Using Japanese text on my PC

[Mahoujin Tsukai]

My computer:
Windows 98 Second Edition (English version)
MS Office 97

I want to be able to type/view & save Japanese text (kana & kanji) in MS-Word 97 , Notepad, etc. What do I have to do? Currently, any Japanese *.txt file I open appears as illegible jargon.

If displaying Japanese text is impossible with MS-Word 97, what program can be downloaded? I know that I may have to buy a Japanese keyboard.

Thank you.

 

[pipokun]

I almost forgot what I should do in win98, but you can write Japanese using at least OE when you install the global IME.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/recommended/ime/install.mspx

I don't know how often you need to write Japanese.
When you often need Japanese, you should install winXP or 2k.
If you're just a tentative user, how about KNOPPIX? I don't know if knoppix does work in your computer, but I suppose it would be worthwhile.

No need to buy a J keyboard.

 

[Mahoujin Tsukai]

Thank you for the info.

At the moment, I also have a old Pentium Fujitsu laptop with a Japanese keyboard. It runs an english version of Windows.

How can I make full use of the keyboard (for eg. when I press the 'あ' key, 'あ' appears immediately on screen rather than having to type romaji first )?

Which program allows this sort of input?

Thanks.

 

[Tim33]

JWPce also is a good Japanese word processor.

Microsoft seem to make it as difficult as possible in allowing you to type in Japanese. Ive tried to download that GlobalIME but none seem to be compatible with my OS ???

Someone said cos i got XP i dont need it and just change it in Keyboard, Language options. That works about as well as a wet tampon.

Still can type it myself so i downloaded that Word processor. You can type Japanese fine in that and then if you need to just paste it into Word or OpenOffice.

I found other Japanese word processor have problems with coding and so copying it to word with them is a problem.

JWPce | License | Source Code

 

[pipokun]

Concerning Japanese mapping of your keyboard, take the following way. it might help you, though it is for win2k or xp.

Control Panel->
Keyboard->
Hardware->Property->
Driver->
Update Driver Alt+P->
Alt+N->
Select a known driver from the list Alt+D->
Alt+N->
Display all hardware Alt+A, and choose Japanese keyboard->
Alt+N
For your Hiragana input, refer to the following post:
Typing japanese into MS Word :: This is wierd! | Japan Forum


tim, you don't need to install the global IME when you have win xp installed.

start-control panel-date, time, language and regional options-regional options-languages tab-install files for east asian languages
--restart--
When you want to write Japanese text, you should do a bit more:
regional and language options-advanced tab-language for non-unicode programs-change English (US) into Japanese
option===>personal option===>language===>choose Japanese

Notepad will do for your daily Japanese, but when you need more, openoffice or other software would be better, I suppose.

 

[pipokun]

postscript for mahoujin:
after my quick check, i am not 100% sure, but it seems you need a J keyboard driver from J win98 and then you should edit the registry of your computer if you use full J keyboard function in Eng win98.

 

[Mahoujin Tsukai]

Thank you for the info.

At the moment, I also have a old Pentium Fujitsu laptop with a Japanese keyboard. It runs an english version of Windows.

How can I make full use of the keyboard (for eg. when I press the 'あ' key, 'あ' appears immediately on screen rather than having to type romanji first )?

Which program allows this sort of input?

Thanks.

Err, I forgot to mention that my Fujitsu laptop runs only Windows 95 :sorry: . It might not be able to cope with Windows 98, let alone XP.

 

[Tim33]

Concerning Japanese mapping of your keyboard, take the following way. it might help you, though it is for win2k or xp.

Thanks i will give it a try, though i will probally just remain with the WProcessor i have on here now, it seems to do the job perfectly and with no need for me to go changing language options.

 

[pipokun]

Oh it was win95... (´･ω･｀)
The easiest way would be to buy more memory, 128MB is better, and find win2k somewhere then install it.
Or try knoppix, but I'm afraid that few can help you much about Linux here, neither do I. I just keep it for the rainy day.

tim, you're right. no need for changing your keyboard mapping unless you use J keyboard.

 

[syntax]

I use Ubuntu Linux, it is free of charge, about 500 - 600 mb large
And it works fast, easy and looks great too.
Offcourse if you don't want to install it you can also download the live-cd

Why I post this here? Because Japanese fonts work great on it, they also look
more realistic than on my WinXP machine (better anti-aliasing)
And Win98 is a bit outdated and insecure for this time...
But hey, that is just my word ;-)

 

[syntax]

Ok, I just made a screenshot of how the japanese fonts look like on my system, just in case you might be wondering

greetings

 

[pipokun]

To mahoujin
I still recommend you should use linux or win2k, not win95.
I don't know if following software works in your computer, but when you still use win95, just try.
BeatWord
BeatWord Version 3.0 β7 with Simple Kanji Input Method