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From: izumi@violet.berkeley.edu (Izumi Ohzawa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Foriegn Markets And Languages
Message-ID: <25726@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 24 Jun 89 00:48:30 GMT
References: <254.24A2330E@bmug.FIDONET.ORG>
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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In article <254.24A2330E@bmug.FIDONET.ORG> Sheldon.Greaves@f444.n161.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Sheldon Greaves) writes:
>......  I would love to know if there is any
>intention to introduce not only foreign character sets, but right-to-
>left or up-to-down capability, etc. as well.

Some PostScript printers sold in Japan have Kanji/Kana character
sets in addition to regular fonts found in the US models.
On these printers, texts can be printed left-to-right, or up-to-down
directions very easily.  I have read in an article about Japanese
PostScript printers that it is also easy to do right-to-left text
printing.

For printers, and Display PostScript to do this, "composite
font extensions" to PostScript must be present in the PS or DPS
interpreter.  Although the current NeXT DPS doesn't have that
extension, I am sure it will soon, considering the recent
announcement of Canon buying into NeXT for rights to sell the cubes
in Asia(?).

Given this, I think NeXT is by far the easiest machine for making
it do true foreign languages, and in nice outline-fonts, because
the support of foreign character set and printing directions will
be taken care of by the underlying Display PostScript.  I can't
wait to see this happen :-).  Then, the cube will be the only
computer I need, and I can throw away my NEC PC9801.
 
Izumi Ohzawa.
izumi@violet.berkeley.edu