3.438 Japanese computing (69)

Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Wed, 6 Sep 89 21:43:36 EDT


Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 438. Wednesday, 6 Sep 1989.


(1) Date: Wed, 6 Sep 89 04:29:42 EDT (16 lines)
From: David.A.Bantz@mac.dartmouth.edu
Subject: query (3.431) re Japanese PC

(2) Date: Wed, 6 Sep 89 11:14 EDT (31 lines)
From: <CIORAN@MCMASTER>
Subject: Japanese Word Processors for the IBM PC

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 89 04:29:42 EDT
From: David.A.Bantz@mac.dartmouth.edu
Subject: query (3.431) re Japanese PC

If you mean the hard to find 5550 (or some such number) which is usually
available only in Japan & has various clever imput modes for Japanese, the
Language Lab at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has two of them.
Contact the Director, C. C. Cheng (at least he was Director 2 years ago), who
is also Professor of Linguistics.

Well, if I had read your posting a bit more carefully, I would have seen that
really want this functionality on "a standard IBM PC (or PS/2)." It seems
very unlikely that full Japanese functionality would be available on a
standard PC, since entirely different input and display are required, though
various compromises might be available. You might still want to contact
C.C.Cheng. Goood luck.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------35----
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 89 11:14 EDT
From: <CIORAN@MCMASTER>
Subject: Japanese Word Processors for the IBM PC


The best (to date) Japanese word processor that I've seen for an IBM PC
is EW Plus which is available from
Information Technology Laboratory, Inc
280 Park Avenue, 4th Fl
New York, NY 10017
(212/557-0179

Price: $895.00
Demo version available

You will require an EGA or VGA adaptor (it also runs on a Toshiba 3100)
and a hard disk. Although it will run on an XT, you get much better
performance on an AT machine. There is support for a number of 9-pin
and 24-pin printers, as well as the HP Laserjet II.

Although I've only worked with the demo version, I think it is a very
good program, intuitive to use, and supports hiragana, katakana and both
JIS kanji sets. And you can switch easily to English as well. I believe
that it is based on the popular EW word processor that is in common use
in Japan, but retooled to support English as well. And, a big bonus! You
can draw box characters as well!
Sam Cioran
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
416/525-9140 (x7012)
CIORAN@SSCVAX.MCMASTER.CA