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721 lines
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<!-- HELP WANTED : Article Ideas SECTION ================================ -->
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<center>
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<H1><A NAME="wanted"><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT="" SRC="../gx/mailbox.gif">
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The Mailbag</A></H1> <BR>
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<!-- =================================================================== -->
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<center><H3><font color="maroon">HELP WANTED : Article Ideas</font></H3></center>
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<P>
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<P> Send tech-support questions, Tips, answers and article ideas to The Answer Gang
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<<A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com"
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>linux-questions-only@ssc.com</A>>. Other mail (including
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questions or comments about the <EM>Gazette</EM> itself) should go to
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<<A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</A>>. All material
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sent to either of these addresses will be considered for publication in the
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next issue. <EM>Please send answers to the original querent too, so that s/he
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can get the answer without waiting for the next issue.</EM>
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<P> Unanswered questions might appear here. Questions with
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answers--or answers only--appear in The Answer Gang, 2-Cent Tips, or here,
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depending on their content. There is no guarantee that questions will
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<em>ever</em> be answered, especially if not related to Linux.
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<P> <STRONG>Before asking a question, please check the
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<A HREF=../faq/index.html><I>Linux Gazette</I> FAQ</A> to see if it has been
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answered there.</STRONG>
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<!-- BEGIN HELP WANTED : Article Ideas -->
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<UL>
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<!-- index_text begins -->
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<li><A HREF="#wanted/1"
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><strong>Suggestion on Gazette contents.</strong></a>
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<li><A HREF="#wanted/4"
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><strong>Asound Ethernet card</strong></a>
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<li><A HREF="#wanted/5"
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><strong>Linux in other languages</strong></a>
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<li><A HREF="#wanted/8"
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><strong>Content Suggestion</strong></a>
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<P> <A NAME="wanted/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
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<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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<FONT COLOR="navy">Suggestion on Gazette contents.</FONT></H3>
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Thu, 6 Sep 2001 11:04:37 +0530 (IST)
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<BR>Atul Sowani (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20help%20wanted%20%231">asowani from ptc.com</a>)
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<P><STRONG>
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I've been TLG reader since long time (almost from the first issue).
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Some time back, there used to be a column "Graphics Musings" (I
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hope I've got the name correctly), which used to have information
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about various graphics packages and utilities. Could you revive
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that column or a new one on similar lines? i.e., not essentially on
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graphics utilities alone, but also including other noteworthy
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utilities too?
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</STRONG></P>
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<P>
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Atul, the column was The Graphics Muse by Michael Hammel
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(<A HREF="mailto:mjhammel@graphics-muse.org"
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>mjhammel@graphics-muse.org</A>, whom I'm cc'ing). His farewell article was
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<A HREF="../issue46/gm.html"
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>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue46/gm.html</A>
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Michael stopped writing his Linux Gazette column because (1) he wanted
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to consolidate his free graphics-related work on one web site
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(<A HREF="http://www.graphics-muse.org"
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>http://www.graphics-muse.org</A>), and (2) he needed to spend more time on
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paid employment. Nevertheless, Michael remains a friend of Linux Gazette
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(part of the Clueful Horde) and occasionally answers questions from the
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Mailbag or helps the Gazette with graphics issues. He is also active in
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a Colorado Linux users group, if I remember correctly.
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</P>
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<P>
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If somebody would like to start a new
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graphics-related series for LG, we'd be glad to publish it. But it can't
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be called The Graphics Muse since Michael is still using that title.
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</P>
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<P>
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Since Linux Gazette's articles come from our readers, "we" cannot revive
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the column, but "you" as a reader can. Even if you're not a graphics
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expert, if you use Linux graphics programs regularly, you can write about
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your experiences (and frustrations) with them. It just has to be "new
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information": stuff that hasn't been published in LG before (or is so old
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it needs an update), and hasn't been overreported elsewhere.
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</P>
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<P>
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As for other utilities, those are some of the things Thomas Adam writes
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about in his series The Weekend Mechanic.
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If you have any suggestions for topics you'd like to see him cover,
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e-mail him at <A HREF="mailto:thomas_adam16@yahoo.com"
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>thomas_adam16@yahoo.com</A>. Or send article requests to The
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Answer Gang (<A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com"
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>linux-questions-only@ssc.com</A>) and we'll put them in the
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Mailbag.
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</P>
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<p><em>... and having been copied on this, Michael Hammel chimed in ...</em></p>
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<P>
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Someone actually remembers that column?
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<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
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height="24" width="20" align="middle">
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</P>
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<P>
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Actually, the ".org" address is for my personal stuff. The ".com" address
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holds the Graphics Muse content. Of course, last year I started dating my
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high school sweetheart, and now we're married. So I haven't actually had
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time to update that site in over a year. I hope to get back to it
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eventually, but its not on the near term schedule.
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</P>
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<P><STRONG>
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paid employment. Nevertheless, Michael remains a friend of Linux Gazette
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</STRONG></P>
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<P>
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Paid employment is taking precedence these days. Articles on graphics for
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Linux Journal and Linux Magazine are usually as close as I come to doing 'Muse
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style writings these days.
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</P>
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<P><STRONG>
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(part of the Clueful Horde) and occasionally answers questions from the
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Mailbag or helps the Gazette with graphics issues. He is also active in
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a Colorado Linux users group, if I remember correctly.
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</STRONG></P>
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<P>
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Sort of. I moved to Houston to be with my (now) wife and her daughter,
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though I still participate on the Colorado LUGs mailing list (BLUG and
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CLUE, specifically). I also am Senior Editor for LWN.net and write the On
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The Desktop page.
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</P>
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<P><STRONG>
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If somebody would like to start a new
|
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graphics-related series for LG, we'd be glad to publish it. But it can't
|
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be called The Graphics Muse since Michael is still using that title.
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</STRONG></P>
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<P>
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That's correct. It's still copyrighted by me. I'd hoped to do a series of
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books under the umbrella "Graphics Muse", but that hasn't happened.
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</P>
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<P>
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Interesting that someone would remember that column from so long ago.
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Especially now that graphics on Linux has become big business.
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</P>
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<P>
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Later.
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<br>--
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<br>Michael J. Hammel
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<br>The Graphics Muse
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</P>
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<P> <A NAME="wanted/4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
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<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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<FONT COLOR="navy">Asound Ethernet card</FONT></H3>
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Thu, 20 Sep 2001 20:31:24 -0700
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<BR>Mike Orr (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20help%20wanted%20%234"><em>LG</em> Editor</a>)
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<P>
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Has anybody had any luck with the Asound ALM2 Ethernet card?
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I usually stick with 3com, epro or ne2000 cards to avoid driver
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problems, but this one said Linux driver on the box and it was $10,
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so I thought it was an ne2000 compatible. Turns out it has a RealTek
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8139 chip, which corresponds to the experimental 8139too module
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(Linux 2.4.3). But the driver doesn't recognize the card.
|
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"init_module: no such device. Hint: insmod errors can be caused by
|
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incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters."
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</P>
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<P>
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Thinking it was futile, I looked up the I/O address of the card in
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<TT>/proc/pci</TT> and tried "modprobe 8139too io=0xa000". This resulted in,
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"invalid parameter parm_io".
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</P>
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<!-- end 4 -->
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<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
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<P> <A NAME="wanted/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
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<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
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<FONT COLOR="navy">Linux in other languages</FONT></H3>
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Mon, 3 Sep 2001 15:34:19 +0100
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<BR>Ravishankar Rajendran (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20help%20wanted%20%235">RRajendran from dljdirect.co.uk</a>)
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<P><STRONG>
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I am interested in developing a linux version in Tamil( an Indian
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language). It would be very helpful, if you can provide an article
|
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providing an outline of the process of going about it.
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</STRONG></P>
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|
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<p><em>... Mike likes the idea ...</em></p>
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<P>
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|
This would make an excellent
|
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article, if there's anybody with experience to be able to write it.
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Even an article on how the Spanish or Chinese versions of Linux were
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built would be worthwhile.
|
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</P>
|
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<p><em>... Mike also encouraged him to contact those most likely to have
|
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experience with language ports ...</em></p>
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<P>
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Ravishanker, talk with the distributions that already offer multilingual
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versions of Linux. Linux--and the Unix programs and tools it is bundled
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with--were originally written in English, but several distributions have
|
|
appeared in non-English-speaking countries with Linux speaking their
|
|
language. <A HREF="http://www.turbolinux.com/">TurboLinux</A> 6.5 for the iSeries
|
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(<A HREF="http://www.turbolinux.com/products/index.html"
|
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>http://www.turbolinux.com/products/index.html</A>) supports "English,
|
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Japanese, Korean, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese with the
|
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unified code base", and claims to have the leading support for wide
|
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character sets. Conectiva Linux (<A HREF="http://www.conectiva.com"
|
|
>http://www.conectiva.com</A>) is based in
|
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Brazil and offers Portuguese, Spanish and English versions. <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A>
|
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(<A HREF="http://www.suse.de"
|
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>http://www.suse.de</A>) is based in Germany and offers versions in seven
|
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Western European languages and Czech.
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.linux-mandrake.com/">Mandrake</A>,
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<A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> and others also
|
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offer various levels of multilingual support.
|
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</P>
|
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<P>
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Some of the issues you will face include:
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</P>
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<ul>
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<li> Character set. Does Tamil have an alphabetic or idiographic writing
|
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system? Is it supported in Unicode? Is there an acceptable ASCII
|
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version of the writing system, or do one of the established 8-bit
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character sets support it? Linux currently works best with the 8-bit
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character sets, but parts of the system and some applications support
|
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16-bit Unicode. Support for Unicode characters above 16 bits is less.
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<li> Time zone, keyboard, locale, etc. This is the easy part; just use the
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standard Linux utilities to configure these. Is there a standard
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locale name for Tamil?
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<li> GNU gettext is a set of C functions to enable your program to speak
|
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multiple languages. For programs which use gettext, it's a "simple"
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matter of having a translator prepare catalog files containing
|
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translated versions of all the strings in the programs. For programs
|
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which don't use gettext, you'll either have to modify the program to
|
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make it gettext-aware, or do something else.
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<li> Certain points of grammar are hard to internationalize consistently.
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This makes it a huge logical challenge to come up with catalog strings.
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The problem is that the string must be a unique key to find the
|
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other-language string, but oftentimes a single string in English maps to
|
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multiple strings in other languages. For instance, in
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English we say, "0 dogs, 1 dog, 2+ dogs...". In Russian they say, "1
|
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sobaka, 2-4 sobaki, 5+ sobak" (dog), "1 huligan, 2-4 huligana, 5+
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huliganov" (hooligan), "1+ pal'to" (overcoat). Many programmers just
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throw up their hands and write "1 file(s) copied" in the good ol' DOS
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tradition. Worse yet is when some languages put filler words in a
|
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different order than the default language. Or when a word has one form
|
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in one language but multiple case-dependant forms in another. One must
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artificially create identical-but-unique strings in the default language
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to match all the distinct combinations in all the languages supported.
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Or restructure your sentances to avoid differing case forms.
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<br>
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OK, just when you got that down, Russian has a second word for dog:
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"1 pyos, 2-4 p'sa, 5+ p'sov". And two words for horse (loshad',
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kon')....
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<li> To localize X-windows, first determine whether there's an existing
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8-bit or Unicode font that supports Tamil. If so, all users will have
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to have that font installed, and every application configured to use
|
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that font. If not, you'll have to create a font.
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<li> If Tabil has other conventions (besides just the font) that differ
|
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from Western languages, you may need to use or write a special version
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of xterm to handle the characters. For instance, jterm handles
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Japanese. Emacs has a bunch of optional features called MULE for
|
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non-Western languages; you may have to install extra emacs packages to
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use these.
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<li> You'll need to find and install an X keymap for Tabil.
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<li> To localize the console, you'll first have to determine whether
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there's an existing font and keymap that can be used. If so, just
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configure them as the default. If not, you'll have to write them.
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Note that a console keymap can be used to generate an X keymap, so
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you only have to maintain your keymap one place. The Unix display
|
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driver has a Unicode mode, but unfortunately the ancient hardware
|
|
generator on PC video cards can display only 256 unique characters
|
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at a time. You can configure a primary character set and an alternate
|
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character set (2 x 256), but you have to switch between the two.
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If you want to display a document that has both Russian and German
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characters (to say nothing of Japanese), forget it.
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<li> Being Unicode-compatible is a worthwhile goal, because that is the
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direction other Linux systems are slowly going.
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|
</ul>
|
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<P>
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Look through the HOWTOs at <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org"
|
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>http://www.linuxdoc.org</A>. Look at the
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other-language HOWTOs like the Thai HOWTO, Chinese HOWTO, Danish HOWTO,
|
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Esperanto HOWTO, etc. The Font HOWTO may help with font issues. The
|
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Keyboard-and-Console HOWTO explains how to set up the text console for
|
|
different languages. The Unicode HOWTO explains some other aspects of
|
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Unicode.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Contact Linux Focus (<A HREF="http://www.linuxfocus.com"
|
|
>http://www.linuxfocus.com</A>) and see if they have
|
|
any advice. Linux Focus is a zine with a lot more non-English-speaking
|
|
staff than LG.
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
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<p><em>... and Ravishankar replies ...</em></p>
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|
|
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<strong><P>
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Thanks a lot for the help. I will keep you posted on the progress.
|
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</P></strong>
|
|
|
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<!-- end 7 -->
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<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
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<P> <A NAME="wanted/8"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
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<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
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<FONT COLOR="navy">Content Suggestion</FONT></H3>
|
|
Fri, 28 Sep 2001 08:34:14 -0700
|
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<BR>Boning, Mike (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20help%20wanted%20%238">Mike.Boning from UNIFORM.ARAMARK.com</a>)
|
|
|
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<P>
|
|
After the recent suggestion from the Gartner Group to abandon Microsoft IIS,
|
|
many companies are going to be looking at moving to Linux/<A HREF="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</A>. It would
|
|
be wise to publish good information regarding comparisons, compatibilities,
|
|
and particularly migration paths.
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
|
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<!-- end 8 -->
|
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<P> <hr> </p>
|
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<!-- =================================================================== -->
|
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<center><H3><font color="maroon">GENERAL MAIL</font></H3></center>
|
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<P> <HR> </P>
|
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<!--====================================================================-->
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<!-- BEGIN GENERAL MAIL -->
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<UL>
|
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<!-- index_text begins -->
|
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<li><A HREF="#mailbag/1"
|
|
><strong>Thinking of and Praying for you</strong></a>
|
|
<li><A HREF="#mailbag/3"
|
|
><strong>Ben's fame to claim???</strong></a>
|
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<li><A HREF="#mailbag/5"
|
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></a>Re: Apropos question --or--
|
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<br><A HREF="#mailbag/5"
|
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><strong>Non-ASCII characters and LG</strong></a>
|
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<li><A HREF="#mailbag/7"
|
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><strong>Missed the toons</strong></a>
|
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<li><A HREF="#mailbag/8"
|
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><strong>email with multiple POP3 accounts</strong></a>
|
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<li><A HREF="#mailbag/9"
|
|
><strong>Link fix needed</strong></a>
|
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<li><A HREF="#mailbag/10"
|
|
><strong>LG .rss file and search engine</strong></a>
|
|
<!-- index_text ends -->
|
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</UL>
|
|
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
|
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<P> <A NAME="mailbag/1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
|
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
<FONT COLOR="navy">Thinking of and Praying for you</FONT></H3>
|
|
Wed, 12 Sep 2001 22:54:08 +0200
|
|
<BR>Wiri (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20mailbag%20%231">wbr from online.fr</a>)
|
|
|
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<P><STRONG>
|
|
Hello Linuxg@zette,
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P><STRONG>
|
|
Please accept our expression of condolence for the terror that has struck your
|
|
country. God bless you and America !
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P><STRONG>
|
|
Wilf and friends.
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Thank you very much, Wilf; I realize this isn't a Linux topic, but I didn't
|
|
want your message of support to just stand unanswered. Just a bit of military
|
|
historical perspective: at one point, Rome lost three <EM>legions</EM> and one of
|
|
their governors in a single ambush in the Teutoburger Forest. Never before had
|
|
they suffered a disaster of those proportions; nothing even close. The result?
|
|
Roman armies marched; and afterwards, there was not enough left of the tribes
|
|
that had attacked them to even bother Rome for *five centuries.*
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P><em>
|
|
"We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."
|
|
-- Admiral Yamamoto, after Pearl Harbor
|
|
</em></P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Thank you again. And <EM>thank you</EM> to all of our friends who are with us in
|
|
compassion, caring, and spirit.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Ben Okopnik
|
|
<br>US Army veteran
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<p><em>See also the <a href="lg_bytes71.html#legislation">News Bytes</a> and
|
|
<a href="lg_answer71.html">TAG</a> columns for some more words from
|
|
the <b>Linux Gazette</b> staff on this topic. -- Heather </em></p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- end 2 -->
|
|
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
|
|
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
|
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
<FONT COLOR="navy">Ben's fame to claim???</FONT></H3>
|
|
Wed, 5 Sep 2001 22:31:20 +0100 (BST)
|
|
<BR>Thomas Adam (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20mailbag%20%233">The Weekend Mechanic</a>)
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
Dear Ben (and others),
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
I just thought that you and the rest of the team at
|
|
the LG, would like to know that I was flicking through
|
|
a friends copy of a British magazine called PCPlus.
|
|
Although this is mostly orientated towards Windoze
|
|
users, they do have a Linux section.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
In this section the subject of shell scripting was
|
|
being taught. I was not impressed with their content.
|
|
The author of the article referred to shell scripting
|
|
as a "dos batch file" equivalent, but gave no mention
|
|
that BASH in fact has many boolean logic
|
|
control-structures. But that is by-the-by.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The real reason why this e-mail is being sent to you,
|
|
is that in one of the references, they pointed it to
|
|
Ben Okopnik's article on The basics of shell languages
|
|
(in issue 52). It is nice to know that the LG is used
|
|
in such a context.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Keep up the good work guys,
|
|
<br>Regards,
|
|
<br>Thomas Adam -- The Linux Weekend Mechanic
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P><em>
|
|
<smile> Always good to hear that somebody is getting good use out of this
|
|
stuff. Thanks for the note, Thomas!
|
|
-- Ben Okopnik</em></P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- end 4 -->
|
|
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
|
|
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
|
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
<FONT COLOR="navy">Non-ASCII characters and LG</FONT></H3>
|
|
Wed, 26 Sep 2001 11:28:04 -0700
|
|
<BR>Sándor Bárány (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20mailbag%20%235">bs@tud.at</a>)
|
|
<p><em>As frustrating as I find "quoted printable" or HTML attachments, they
|
|
are ways that foreign character sets can survive to get to me.
|
|
I'm pleased to say that since he is active on Debian mailing lists,
|
|
some of whose archives do not ruin his name, I was able to rescue
|
|
it from the Dread Question Mark Disease. The rest of our answer is
|
|
from Mike Orr. -- Heather</em></p>
|
|
|
|
<P><STRONG>
|
|
thank you very much for your answer about apropos. The solution you sent
|
|
works properly. I had myself something similiar; however I could not
|
|
imagine there is no built-in possibility for my problem which I have
|
|
overseen.
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
An OS can never give you all the commands you want, especially since
|
|
they conflict with the commands someone else wants. What Unix gives
|
|
you is a comprehensive set of basic commands and the building blocks
|
|
to build higher-level custom commands. This is why shell scripts and
|
|
aliases are so highly valued by Unix enthusiasts, because they give
|
|
you the ability to make custom commands for anything the developers
|
|
might have forgotten.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P><STRONG>
|
|
I crosschecked it again and my mailer inserts the proper headers:
|
|
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P><STRONG>
|
|
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P><STRONG>
|
|
I find it really very pity you do attempt any use of i18n in your
|
|
mailer. I am from Hungary, so I actually need the iso-8859-2 charcter
|
|
code when I use my mother language for mails; however, my name is within
|
|
the simple Western-Europe or ascii256 charset. If you US people insist
|
|
on using us-ascii then ther are plenty of guys on the world who do not
|
|
have any chance to see their name as in their personal documents. I have
|
|
recently run some circles around locales and gnome (which I prefer to
|
|
kde), and I have to tell you how much I was shocked by the fact how long
|
|
way is to go till we reach to the point Windows95 already had. I have
|
|
freefonts, ttfs, X fonts for several languages etc. but when I wanted to
|
|
print out proper hungarian characters I had to redirect the StarOffice
|
|
postscript output to file (was also forced to use elementary postscript
|
|
fonts), and drive it through 'ogonkify'. A large number of Linux users
|
|
can not live with us-ascii, so at a given point they are lost.
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The problem of representing multiple languages is acute, and I strongly
|
|
wish Linux was more advanced in that area. If editors and browsers
|
|
fully supported Unicode seamlessly across the board, we would switch to
|
|
it in an instant. However, 8-bit character sets continue to be better
|
|
supported. The limitation is that only one 8-bit character set can be
|
|
active at a time, meaning you can't properly display a document containing
|
|
English and Russian and German unless one of the languages is ASCII-ified.
|
|
This was a pain when I had Russian friends in Russia and Germany I sent
|
|
e-mail to and typed up text documents for.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
LG has just thrown its hands up in the air and taken the
|
|
incorrect-but-easiest approach of using Latin-1 but pretending it's
|
|
ASCII. Most of the non-English mail we get uses Latin-1 characters.
|
|
I try to convert these to HTML entities when I see them, but I don't
|
|
make a time-consuming effort of it. Compounding this is the fact that
|
|
many of us use mutt as our mailreader, and mutt replaces non-ASCII
|
|
characters with "?". Then if you save the message or forward it, mutt
|
|
converts the placeholder "?" into real "?", and then the original character
|
|
is completely lost. With Romance/Germanic languages we can usually
|
|
guess what the original character was and substitute it back
|
|
(because "ma?ana" is clearly "mañana", "K?ln" is "Köln",
|
|
"Jos?" is "José",
|
|
"Universit?t" must be "Universität" because "Universitöt",
|
|
"Universitüt" and "Universitßt" don't exist, etc--unless
|
|
you want to say "Universitöt" is slang for "dead university"!);
|
|
however, with names from other languages we're at a total loss.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Perhaps someday we can come up with a more enlightened way to support
|
|
multiple languages, but this is what we have now.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P><STRONG>
|
|
Last question: are you plan to publish on the <em>Linux Gazette</em>
|
|
page this new Answer-Gang mail address? Or
|
|
not publishing it is the proper way to avoid getting rid of off-topic
|
|
questions
|
|
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
|
|
height="24" width="20" align="middle">)
|
|
</STRONG></P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The linux-questions-only address is at the top of the Mailbag page and The
|
|
Answer Gang index page, where we have always published it. The top of
|
|
the 2-Cent Tips page still has the gazette address, but I've asked Heather
|
|
to change it. In any case, I bounce everything to linux-questions-only that
|
|
was misaddressed to gazette.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
If you see anywhere else (besides in back issues) where the gazette
|
|
address or the obsolete tag address is used, please let me know and
|
|
we'll change it.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
I thought about putting the address on the home page but decided against
|
|
it, because people should at least have a look at what The Answer Gang
|
|
is about before they find out there is a submission address.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
The problem of off-topic questions was not caused by Gazette readers.
|
|
It was caused by the fact that the tag address was published on many
|
|
webpages with no reference to LG. So people would type their question
|
|
into search engines, find the tag address, and send us questions, often
|
|
without even realizing Linux Gazette existed. Our off-topic questions
|
|
were easily 50% of the total. See the past several issues of The Back
|
|
Page for the more amusing ones, and issues of The Answer Gang before
|
|
that.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Since switching to the linux-questions-only address, our off-topic
|
|
rate has dropped to near zero, and we are also seeing fewer Linux
|
|
questions from people who don't even bother to read the FAQs and
|
|
documentation first but just expect us to hold their hand. LG believes
|
|
in helping those who help themselves.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<p>-- Mike
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- end 6 -->
|
|
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
|
|
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/7"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
|
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
<FONT COLOR="navy">Missed the toons</FONT></H3>
|
|
Fri, 14 Sep 2001 10:06:26 +0530
|
|
<BR>Sudhakar . A N (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20mailbag%20%237">sudhakar.an from eximsoft.com</a>)
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
<STRONG>I miss the toons in your lates issue.</STRONG>
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
We miss them too. Shane Collinge has to
|
|
concentrate on paid employment for a while, so HelpDex is on hiatus.
|
|
Eric Kasten has his hands full doing whatever he's doing, so Tuxedo Tails
|
|
is also taking a break.
|
|
|
|
<P> Jon "Sir Flakey" Harsem is still going strong, so we have a new
|
|
installment of <A HREF="qubism.html">Qubisms</A> this month for your
|
|
cartoon fix. It was missing last month because I, um, forgot to include it.
|
|
Most Qubism cartoons are non-Linux but I'm including some of the funnier
|
|
ones anyway.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P> I originally told Eric Kasten we wanted only Linux cartoons,
|
|
but he said Linux is too specific a topic to come up with that many
|
|
cartoons about, so I've been publishing non-Linux Tuxedo Tails panels too.
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>--Mike.</P>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- end 7 -->
|
|
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
|
|
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/8"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
|
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
<FONT COLOR="navy">email with multiple POP3 accounts</FONT></H3>
|
|
Thu, 30 Aug 2001 11:33:54 +0800
|
|
<BR>Artemista - (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20mailbag%20%238">artemista from mail.com</a>)
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
Thanks to everyone who responded to my question. With everyone's advice, I was able to figure out a solution to the problem.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
-- Artemista
|
|
</P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- end 8 -->
|
|
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
|
|
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/9"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
|
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
<FONT COLOR="navy">Link fix needed: http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue70/tag/9.html</FONT></H3>
|
|
Sat, 01 Sep 2001 21:56:10 -0600
|
|
<BR>Alvin Austin (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2071%5D%20mailbag%20%239">alvin from crlogic.com</a>)
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
Hi Heather,
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
In the latest Linux Gazette online issue, the link to the "internet cafe" is set
|
|
to that of "Password aging" instead of:
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P><BLOCKQuote>
|
|
<A HREF="../issue70/tag/9.html"
|
|
>http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue70/tag/9.html</A>
|
|
</BLOCKQuote></P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
You will want to correct this.
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Have a nice day,
|
|
</P>
|
|
<P>
|
|
Alvin Austin
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><em>Ooops! Sorry about that! As Mike noted elsewhere, my conversion
|
|
script caught a bug last month, and I <b>mostly</b> managed to
|
|
clean up after it, but obviously, I missed another one.
|
|
-- Heather</em></p>
|
|
|
|
<!-- end 9 -->
|
|
|
|
<!-- .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~. -->
|
|
<P> <A NAME="mailbag/10"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
|
|
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
|
|
<FONT COLOR="navy">LG .rss file and search engine</FONT></H3>
|
|
Sun Sep 30 23:57:05 PDT 2001
|
|
<BR>Iron (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=LG .rss file">LG Editor</a>)
|
|
|
|
<P> LG has two new goodies this month. One is an .rss file at
|
|
<A HREF="../lg.rss">http://www.linuxgazette.com/lg.rss</A>. Those who run
|
|
web sites with "live" links to various news sites and zines can feed this file
|
|
to your link generator to create links to all the articles in the current issue
|
|
(at the main LG site). This file is <EM>experimental</EM> right now because I
|
|
need <STRONG>feedback</STRONG> from the linking sites on whether this format
|
|
will work for them, or what you would prefer instead <EM>(hint, hint).</EM>
|
|
If the feedback is positive, I will update this file each month.
|
|
|
|
<P> Also, LG has a new search engine. The buggy WebGlimpse engine has been
|
|
replaced with <A HREF="http://www.htdig.org/">ht://Dig</A>. The new URL is
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/search.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/search.html</A>.
|
|
However, you can still use the old URL and it will take you to the new search
|
|
page. If you are using the extra search link that some mirrors have (to search
|
|
the mirror's copy of LG), it is unaffected.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<P> <hr> </p>
|
|
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
|
|
<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
|
|
of <I>Linux Gazette</I>
|
|
<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
|
|
>Copyright ©</a> 2001
|
|
<BR>Published in issue 71 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> October 2001</H5>
|
|
<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
|
|
<A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
|
|
Starshine Technical Services,
|
|
<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
|
|
</H6>
|
|
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
|
|
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<!-- *** BEGIN navbar *** -->
|
|
<IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/left.jpg" WIDTH="14" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"><A HREF="index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Table of Contents ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/toc.jpg" WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><A HREF="../index.html"><IMG ALT="[ Front Page ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/frontpage.jpg" WIDTH="137" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="../faq/index.html"><IMG ALT="[ FAQ ]" SRC="./../gx/navbar/faq.jpg"WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom"></A><A HREF="lg_bytes71.html"><IMG ALT="[ Next ]" SRC="../gx/navbar/next.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" BORDER="0" ALIGN="bottom" ></A><IMG ALT="" SRC="../gx/navbar/right.jpg" WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="45" ALIGN="bottom">
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