From: "Ya-Gui Wei" Newsgroups: alt.chinese.text,news.answers,alt.answers Subject: [INFO] How to Read Chinese Text on Usenet: FAQ for alt.chinese.text Supersedes: Followup-To: alt.chinese.text Date: 19 Nov 1993 00:00:35 -0500 Organization: Indiana University Lines: 526 Sender: faqserv@security.ov.com Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Expires: 18 Dec 1993 05:00:12 GMT Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: pad-thai.aktis.com Keywords: faq, chinese text X-Last-Updated: 1993/11/10 Archive-name: chinese-text/faq Original-Author: Ya-Gui Wei ~{N:QG9p~} Last-modified: Nov 9 1993 Version: 15.2 CONTENTS (1) What are those ~{BRF_0KTc5D6+Nw~}'s posted to alt.chinese.text? (2) Where can I find the software to read Chinese articles? (3) Are these software packages pretty easy to use? (4) How do I post Chinese text articles to usenet? (5) What is 'HZ'? (6) What is FTP and how do I use it? (7) How do I convert HZ Chinese text to/from GB or Big5 systems? (8) What else do I need to know about alt.chinese.text? (9) Why isn't it a good idea to cross-post articles to alt.chinese.text? (10) How many people read alt.chinese.text? (11) What is alt.chinese.text.big5? (12) My site does not carry alt.chinese.text. What should I do? (13) How do I read alt.chinese.text through ftp, gopher, or e-mail? (14) How do I post a Chinese article via e-mail? (15) What other net resources broadcast HZ-coded Chinese text? (16) Where can I obtain the latest version of this FAQ? * * * * * (1) What are those ~{BRF_0KTc5D6+Nw~}'s posted to alt.chinese.text? Believe it or not, they are supposed to be Chinese characters. They are usually coded in the "HZ" protocol. You'd need the software that understands the protocol to read them. If you have the right software installed on your system, you may be able to read the Chinese text on this newsgroup directly just as you would with English newsgroups. (2) Where can I find the software to read Chinese articles? It depends on what kind of machine you are using. The following is probably an incomplete list of software which you can use to read this newsgroup: [If you have problems using the programs listed below, you could seek assistance from (1) local users; (2) fellow alt.chinese.text netters; (3) software authors. The FAQ maintainer most probably can't help you.] [FTP mirror sites: the software available on ifcss.org can also be obtained from the following mirror sites: nctuccca.edu.tw(140.111.3.31):Chinese/ifcss.org/software cnd.org:pub/ifcss.org/software. If ifcss.org is slow, you may want to try these sites.] a. If you are using a PC/Compatible running MS-DOS: (a) ZWDOS -- is a MS-DOS kernel extension that gives DOS text mode programs the ability to enter, display, manipulate and print 'zW' and HZ Chinese text. Small memory requirement. Supports EGA, VGA or Hercules Monographic displays. Available for anonymous ftp at: ifcss.org:software/dos/ZWDOS/*.* cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/zW-hz/zwdos*.zip [Author: Ya-Gui Wei ] (b) NJStar -- A Chinese word processing program supporting GB, HZ and zW codes. Requires Hercules, EGA, VGA or better video hardware. A trial version of the program can be ftp'ed from: ifcss.org:software/dos/editor/njs210-*.zip [Author: Hong-bo Ni.] (c) HZComm 1.0 -- communication program supporting HZ codes under Chinese Windows Systems. Requires MS Windows 3.1 and a Chinese System (GB internal code) for Windows. Location: ifcss.org:software/ms-win/hzcomm10.exe [Author: Nick Ke Ning ~{D~?I~} ] (d) KORE -- Fast Chinese/Japanese text viewing program for MS-DOS. Supports GB and HZ. Chinese fonts are now provided. Available at: mindseye.berkeley.edu:pub/kanji/kanji-viewer/*.* [Author: Frank Klemm ] b. If you are using an Apple Macintosh, try: (a) Subtitle -- a program which decodes zW and HZ texts as subtitles for some terminal emulators. Runs with or without Chinese OS. A trial version can be ftp'ed from: ftp.apple.com:pub/lai ifcss.org:software/mac/viewer/subtitle2.hqx [Author: Ed Lai ] (b) MacViewHZ -- A Chinese text viewer which doesn't require Chinese OS. Supports HZ, GB, Big5. Available for ftp at: ifcss.org:software/mac/viewer/macviewhz.hqx (c) NewsWatcher -- Macintosh users who have Chinese system software, MacTCP, and access to an NNTP news server can use a version of NewsWatcher specially designed to handle HZ encoding. Available at: ifcss.org:software/mac/viewer/NewsWatcher.new.hqx [Author: John H. Jenkins ] (d) HZTerm -- a simple terminal emulator that supports GB, HZ and zW codings. Requires Mac Chinese OS version 6.0 or later. Available at: ifcss.org:software/mac/viewer/hanziterm-0.5.hqx [Author: Ricky Yeung ] (e) If you have a Tektronix compatible terminal emulator (such as VersaTerm), you may be able to use Chirk. See c. (3). c. If you are using a Unix system/workstation: (a) CXTERM -- is an xterm with Chinese extension. It understands Chinese text coded with the Guo-Biao format. To read HZ and 'zW' codes, you also need 'HZTTY'. Requires X-Windows. Available: ifcss.org:software/x-win/cxterm*.Z ifcss.org:software/x-win/hztty*.Z cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/cxterm*.Z cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/zW-hz/hztty*.Z [Author: Zhang Yongguang ygz@cs.purdue.edu] (b) MULE -- Mule is a MULtilingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs which can handle Japanese, Chinese or Korean (16 bits) characters. For Chinese there is support for both GB and Big5. Subscribers of alt.chinese.text will find it useful to use GNUS with hz2gb.el, which does HZ/zW encode/decoding automatically. Runs as stand-alone X client or with CXTERM. Available at: sh.wide.ad.jp [133.4.11.11]:/JAPAN/mule/* [Author: Ken'ichi Handa handa@etl.go.jp] Alternative pinyin input methods (including phrase input) for MULE available at: linac.fnal.gov:pub/pig.tar.Z [Author: Ping Zhou, zhou@okra.fnal.gov] (c) Chirk -- A Unix program for viewing Chinese text on Tektronix compatible graphic terminals (Graphon 225, 230, 140; DEC VT240, VT330/340; etc.) and terminal emulators (XTerm on X-Windows, VersaTerm on Macintosh, etc.) C source code is provided and may be portable to other platforms. Supports Guo-Biao, Big5, zW and HZ. [To use Chirk with rn, try "s | chirk".] Available for ftp at: crl.nmsu.edu:pub/chinese/ChiRK*.tar.Z ifcss.org:software/unix/viewer/ChiRk*.Z [Author: Bo Yang eric@sdphu1.ucsd.edu] d. If you have access to a PostScript Printer: (a) CNPRINT. Prints HZ or GB text on Unix, VMS or MSDOS. Ftp site: ifcss.org:software/[unix][vms][msdos]/print/cnprint*.Z [Author: Cai Yidao ] (b) GB2PS. Converts GuoBiao or HZ Chinese text into hard copies by using PostScript printers. Runs on Unix. Ftp site: ifcss.org:software/unix/print/gb2ps*.Z bellatrix.anu.edu.au:pub/gb2ps/gb2ps.2.02.tar.Z. [Author: William Sun william@cs.anu.edu.au] e. If you only have access to a dumb terminal. Reading Chinese on a dumb terminal is not going to be comfortable, but it can be done. You may use 'hzview', but will need hz2gb from the HZ package described in question 5 (despite the name, hzview does not support HZ coding directly.) Ftp'able from: ifcss.org:software/unix/viewer/hzview.2-0.tar.Z [Author: Fung Fung Lee lee@rinconada.stanford.edu] Hzview is also useful for making large Chinese character banners. The above list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of Chinese software. It is intended to help the beginning netter getting started reading this newsgroup. Wherever possible, only software packages that directly support the 'HZ' protocol and are readily available through internet FTP as public domain, freeware, or shareware, are listed. Additional criteria of quality, user friendliness, and usefulness also may be considered. If you know of any software that I should have included, please drop me a note. For a more comprehensive listing of Chinese software, see ifcss.org:/software/catalogue [By Xiaofei Wang and Liedong Zheng ] (3) Are these software packages pretty easy to use? Supposedly. Some of the software packages listed above are either terminal emulators or can be run in conjunction with a terminal emulator. Once you've installed them, reading Chinese text on this newsgroup should be easy. For example, if you are using ZWDOS or cxterm with hztty, the Chinese texts posted on this newsgroup will show up on your screen as Chinese characters automatically without any efforts on your part. Other programs (text viewers) require that you run the program with the Chinese text file as input every time. Consult the documentation with the software for their exact specifications. If you have problem installing the software, you may post help requests to alt.chinese.text or contact the software authors. (4) How do I post Chinese text articles to usenet? If you are using a software package listed above which supports Chinese character input, (such as ZWDOS, cxterm, or Mule), you can already do this, and it is probably very similar to posting English articles. Consult the documentation for the software package for information about how to input Chinese characters with the package. If you do not have a software package into which you can directly type in Chinese characters, but you do have access to software that produce GB or Big5 coded Chinese text, you may use the conversion programs mentioned in question (7) to convert them to HZ and then post them to usenet. (5) What is 'HZ'? 'HZ', and the very similar 'zW', are Chinese coding protocols derived from Guo-Biao, the standard Character set for information interchange used in mainland China. Compared to Big-5 (character set used in Taiwan), Guo-Biao has the property that each character in the set can be easily represented by 2 printable (7-bit) ASCII characters. The 'zW' and HZ are protocols that allow mixing of these Chinese text and ASCII (English) text, which are the main reason they are being used in this newsgroup. A description of the HZ protocol is available for ftp at: ifcss.org:software/unix/convert/HZ-2.0.tar.Z [Author: Fung Fung Lee lee@rinconada.stanford.edu] (6) What is FTP and how do I use it? FTP stands for the internet File Transfer Protocol. There are many internet sites with FTP accounts where a remote user can connect to and download materials of various kind. It is beyond the scope of this document to provide a detailed tutorial about network file transfers. Yet I hope the following example will give you an idea. At your system prompt, type: ftp ifcss.org [connect to remote host] username: ftp [or "anonymous"] password: your_name [or anything else] binary [use binary transfer] cd software/unix/convert [change directory] get HZ-2.0.tar.Z [get file] bye After getting the files, you'd probably need to uncompressed/ unarchived the files in some system specific manner. Your local system admin or users of similar machines should be your best source of help for this. The following is only a brief summary: (A). Unix compressed files often have a .Z extension. To uncompress, use the Unix command "compress -d filename". After that you may get a file with a .tar extension. You can untar a file by "tar -xvf filename". (B). DOS (PC) compressed files often have a .zip extension. To uncompressed, use "pkunzip filename". (Get pkunzip.exe from ifcss.org:software/dos/utils.) (C). MacIntosh files often have the .hqx extension. To uncompress, you'd need "binhex" and "stuffit", both available from ifcss.org:software/mac/utils. The CND Chinese Magazine (Hua Xia Wen Zhai) has compiled a suite of help files some of which may be useful for you. To obtain an index, send a mail "get cmhelp index" to listserv@uga.bitnet. (7) How do I convert HZ Chinese text to/from GB or Big5 systems? If you are using a Guo-Biao based system, conversion programs can be found in the HZ-2.0.tar.Z package mentioned in question (5). Use hz2gb and gb2hz to convert between Guo-Biao and HZ text. If you are using a Big-5 based system, check out hc.tar.Z in ifcss.org:software/unix/convert, which lets you convert from Big5 to GB which can then be converted to HZ (and back). The DOS executables of the zW<->HZ<->GB converter are at ifcss.org:software/pc/convert. The Macintosh version of hc (Big5<->GB) is in ifcss.org:software/mac/convert. (8) What else do I need to know about alt.chinese.text? Alt.chinese.text is a free forum. It is not a topic oriented newsgroup, as long as your articles are in Chinese or is otherwise related to the subject "Chinese text." Nonetheless, after you get a hang of the software, you are strongly suggested to post in Chinese. Even for articles that best serve their purposes in English, a Chinese summary should still be provided. (9) Why isn't it a good idea to cross-post articles to alt.chinese.text? Some netter cross-post articles to both alt.chinese.text and alt.chinese.text.big5 [also see question (11)]. This is not a good idea because the character coding systems on the two groups are different. There is also a gateway which translates and reposts between the two groups. If you post the same article to both groups, each group will see TWO copies of your article. Cross-posting of articles to alt.chinese.text.* and English newsgroups is also undesirable. Such articles frequently generate tons of follow-ups in English from readers of the English groups. English- only articles are generally not appreciated on a.c.t. and are done only as a neccessary evil (such as this posting.) (10) How many people read alt.chinese.text? Ever since the newsgroup came into existance in June 28, 1992 (with the help of Mr. Stephan Mosier of Indiana Univ Computing Services. Thanks, Steve!), its readership has been increasing steadily. The latest figures, compiled by DEC's Network Systems Laboratory for Oct 1993, indicated that alt.chinese.text is read by 56000 users worldwide. alt.chinese.text alt.chinese.text.big5 Jul 1992 0 Nov 1992 11,000 Feb 1993 19,000 Mar 1993 28,000 May 1993 34,000 Jul 1993 41,000 15,000 Sep 1993 50,000 26,000 Oct 1993 56,000 32,000 [Data since Nov 1992 curtesy of Brian Reid of DEC Network Systems Laboratory.] (11) What is alt.chinese.text.big5? Alt.chinese.text.big5 is a mirror of alt.chinese.text in Big5 code, the industrial standard character set in Taiwan. Its contents are identical to alt.chinese.text, except that the Chinese texts are represented using the Big5 character set. The mirroring program is based at news.csie.nctu.edu.tw. To read alt.chinese.text.big5, you need a Chinese system that supports the Big5 character set. Some of the programs listed in this FAQ also supports Big5 (such as cxterm). PC users in Taiwan can read it by ftp'ing a free copy of the KC Chinese system from moers2.edu.tw:chinese-pub/chinese-sys/kc/kc.zip. Keep in mind that Big5 is an 8-bit coding standard. Therefore your terminal and its connections to all the hosts/gateways must be set up to accommodate 8-bit data. Consult your local system people for details about this. If it is too much trouble, you may want to just read alt.chinese.text. (12) My site does not carry alt.chinese.text. What can I do about that? The first thing to do is to tell your news administrator about alt.chinese.text and ask him/her to carry it. Some sites do selectively carry alt groups so it may be simply a matter of asking. If you can't read alt.chinese.text locally, you may try ftp, gopher, or e-mail. See the next question for detail. (13) How do I read alt.chinese.text through ftp, gopher, or e-mail? (a) FTP. Alt.chinese.text articles may be downloaded via ftp from the following anonymous ftp sites: ifcss.org:act/spool cnd.org:pub/ifcss.org/act/spool The articles in the above directories are updated once a day (very late at night at eastern USA time), so there will be a latency of one day for most articles accessed this way. In order to reduce unneccesary ftp traffic please use this service only if you can't access usenet locally. (b) E-MAIL. You may also receive alt.chinese.text articles via e-mail by sending an e-mail message to the following address: listserv@ccca.nctu.edu.tw with only the following line in the body of the message: sub alt-chinese-text "your name" Recent a.c.t. traffic has average about 80 - 100 messages, or about 2 megabytes, per day. Make sure that your e-mail box is large enough to handle the traffic. If you don't want to receive the traffic any more, send a message to the same address above, with only the following line in the message body: signoff alt-chinese-text Make sure that you sign off if your account is soon to expire or if you will be away for more than a couple of days. (c) GOPHER. Many gopher servers offer usenet access. If you have access to a gopher client on your system you may be able to read alt.chinese.text through it. First check your local gopher server, if not successful, check a server that is geographically close to your site. For most gopher servers, you first enter the "usenet" or "news" menu. From the usenet menu, select the "alt" hiarachy, then "chinese", then "text". From there you can select individual articles to read or download. Other services, such as WWW, may also offer usenet access. (14) How do I post a Chinese article via e-mail? You may post your articles to alt.chinese.text by sending them via e-mail to one of the following addresses: alt.chinese.text@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu alt-chinese-text@ccca.nctu.edu.tw Note that only HZ-coded Chinese text should be sent to the above addresses. Even though some gateways may provide mail-in addresses for alt.chinese.text.big5, mail-in posting of big5 articles is not recommended because many e-mail gateways do not guarantee safe passage of 8-bit text. Avoid repeated postings. If you don't receive an error message, wait a day for your article to propagate before reposting. For Unix mail users only: When passing an edited HZ article to Unix mail as redirected input, you may get a lot of "unknown tilde escape" error messages. Possible solutions to this are (1) don't use redirected input, instead use "~r filename" to read in the file when you are composing the message manually; or (2) convert each tilde character at the beginning of a line to double-tilde before passing them to mail, using "cat file | sed 's/^~/~~/' | mail address"; or (3) change mail's command escape character to something else by adding a line "set escape=#" to your .mailrc file, where # is your chosen new escape character. (15) What other net resources broadcast HZ-coded Chinese text? The following net-resources broadcast or store Chinese material coded in the HZ format which are directly readable with software described in this FAQ: a. The CND Chinese Magazine, Hua Xia Wen Zhai ~{;*ODNDU*~}, broadcasts an HZ edition through a list at CMUWA-L@UWAVM. To subscribe, send a message to LISTSERV@UWAVM.BITNET (Bitnet) or LISTSERV@UWAVM.U.WASHINGTON.EDU (Internet) With the body of the message containing only: SUB CMUWA-L Lastname Firstname The magazine will be delivered to your e-mail box every Friday. b. The Chinese Poem Discussion list broadcasts Chinese poems in HZ and other formats. To subscribe, send a message to LISTSERV@UBVM.BITNET (Bitnet) or LISTSERV@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU (Internet) With the body of the message containing only: SUB CHPOEM-L Lastname Firstname c. News about Taiwan available through gopher at the National Sun Yat-Sen University. To access, (1) enter HZ environment, (2) use "gopher gopher.csie.nctu.edu.tw 70", (3) choose ~{VPI=4sQ'~} ~{J11(PBNE!!D?B<#,~} (4) choose csie server, (5) choose "HZ info- times." The same gopher site above also lets you read all the Taiwan newsgroups, including local groups of several Taiwan universities, in HZ. Just follow the menu, choose "usenet" then "HZ access". d. Anonymous ftp site ifcss.org also contains numerous HZ-coded Chinese material. An archive of articles previously posted to alt.chinese.text may be found under subdirectory act/archive. Subdirectories in "china-studies" contain Chinese text coded in GB or Big-5. f. Lian Yi Tong Xun ~{A*RjM(Q6~} is a monthly Chinese electronic journal published by the Ottawa Chinese organizations. Feng Hua Yuan ~{7c;*T0~} is a bimonthly Chinese electronic journal published by the Federation of Chinese Students in Canada. To receive both journals via e-mail, you may subscribe to their HZ broadcast by sending "SUB CSSADS-L your name" to LISTSERV@UCALGARY.CA. HXWZ, LYTX, and FHY are all posted to alt.chinese.text upon publication. (16) Where may I obtain the latest version of this FAQ? This FAQ is posted monthly to alt.chinese.text and news.answers. The latest version of this FAQ is also available from the following anonymous FTP sites: ifcss.org:act/chinese-text-faq rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/chinese-text/faq ftp.uu.net:usenet/news.answers/chinese-text/faq.Z Compiled by Ya-Gui Wei ~{N:QG9p~}. Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to Dan Jacobson ~{;}5$Da~}, Fung Fung Lee ~{@n7c7e~}, and Ricky Yeung for valuable advice for the improvement of this document.