Re: [tlug] Suse blues

["paul arenson" <paul@example.com>]

Hi

I only gave this a quick look since I have to go back sometime in April
and try to figure out what is what.

Part of the problem is knowing how to do it systematically.  Fabian
Sensei's article is so long, it is not clear where to start.  Also, it
SOUNDS like the instructions are for when a person  wants to add Japanese
to a non Japanese installation.  It seems that you and I started out in
Japanese; I have done both ways...



Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon said:
>
> Also being a SuSe 9.0 user and also having a system that I installed in
> English that I haven't had luck with Japanese yet - I dragged an old 6GB
> hard drive out of the closet and plugged it into a test computer to try
> installing SuSe again in Japanese mode.  Watching the installation
> closely, I realize d that there are several components to Japanese.
> Whereas the English language install only used the first two of the six
> disks (no DVD in that computer), the Japanese install pulls stuff off of
> all six disks!  After the install was finished, I opened up OpenOffice
> Writer.... hit <Shift>+<Space> and there it was!  The hiragana "a" I'd
> heard of!  "Click-click-click" Oh.... Japanese!  Banzai!  Banzai!!
> Banzai!!!
>

This is you or someone else?  It seems like someone whrote that to you and
the bellow is your response?


> Oops... I swore I'd not try humor again.  Well, I really did feel
> excited about that.  It was another milestone for me in my years-long
> glacial migration over to Linux - never before had I written anything in
> Japanese with Linux.  I think you can get the packages you want this way
> (assuming you have all the boxed set):


>
> Control Center
>    YaST 2 Modules

One can just go to YAST in the bottom left menu.

>       Software
>           Install and Remove Software


>
> At this point you get a message saying that you need Super User
> privileges - just click on the tab at the bottom (which says - if I
> remember correctly "Supervisor Password" or something like that).

Yes...this is standard for doing anything as the administrator...


 Then
> the password box appears - put in the password and wait for a bit.  Then
> you get a screen with a Search box.
>
> Type in "Japanese", hit enter, and....
>
> A whole slew of stuff comes up!  Just check the boxes and go throw the
> process of feeding disks into the CD-ROM drive.
>


Did it work for you?

Yes...I have the DVD....and did that...most was already installed as I
started the last time by installing in Japanese.

I had already cleared up all other problems...printer driver,
3d accelaration, scanner.... and then had put the system into English so I
can understand the menus better.


Japanese was not working under this mode, but anyway, I put myself back in
Japanese mode via the desktop menus, did the instatlation of any
additional software packages, and then rebooted.


Result, in Japanese menu system, was the same as before.

Kana entry in some programs....Space bar did not call up
the Kanji server, though I have seen at startup that it is running.


So I have a hiragana installation, and of course i can cut and paste Kanji
from other things like email and the web.....   Mostly I have little need
to write Kanji, so not a big loss, but certainly a frustrating one.


I tried one of Scott's things, to call up the terminal and paste in some
text, and got a message that said WARNING, and then some moji bake....

Not sure what that was.....


I guess the thing that I have to do is try to figure out in which order to
try things since it seems some of the instructions in various places are
for people adding Japanese.  I am unsure if switching langugaes--like when
I installed in Japanese, and then,switch to English menu system and then
back, means we are somehow ditching some software that needs to be
reinstalled.   I suspect no.   When I went back to the Japanese menu
system, my Hiragana entry for some progrqams was still there.

For the time being I will give up the goal of English menus and
Japanese....just will be happy to have Japanese menus and Kanji in at
least wapro and K-mail.


Then later i can work on doing same with English menus.  Seems that SHOULD
be out of the box, but who knows.


One thing, I have the disks which I bought from Australia.  It is unclear
if the disks that are sold in Japan, such as at Plathhom shops, are
localized for Japanese just from an esthetic point of view or actual do
result in a functioning Japanese system right out of the box.  These are
all things to investigate.


As said, I think you (and I and anybody) need to go through things
systematically.   Right now it is a matter of try this and try that, but I
always wonder if I am messing things up when I try something that doesn't
work......


Oh, one thing.....when we choose Japanese, there is a menu that asks
if we want Unicode or not.  Then there are two other things--that require
yes/No answers, but whcih I do not understand.   I have seen references
saying it is good to use Unicode, but checking it reveals no difference so
far.

As usual, am writing this on another machine at work, and at the end of a
14-hour day, I am not always in the best condition to start debugging, but
it is worth taking a look at those choices as they may reveal something.


If red hat works (seems to be fedora now) , as someone said, right out of
the box in Japanese, I might try that.  Then again, I JUST saw, in DISTRO
WATCH, that there is a version of linux called something like BERRY....it
even has some information in English on their web site, and it claims to
be based on Knoppix, which means that it will work off the CD (relatively
slowly).  The fact that he made a knoppix knock-off might also indicate
that knoppix does not do Japanese right out of the box.

Well, glad that the other problems with my installation of Suse are pretty
much ok...and now (in April, after beijng away a month) I have to
concentrate on getting Kanji to work.  Don't know if the stuff I posted
showing the workings of my installation (which Jonathan asked me to do)
indicate anything amiss or not.

Still, am tempted to try a "made-in-Japan" installer of Suse, or Red Hat, or
something else known to work and not require tweaking, though as someone
said, Susue is generally very nice and I love the YAST option, which makes
installtion of most things easy.


Paul@example.com like I am seeing SOME light at the end of the tunnel
(By the way, I don't see people sign their names like this anymore...,
with the "@example.com".  Way back when I first joined Twics, it seemed like
everyone did it).




> I'm trying this myself as I type it - I'll let you know if it's
> successful - in any case, it looks promising!
>


Let us know what happened.

Paul

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Paul Arenson
paul@example.com

TokyoProgressive Editor http://tokyoprogressive.org

IndyMedia Japan Editor
http://japan.indymedia.org
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