Would this accomplished by loading a Unicode Japanese code page font file
using mode?
On Nov 8, 2013 3:59 PM, "Rugxulo" <rugx...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 12:46 AM, sparky4 insano
> <sparky4444444444...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Will there ever be any official support for the Japanese language in
> > FreeDOS?
>
> At risk of stating the obvious, FreeDOS is free to modify, but support
> can only improve if someone decides to volunteer to do it. Presumably
> that would have to be a semi-fluent Japanese speaker with either a
> software background or else heavy sympathy for DOS. Until (or if ever)
> that happens, you're stuck with making do with what already exists (or
> doing without, I guess).
>
> I don't personally know enough (and literally nothing about .jp) to
> volunteer much for that, so all I can do is search around. While not
> all Americans are monolingual, the majority (like me) seem to be, due
> to lacking any direct reason to be otherwise. Nevertheless, I do have
> some (very small) curiosity and interest in other languages, so it's
> not like I'm totally content to say or do nothing.
>
> So you want to edit Japanese text? Dunno, can't try myself, but can
> you try one of the following DOS software and report back? GNU Emacs
> (23.3) or Mined (2013.23) or Blocek (1.4)
>
> http://na.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/djgpp/current/v2gnu/em2303b.zip
> http://www.towo.net/mined/
> http://laaca.sweb.cz/
>
> The first two are text mode only but have their own input methods for
> other languages. This means you can edit anything, but it won't
> directly represent 1:1 on the screen what you're reading or typing.
> Blocek is graphical for UTF-8 and requires a mouse (but I think it
> relies on KEYB supporting your language input), but I dunno how full
> the fonts are for your needs.
>
> Text mode is usually limited in hardware to 256 glyphs (although 512
> is allegedly possible, but I don't know of any specific programs using
> it). A quick search implies that FreeDOS doesn't support DBCS (which
> other DOSes do??). Dunno what that even means in concrete terms.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBCS
>
> I'm assuming you know more about the Japanese language than I do! :-)
> A quick search on Wikipedia shows three major writing styles (kanji,
> hiragana, katakana), not counting romaji ("romanization of Japanese").
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaji
>
> FD KEYB does support Japanese, apparently, in KEYBOARD.SYS (see
> KPDOS31S.ZIP's jp106.txt and jp.key), but it's for cp932, which AFAIK
> doesn't exist for FreeDOS proper. Though DOSLFN also has a
> cp932uni.tbl translation file.
>
> http://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/MICSFT/WINDOWS/CP932.TXT
>
> But even the relevant 8-bit (256) chars mentioned there only seem to
> be the standard 7-bit ASCII and only some upper 8-bit chars from
> katakana, which sounds somewhat limiting:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana
>
> "In contrast to the hiragana syllabary, which is used for those
> Japanese language words and grammatical inflections which kanji does
> not cover, the katakana syllabary is primarily used for transcription
> of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words
> (collectively gairaigo). It is also used for emphasis, to represent
> onomatopoeia, and to write certain Japanese language words, such as
> technical and scientific terms, and the names of plants, animals, and
> minerals. Names of Japanese companies are also often written in
> katakana rather than the other systems."
>
> Apparently there are various Romaji methods, and one in particular
> seems to be Kunrei-shiki, standardized in ISO 3602, although Wikipedia
> seems to imply that modified Hepburn is used more frequently.
>
> "All Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II
> have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. Therefore,
> almost all Japanese are able to read and write Japanese using rÅmaji,
> although it is extremely rare in Japan to use this method to write
> Japanese, and most Japanese are more comfortable reading kanji/kana."
>
> So a copout (from a FreeDOS perspective) would be to say, "Just use
> romaji". But from what I can tell, the kana (hiragana, katakana)
> comprise 48 "characters" each (total 96). However, Kanji is much
> larger and our biggest obstacle. Even "Joyo kanji" is 2136 kanji: 1006
> taught in primary school, 1130 taught in secondary school.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji
>
> Even if we were to restrict to that (2136 + 96), that would be a
> mouthful. But I guess it depends how low (or high) you want to go with
> support.
>
>
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