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Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!agate!stanford.edu!morrow.stanford.edu!morrow!aoki From: aoki@risk.stanford.edu (ikuro aoki) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: INTERNATIONALIZATION: JAPAN, FAR EAST Date: 16 Dec 92 00:00:03 Organization: Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. Lines: 103 Message-ID: <AOKI.92Dec16000003@risk.Stanford.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: risk.stanford.edu In-reply-to: terry@cs.weber.edu's message of Mon, 14 Dec 92 18:50:28 GMT nReferences: <dosburn.723844277@cwis> <2485@specgw.spec.co.jp> <1992Dec14.185028.9757@fcom.cc.utah.edu> Hello terry and netter, I am not an authority for an internationalization of computer systems, however, this discussion is very interesting for me as a Japanese 386bsd user who lives in CA. >>What kind of internationalization would best enable you to use 386BSD? >> o Kanji support? >> o Kana (Katakan/Hirugana) support? We, Japanese, need both of Kanji and Kana to make sentences. >>What is currently used on PCs (with their limited character sets) >>in Japan? Almost all commands are in English. Only Japanese word processing programs can handle Kanji, kana and alphabet. Japanese worning/error messages became popular in Japanese domestic computers which have Kanji/Kana character ROMs. >>Assuming a full Kanji implementation, what type of keyboard encoding >>needs to be done to comply with what Japaneese users are used to? English keyboards are fine. We cannot make a huge Japanese Kanji keyboard which has 6000 kanji character keys on it. :-) We use phonic(romanized) reading -> Kanji/Kana input leaders to input Japanese usually. To display Kanji/Kana, Japanese character ROMs, or a software emulation of it, will be necessary. >>Are there Kana keyboards? Some (English) keyboards have a Kana extension (50 characters + alpha), as similar as chapital lock key. They have Kana extension keys and special Kana/Kanji conversion keys for the input leader which discribed above. >>Is a Kana internationalization usable? Desirable? I don't understand this meaning. If this means Kana only extension, it may not be useful. >>How frequently is Romanji used in place of Kana/Kanji in the business >>community? The computer community? Not often for both. >>Does the technical advantage of a Kana implementation (the fact that the >>full character set may be downloaded to a VGA card, and 8 bit storage >>of files) influence your decision one way or the other? I think it doesn't. If minimum Kanji character set(2000) can be downloaded to graphic devices, it may be useful. But, it need 16 bit strage, and is not a rearistic idea. >>Are most Japaneese users using X to display full Kanji? >>Are they mostly using X or "text mode"? I think so. I know some Kanji text drivers which display Kanji/Kana on a graphic plane of VGA.(for example, KanjiHand for Toshiba J-3100 series). They are machine dependent programs often. >>Are there any PD Kanji X character sets? Any in the 10x20 to 12x24 range? Yes, there are. MIT X11 distribution contains a Kanji font (k14), a Romaji/Kana font (rk14). A project group for public domain fonts produced 16(16x16),18,24,26 Kana font sets. >>Are there any PD Unicode X character sets? Any in the 10x20 to 12x24 >>range? I don't know this, sorry. >>Given that a Unicode X font in the 10x20 to 12x14 range is ROMable in >>less than 1M, are there any X manufactures in Japan (or elsewhere) who >>have provided one embedded in their terminals? Japanese X terminal have Kanji character ROMs or a special display drivers which can display Kanji/Kana. This means that all programs are full 8 bit trough designed. >>Are there Kanji or Kana fonts embedded in any X terminals? Yes. Generally, Japanese imprimentation/localization is so popular in Japan that a lot of famous programs, rn, emacs, terminal emulators ... were ported already. I have hard that Japanese GNU activities are working on a multi-lungage GNU emacs (Mule) which can handle Japanese, chinese and Hangle. They are also working on semi-automatic Japanese input leaders. Wnn and Canna Kanji-Kana conversion programs are the most popular one. >>Individuals fluent in technical terms in all non-English languages will be >>needed to provide target language translation for base internationalization >>of standard informational and error messages for UNIX commands. Since this >>will pretty much be an ongoing work, email access and FTP access across >>international boundries are a plus for volunteers. Yes, indeed. I hope that more Japanese people join to these discussions and contribute to them. -- Ikuro Aoki aoki@risk.Stanford.EDU