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From: davew@shark.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Use of national characters in names
Message-ID: <772@shark.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-May-84 10:10:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: shark.772
Posted: Mon May 21 10:10:59 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 26-May-84 12:28:36 EDT
References: <408@erix.UUCP>
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 28


 Goran brings up a problem that really has not been addressed
yet by the Unix community. What do you do when you need to
design a keyboard for a language that uses a character set
greater than English. In many applications the ASCII codes
are stolen from symbols such as: #, $, @, [, ], {, },
\, |, and/or ~. All these symbols have important functions
in Unix, C or file editors such as ed, ex or vi. The user
who wishes to use his national language is faced with a
problem. If he/she uses a keyboard designed for his/her language
all the commands and code using the above symbols must be
transformed into the character that has replaced them.
 When using the net spelling must be transliterated so
that a name like Bj(../o)rn does not show up as Bj|rn.
One way around this is to have a keyboard that could be
shifted in and out of the extended character set so that
both extra characters and the standard symbols could be used.
The news network would have to detect if the keyboard were
shifted in or out of the extended mode. What seems to be
required is some sort of standard to accomplish this.
Without this ability I feel Unix will meet with a lot
of resistance to its usage in Europe, particularly
among the business and governmental communities.
Any other thoughts on the subject out there?
                             Dave Williams
                             Tektronix, Inc.
                             ECS

 (Unix is a trademark of Bell Laboratories.)