Re: [tlug] Japanese-language on SuSE

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

Joseph Essertier wrote:

> I've had similarly good experiences with installing OS 10 in Japanese
> on the Mac and selecting English afterwards. Going the other
> way--installing in English--never worked for me. The way i have it set
> up now, it's very easy to switch back to Japanese when necessary, and
> Japanese file names remain in Japanese orthography even when the menus
> are all in English, which is great.


In trying it out today, I should warn you that while all the KDE
(desktop) stuff, menus, etc. switches very easily and quickly over to
English from Japanese (and Japanese can be input from either position by
switching text entry back and forth with Ctrl+Space), OpenOffice,
FireFox & Mozilla are Japanese. Mozilla at least can be switched over to
English - folder by folder (the InBox folder, the Send folder, etc.),
but I'm not sure about FireFox and I'm pretty sure you can't switch
OpenOffice over - but then you can just download the English version and
install that. Same with Mozilla and FireFox, but using the initial
versions makes updating easier (FireFox is part of the default package
install, but I had to select Mozilla).

> By now i've read many of the past posts in the TLUG archives relating
> to SuSE, and with all the trouble that people have had with previous
> versions of SuSE, i will not be surprised if the installation does not
> go smoothly, but i'm willing to experiment a little, and as long as i
> am able to type in Japanese relatively efficiently in a word
> processing application, i'll be satisfied.


In that case, as long as you install SuSE 9.3 in Japanese, I think
you'll have no problems with Japanese text input.

> At first i was going to install Ubuntu in Japanese on the G3, but
> aborted that installation and installed on the G4 in English. The
> Japanese during the initial stages of the installation process on the
> G3 was of a low quality, i'm afraid. This is not a criticism of the
> producers of Ubuntu. It seems like they have created a wonderful
> distribution. But perhaps they have had trouble getting good
> translators to work for free on their project? I don't know. They will
> have to raise the quality of their translation, i think, though, if
> they're going to attract Japanese users.


I'm not sure the Japanese of the install steps is so great either, but
get yourself through that and I think you'll like the way it works on
the other side of the tunnel!

> By the way, i'm still trying to decide what used, home
> desktop--probably Dell--to buy. Is there a quick and easy way to find
> out what machines SuSE runs well on? I could look at earlier posts to
> see what machines Lyle successfully installed SuSE on and check SuSE
> user forums on the internet i guess, but what i'd really like to have
> is a list that i can print out and take with me to Akihabara, to help
> guide my purchase.


I think anything not really really squeaky new and just coming off the
assembly line should work okay for Dell desktops (but I'm not sure!). I
did have some trouble with 9.1 in a slightly newer machine than the
older ones I'm using in that - if you tried to install it in Japanese,
it couldn't display the Japanese text of the install steps, and so the
only way to install it was in English. I would think that wouldn't be a
problem with 9.3, which should have better hardware support. That said,
if you do find a list, I'd like to see it too!

Lyle