About the author: Lee Wee Tiong is currently studying at Kyoto University, Japan. He started using Linux a year ago, and is now dual-booting Windows 98 with Redhat 5.1 because Linux still doesn't support his cheaply-bought parallel port scanner. He regretted the purchase very much.... Content: |
Abstract:
This article takes a brief overview at how to make your Linux system Japanese-capable.
There are basically two ways to get Japanese into your computer: the easy and the hard. The easy way is to install a Japanese Linux distribution on your computer. If you do that, the moment you finish installing Linux, you also finish installing the bundles of software needed for using Japanese. Alternatively, you can do it the hard way: hunting Japanese packages across the Web, downloading and if necessary, compiling, and finally installing them over your existing Linux system. Actually, this isn't as hard as it sounds, but it depends very much on your configuration. More on this later.
I will refer you to a lot of online Web resources, and some of them are, unfortunately, available only in Japanese. But even if you don't understand Japanese, I think you'll definitely prefer seeing Japanese characters displayed correctly on your browser rather than just pure gibberish. Therefore, I'll end this section with a quick no-brainer about how to make your browser, specifically Netscape Communicator 4.x, displays Japanese correctly.
For your information, I'm using Netscape Communicator 4.05 that comes with Redhat 5.1, and sure enough, it displays Japanese okay.
Name | Language | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Plamo Linux | Japanese | Based on Slackware. Includes Japanese installer, Mule, TeX and other Japanized applications. Latest version is 1.4. Download here. Has a support mailing list. |
Vine Linux | Japanese | Based on Redhat 5.x. Comes with Japanese installer, applications from PJE, and independently-developed Vine Tools. Latest version is 1.0 beta1. Download available here. User mailing list available too. |
TurboLinux (Japanese) | Japanese | Read about it in English at http://www.pht.com/products/index.html. |
Linux MLD III | Japanese | No need to create new Linux partitions. |
Power Linux | Japanese | Both Macintosh and Intel version are available. |
The language column refers to the language the homepage is in. Please don't get discouraged just because they are all in Japanese. Some of the distributions, namely Plamo Linux and Vine Linux, offer free downloads through anonymous FTP.
I've tried installing Plamo Linux 1.3 and TurboLinux 3.0-J beta5 and I'm happy to say that they met most of my needs.
Name | Language | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Project Japanese Extensions (PJE) | Japanese | Latest version is 0.1.5 and should run smoothly on Redhat 4.2 and Slackware 3.5. Redhat 5.x users can't use this version. You could use 0.3alpha instead, but it is, as its name suggests, alpha quality. Download here. And don't forget to read the PJE-HOWTO, which is available in both English and Japanese. My advice is: try reading the HOWTO before even attempting to download any of the stuff. |
Japanese RPM Project (JRPM) | Japanese | This volunteer group packages Japanese software using the RPM utility developed by Redhat. There are currently packages for both Redhat 4.2 and 5.x systems. You can download them from here. The i386 column is divided into two parts: the upper one is for Redhat 4.2 and the lower for Redhat 5.x. |
Debian JP Project | English/Japanese | If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, then you're in luck. It's easy to Japanize your system using packages provided by this volunteer group. |
As of the time of writing, Japanese packages for glibc-based systems are few. libc-based systems like Slackware 3.5, S.u.S.E. 5.3 and OpenLinux 1.3 should encounter no major problems installing and using Japanese. As PJE has provided a well-written PJE-HOWTO, I won't delve into its installation details. libc-based Linux users would do fine using PJE 0.1.5. As for glibc-based Linux users (e.g. Redhat 5.x), here are some tips:
This is the first installment of a series of articles on "Japanese on Linux" I'm writing. I haven't really given any thought on what should be written in Part II, perhaps a tutorial on installing onto glibc-based systems? Feedback on this and future articles is most welcome.
These are in addition to the various resources I've mentioned here and there in the article.
Webpages maintained by the LinuxFocus Editor team © Lee Wee Tiong LinuxFocus 1999 |