James Keating

Question 1 -- about Locale/Localedrake: Mandrake seems to have improved this; you mention options I don't have. I've bypassed it entirely through necessity. I have no ~/.i18n file, just the one in /etc/sysconfig. You ought to be able to change just the one in your home directory. If that doesn't take, change the other one too. (I make copies of config files before messing with them, or leave the original settings commented out.) If scim works, you might as well leave it alone. If it's giving you trouble, try kinput2. I recommended kinput because I've had no trouble with it (except figuring out how to switch to katakana, alt-k) and because a search in the archives of the Tokyo Linux Users' Group turned up only a couple of comments, but both negative, so I figured I would wait a while before trying it. Being told to install scim-uim and then being told it's installed sounds like a problem with the rpm manager. Maybe you can try to install it (on the command line as root) with the --force option (rpm -i --force package.rpm), as long as you know there aren't any dependency problems. Another option is to rebuild the database with "rpm --rebuilddb" and then see if you get conflicting messages again. Question 2 -- Using Japanese in file names This sounds like in some programs you need to set default fonts to Japanese, and maybe the locales as well. I have more trouble with this in the advanced programs than in my old ones. The font I recommended (misc-fixed, jix0208.1983-0) isn't available as an option in the Gnome configuration tool, or OpenOffice, Evolution and the like. But something simple like GEdit shows it. All I can suggest is trying different fonts to see what works. Question 3 -- Networking Question 4 -- Printing with dual-boot Windows system I have no experience with this, and can only weakly suggest poking around in Mandrake's printer setup tool, as if you haven't already. Question 5 -- Logout Sorry, I use FVWM -- my first Linux machine was a 486, I had to use light programs, and having configured them with much struggle, I find I like them and am sticking with them. I could swear the Gnome desktop used to have an option to configure this, but can't find it now, unless it's under Sessions, which does nothing when I click it. Or maybe that was an option under Enlightenment. Why not just save the session each time? It seems to really want you to. Question 6 -- OpenOffice You may not have all the packages. I have OpenOffice.org-1.0.2-7mdk OpenOffice.org-help-en-1.0.2-7mdk OpenOffice.org-l10n-en-1.0.2-7mdk OpenOffice.org-l10n-ja-1.0.2-7mdk OpenOffice.org-libs-1.0.2-7mdk and have no problems, though I also never use it. If you have the internationalization packages, you ought to be able to use Japanese as long as you pick a Japanese font to work in. and Gjiten This is a nice dictionary that I use in conjunction with my pitiful attempts to learn kanji. It uses Jim Breen's dictionary files edict and kanjidic as databases. My reference to two dictionaries must have confused you. The home page is http://gjiten.sourceforge.net/ Good luck. You seem to be close to success. Getting a bilingual system isn't easy, though not as hard as I thought or I would have done it long ago instead of a couple of weeks ago.

I used as a guide http://dspnet.fr.eu.org/~lonewolf/LinuxJap...h_Japanese.html but adjusted for Mandrake (I'm jogging along with 9.2). Now my menus and messages are in English, but I can read and write Japanese. You probably have all the necessary packages installed already. I recommend kinput2 and wnn over scim because they seem more stable and mature. (I have no experience with scim; this is second-hand evaluation from the mail archives of my local Linux users' group.) All you probably need to do is set the locales LANG and LC_CTYPE to ja_JP.eucJP and start kinput with your window manager. 1. install packages kana-to-kanji conversion system and dictionary): freewnn-jserver – (mine is) FreeWnn-1.1.1-0.a017.11mdk Japanese input method system: kinput2-canna-wnn – kinput2-wnn4-v3.1-1mdk compatible terminals: kterm – kterm-6.2.0-18mdk gnome multi-terminal -- multi-gnome-terminal-1.6.2-2mdk (you'll have to change the default font) Japanese fonts: fonts-ttf-japanese-0.20020727-3mdk XFree86-xfs-4.3-30mdk locales: locales-2.3.1.4-6mdk locales-en-2.3.1.4-6mdk locales-ja-2.3.1.4-6mdk 2. change locales: as root, edit /etc/sysconfig/i18n to: LANGUAGE=en_US LINGUAS=en_US SUPPORTED=en_US:C:en_US.UTF-8:ISO-8859-15:ja_JP.eucJP:ja_JP.UTF-8:ja_JP:ja:ja_JP.JIS7:ja_JP.SJIS LANG=ja_JP.eucJP LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP LC_MESSAGES=en_US LC_MONETARY=en_US LC_ADDRESS=en_US LC_COLLATE=en_US LC_NAME=en_US LC_PAPER=ja LC_NUMERIC=en_US SYSFONT=lat0-16 LC_TIME=en_US LC_TELEPHONE=en_US LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US XIM=kinput2 XIM_PROGRAM=kinput2 XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" # notes: # LANGUAGE: broadest. Overrides LC_MESSAGES, even if LC_ALL is set # LC_ALL: overrides LANG for all LC_* variables # LANG: the default for all LC_* variables that are not explicitly set # LC_CTYPE sets input (XIM) language, plus character classification, case conversion # Nothing but LC_CTYPE may be needed to input Japanese while keeping English menus, messages # LC_MESSAGES sets system messages, menus # LC_COLLATE: collation order used for comparing and sorting. # LC_MONETARY: monetary formats. # LC_NUMERIC: non-monetary numeric formats. # LC_TIME: date and time formats. Mandrake prefers ja_JP.UTF-8 (allows multilingual pages) but it makes many programs' English menus double-spaced. The only other Japanese locale is ja_JP.eucJP. All other choices are different names for one of these or are not available, such as ISO-2022-JP and Shift-JIS. If you want to be absolutely sure of what your system supports, you can list all locales from the command line with locale -a then test each by running, for example LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8 xterm and see if it complains that the locale is not supported by glibc (C library) or X (Xlib). Many of the listed locales will be aliases for the real thing. You can check them in the file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/locale/locale.alias 3. startx / start window manager: have your window manager run on startup: kinput2 & XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" If that fails, make a file with this and run it on startup (I haven't actually tried this): LANGUAGE=en_US LANG=ja_JP.eucJP LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP LC_MESSAGES=en_US XIM=kinput2 XIM_PROGRAM=kinput2 XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" export LANGUAGE export LANG export LC_CTYPE export LC_MESSAGES export XIM export XIM_PROGRAM export XMODIFIERS kinput2 & XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" I also run jserver on boot; set that through the Mandrake Control Center, or ntsysv as root from a terminal. I'm not sure if it's actually necessary. 4. set fonts within programs I prefer -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-*-130-*-*-c-*-jisx0208.1983-0 which comes up in menus as fixed (misc), then you pick the jisx0208.1983-0 (too small): -*-lucidatypewriter-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-* (too small): -kana14 (too thick): -misc-fixed-*-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Newer programs -- the ones that use only TrueType, I think -- often don't show this font as an option. Try kochi gothic, though it makes menus double-spaced in some programs. general notes: Shift-space turns kinput on and off. If a program doesn't respond, either the font is not capable of Japanese, or the whole program isn't. You may also need to set the encoding for composing. My only problem is I can't compose messages in Japanese in Evolution, though it reads messages fine. I compose in GEdit and copy over. Whatever you use, you should be able to define all and change the encoding to ISO-2022-jp before sending. To give a balky program an English-only environment under the locales set above, run: export LC_TYPE=en_US LANG=en_US & programname No run a program with Japanese menus and messages under the locales set above, run: export LC_MESSAGES=ja_JP & programname Under an all-English system that also has Japanese fonts plus kinput and wnn installed, you should be able to force a program to accept Japanese input by running it with some version of the following (each is one line starting with kinput): kinput2 & LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" programname kinput2 & LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP LC_MESSAGES=en_US XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" programname kinput2 & LANG=ja_JP.eucJP LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP LC_MESSAGES=en_US XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" programname kinput2 & LANGUAGE=ja_JP.eucJP LANG=ja_JP.eucJP LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.eucJP LC_MESSAGES=en_US XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2" programname I also use gjiten as a dictionary, and kdrill to study kanji. Home pages: http://gjiten.sourceforge.net/ http://www.bolthole.com/kdrill/ They both rely on Jim Breen's dictionary files. His Japanese page is http://ftp.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/ Hope this helps. James Keating

I have a different and probably older model, 14XL340. On my machine, I can suspend by pushing the power button briefly, but only with kernel 2.4.18-6 or older. I've installed it alongside the newer kernel, and made it the default through linuxconf. I forget if this also prevents me from running a newer X, but I use 3.3.6 anyway, since 4 makes my cursor appear half an inch to one side of where it actually takes effect.

If you have or are planning to get a Canon printer, Turboprint is worth it. I just got a Canon i320 printer, the cheapest and smallest I could find, since I don't need a printer often. I never got good color from my old Epson, because the heads were always getting clogged, and can't be removed for easy servicing or cleaning. (This seems to be a common problem with Epsons that don't get daily use.) Also, the default setup was never right, and I never could figure out how to get it right in Mandrake Control Center or XPP. With Turboprint, everything is right from the start (except for lingering old config files in /etc/cups and /etc/cups/ppd that I had to fix). I would rather not spend money, and I would rather support companies that support Linux. But first I want a printer that works, and at last I have one.