Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 + RN 4.3; site inset.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!mcvax!ukc!stc!inset!mikeb From: mikeb@inset.UUCP (Mike Banahan) Newsgroups: net.internat Subject: Re: What do we REALLY want? Message-ID: <791@inset.UUCP> Date: Thu, 7-Nov-85 05:31:20 EST Article-I.D.: inset.791 Posted: Thu Nov 7 05:31:20 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Nov-85 05:43:52 EST References: <723@inset.UUCP> <960@erix.UUCP> <1569@hammer.UUCP> <6066@utzoo.UUCP> <1581@hammer.UUCP> <18@diku.UUCP> <1612@hammer.UUCP> Reply-To: mikeb@inset.UUCP (Mike Banahan) Organization: The Instruction Set Ltd., London, UK. Lines: 25 Xpath: stc stc-a It is worth noting that to provide support for languages with a very large repertoire (``characters'') such as Chinese, it is not common practice to use a particularly large keyboard. The technique normally employed for data entry in such languages is different. Typically it is done by entering a phonetic equivalent of the word that is wanted, using a small number of characters: a phonetic notation for Chinese, using roman characters, is already well established. The terminal has enough intelligence to search its dictionary of characters and to display several alternatives in the large character set which correspond more or less closely to the phonetic input. The user selects the one wanted and carries on. This sounds slow, but as far as I remember it is recognised as being one of the quickest ways of actually inputting ideograms. Anyhow, the upshot is that you can input Chinese using standard keyboards. The terminal display and intelligence has to be upgraded considerably, but then that is pretty simple nowadays. The terminal I'm using now isn't that much less intelligent than our Vax (and a lot less overloaded!). Forget all those pictures in the silly papers of Chinese typewriters with a keyboard the size of a table. -- Mike Banahan, Technical Director, The Instruction Set Ltd. mcvax!ukc!inset!mikeb