Re: Support Multiple Languages to Emulator?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Immortal Nephi wrote:
> Apple II Family always uses ASCII.  It supports only one language.
> One language has its own character font like English.  If Spanish,
> German, or other languages are chosen, then character font must be
> changed like TEXT ROM is swaped.  Unfortunately, ASCII is limited to
> 256 characters.
>
> Apple IIgs has the option.  Let me ask your opinion.  I thought
> UNICODE would be nice.  It can be implemented in AppleWin and KEGS.
> Multiple languages will be shown in the window dialog or text dialog.
>
> All emulators always use ASCII.  ASCII will be replaced to UNICODE.
> What do you think?

I think it would then not be an emulation, but rather a new platform.

In a machine based on a processor with a 16-bit address space, I think
it is quite obvious why doubling or quadrupling the size of characters
would be a bad idea.

Having said that, there were, in fact, adaptations of the Apple II
that supported 16-bit Kanji, IIRC, but they enjoyed a relatively small
audience and an even smaller suite of applications.

-michael

NadaNet and AppleCrate II: parallel computing for Apple II computers!
Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."