Meeting picts
by A. Tomita
📷 Meeting photos would appear here
December Meeting Information (Part 1)
Date: 12 December, 1998
Meeting Time: 12:30
Talk: Linux i18n/Japanization
Meeting Place:
NEW VENUE
Temple University
2-8-12 Minami Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo
(map at http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps.html)
Stephen Turnbull (U. Tsukuba) used a MagicPoint presentation to describe the underpinnings of Linux internationalization (I18N), localization (L10N), and multilingualization (M17N). He explained some of the issues involved in text input, output, and processing that are a function of differing natural languages. He emphasized that following established standards and protocols for true I18N, while a difficult path, is a much better (more general and more likely to be adopted into mainstream Open Source projects) solution than simply localizing an application. He mentioned that we would be able to read more on the subject in an upcoming article.
Scott Stone (PHT) outlined the practical methods available for adapting an English Linux system to also support Japanese. He covered the various tools available for display, input processing, and input methods under X (and the additional steps for getting a Japanese console). He discussed the languages and toolkits available that provide international support, including Perl, Tcl/Tk, and with several particularly optimistic words about the gtk toolkit. A basic theme of his talk was that it is quite practical to add Japanese to an English system with today's Linux software.
For the question and answer session, Stephen and Scott were joined by Koji Ashiada (PHT), who has recently been involved in porting Applixware to the Japanese environment. All three commented on the POSIX locale scheme, and in particular the use of 'gettext' (now part of glibc) to provide separate message catalogs for different natural languages.
Part 2 - Business Meeting Important information about TLUG administration!
Report by Jim Tittsler, Tokyo ICQ: 5981586