to each other.
• Web Messenger – If you can't use Yahoo Messenger where you are, go here and message through their web interface.

Go to the directory to download these free books:

• Byte of Python (for verson 3.0), by Swaroop
  (The best beginner's programming book i have ever seen. I wish there was one like this for PHP!)
• Learn Python the Hard Way, by Shaw
  (The "hard way" is the easiest way!)
• PHP 5 manual, as .chm
  (Windows help file - works on linux too! very nice.)

• Made in China — Working for Tibet

• Firefox web browser – Installer for MSWindows.
  On Linux, you can get Firefox through your Package Manager.
  The extensions (.xpi files) can be used on all systems – just drop them onto an open Firefox window.
  FireFox is the best browser for developing, because of its standard html/css rendering, built-in tools, and useful extensions.
• PHP 5.0 manual
  As very useful, searchable, CHM (Windows Help file).
  In Windows this will open automatically.
  In linux, open with CHM Viewer (check in your Package Manager).
• WAMP — Windows+Apache+Mysql+Php installer, for MSWindows
  On Linux, these may be installed already. If not, get them through your Package Manager. Search for apache, then mysql, then php.

Contact us and let us know what downloads you would like added.