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-- Original Message-----
From: "Guy" <guy -at- hiskeyboard -dot- com>
> Can anyone suggest how to use TELNET, or to
> find an equivalent, for Chinese?
To read Chinese Big 5 over telnet connections, you can use the
telnet from the TCP/IP suite that Microsoft provided with NT
4.0--it has a GUI interface and can use the fonts installed on
your system. Copy the file telnet.exe (and telnet.hlp if you
want it) from the NT 4.0 CD (it is already expanded), name it
whatever you want, put it wherever you want in the directory
tree, and run it. I renamed it to telnet32.exe and put it in
\Windows\system32.
I wasn't having any luck connecting the NT 4 telnet client (under
XP) to the various Chinese BBS/telnet sites I found (search
google for "Big 5" OR "Big5" and "cn"). The client kept
reporting "Connection Failed! "
I could connect to these same sites with the native XP client,
but only saw garbage on screen. It has two font options in my
setup: TrueType Lucida, and raster 8514 oem. It doesn't seem to
have any other user-configurable language/font support at all.
Registry hackers may have other options available.
For the NT 4 client, I think I may have been having a DNS
decoding issue--I finally got connections and Chinese text by
using the IP address of the BBS/telnet server instead of friendly
domain hierarchic names. It isn't cut and dried--I can reach a
mix of sites with a mix of IP and friendly addresses.
Something I read somewhere suggested that there is a Big 5
terminal type. Maybe you could install a Chinese version of
Windows, or purchase a commercial telnet package or terminal
emulators to get it.
It isn't clear to me how you'll be able to type Chinese in
telnet, as this requires the Chinese IME (input method editor).
I wrote a MS white paper on it when it was new, a lifetime ago in
dog years, and it was then simply a matter of each Chinese
character having a bound key combinations--type into the IME to
compose the Chinese text, then copy/paste it into the
DBCS-enabled application window. I expect this has changed, and
that your guests will know how to work it.
In XP, there's a great raft of Language support (including IMEs)
in the Control Panel > Regional and Language Options. You'll
need the installation media. If your guests have experience with
Windows IMEs, you ought to just let them set this stuff up--it is
all but bewildering to me (and I wrote a MS white paper on it
when it was new, a lifetime ago in dog years). I recognize what
it is for, but the options and key bindings will make more sense
to someone who has set it up or used it extensively.
I suggest you ask further questions in appropriate newsgroup in
the microsoft.public.cn (Chinese) hierarchy. I imagine that the
Far East MS offices monitor those groups and can provide specific
info about downloads and components from Chinese Windows to give
the full range of Big 5 functionality in an English language
edition of Windows.
Good luck, and feel free to contact me with any questions about
getting the NT4 telnet client installed and working. It should
be OK under W2K or XP.
Ned Bedinger
Ed Wordsmith Technical Communications Co.
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com http://www.edwordsmith.com
tel: 360-434-7197
fax: 360-769-7059
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