Subject: Chinese OS/2 ??

From: Stephen G Simpson <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1992 12:36:54 -0400

Does anybody know anything about Chinese language support in OS/2?

The following is excerpted from an IBM document describing OS/2 2.0,
the new 32-bit operating system for 80386 and 80486 PCs.

      ------------------------------------------------------

                               OS/2 2.0
                    INFORMATION AND PLANNING GUIDE

                     Document Number G326-0160-00

...

It is possible that this publication may contain reference to, or
information about, IBM products (machines and programs), programming,
or services that are not announced in your country.  Such references
or information must not be construed to mean that IBM intends to
announce such IBM products, programming, or services in your country.

(C) COPYRIGHT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION 1992.  ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.

....

Contents

....

APPENDIX B.  INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT  . . . . . . . . . . .
Translations   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bidirectional Support  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Double-Byte Character Set  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Installing National Language Versions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  Country Choice   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  Keyboard Choice  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Changing National Language Options   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  Temporary Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  Permanent Changes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Understanding Code Pages   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Understanding DEVINFO Statements   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

...

-------
NOTICES
-------

References in this publication to IBM products, programs, or services
do not imply that IBM intends to make these available in all countries
in which IBM operates.

...

-------------------------------------------
APPENDIX B.  INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT
-------------------------------------------

IBM provides extensive international language support for the OS/2
operating system.

TRANSLATIONS
____________

OS/2 2.0 is translated into the following languages:

    Chinese
        Peoples Republic of China (simplified)
        Taiwan (traditional)
    Danish
    Finnish
    French
    German
    Italian
    Japanese
    Korean
    Dutch
    Norwegian
    Portuguese
    Spanish
    Swedish

In the translated versions, information on the screen and in the
manuals is presented in the national language (except commands, device
names, and file names, which are based on English).

Users who are bilingual, but regard English as their primary language
for computer use, should specify the English version when ordering.

...

DOUBLE-BYTE CHARACTER SET
_________________________

Another language feature in OS/2 2.0 is the double-byte character set
(DBCS).  The DBCS version is provided for those countries, such as
Japan, whose primary language requires 2 bytes for each character
rather than 1 byte as in the single-byte character set (SBCS).  See
the manual OS/2 2.0 Keyboards and Code Pages for more information.

...

The OS/2 2.0 installation defaults for country information and code
pages are listed in Table 8.

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Table 8. Country and Code Page Defaults                          |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| COUNTRY                | COUNTRY CODE  | PRIMARY    | SECONDARY  |
|                        |               | CODE PAGE  | CODE PAGE  |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Arabic-speaking        | 785           | 864        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Asia (English)         | 99            | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Australia (English)    | 61            | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Belgium                | 32            | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Canada (French)        | 2             | 863        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Czechoslovakia         | 42            | 852        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Denmark                | 45            | 850        | n/a        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Finland                | 358           | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| France                 | 33            | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Germany                | 49            | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Hebrew-speaking        | 972           | 862        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Hungary                | 36            | 852        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Iceland                | 354           | 850        | 861        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Italy                  | 39            | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Japan                  | 81            | 932        | 437, 850   |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Korea                  | 82            | 934        | 437, 850   |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Latin America          | 3             | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Netherlands            | 31            | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Norway                 | 47            | 850        | n/a        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Peoples Republic of    | 88            | 938        | 437, 850   |
| China                  |               |            |            |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Poland                 | 48            | 852        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Portugal               | 351           | 850        | 860        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Spain                  | 34            | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Sweden                 | 46            | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Switzerland (French)   | 41            | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Switzerland (German)   | 41            | 850        | 437        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Taiwan                 | 88            | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Turkey                 | 90            | 857        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| United Kingdom         | 44            | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| United States          | 1             | 437        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+
| Yugoslavia             | 38            | 852        | 850        |
+------------------------+---------------+------------+------------+

...

UNDERSTANDING CODE PAGES
________________________

A code page is a table that maps a set of characters to a
corresponding set of values called code points.  Characters are
letters, digits, or symbols that the user sees on the keys of a
keyboard, on a display, or printed on paper.  Code points or character
codes are what a computer system uses internally to represent
characters when processing, reading, or writing character data.

A code-page table has a number identifier such as code page 437 or
code page 850.  A code-page table includes language characters,
numbers, punctuation, control characters, and special characters.
Code page 437 is predominant in the United States.  Code page 850 is a
multilingual code page; it includes English characters a well as most
characters commonly used by many Western European languages.

Processing, displaying, or printing character data in the wrong code
page can result in incorrectly presented characters.  A word
processing file written in Danish or Portuguese using code page 850 in
Europe, sent to the United States, and printed using code page 437
might contain errors because code page 437 does not include all the
characters and accents of all Western European languages.  Code pages
437 and 850 are examples of SBCS code pages. Code pages 932, 934, and
938 are DBCS code pages.

...

For more information on OS/2-supported languages, countries, and code
pages, consult the OS/2 2.0 Command Reference (online or printed) and
online Master Help Index.