Re: IIGS question: language specific character support.

[Pim Blokland <nipp@plane.nl>]

Supertimer wrote:
> 
> >So if you were to connect a French keyboard to a GS, you would only
> >see a "|" when you type the � key. Unless you use a specialized
> >French font (that is, non standard ASCII).

> Interesting.  But what about non-ROM based fonts like Geneva
> or Helvetica?

No, those fonts are all the same across Western Europe; the character
set is called "Western" or "Latin" or some such.
And even in fonts using other character sets - like Turkish or
Central European - the main ASCII characters (32 to 126) are all
identical to what the rest of the world uses. The differences are in
the high ranges (code 128 and above).

> If I then plug a French keyboard and select the French keyboard
> using the control panel (the graphical one in System 6.0.1 for
> the keyboard), wouldn't it work?  I thought that was what the
> control panel was supposed to do.

No, the control panel only handles the *layout* of the keyboard; how
the keys are mapped.
The Apple IIgs Hardware Reference says on page 236:

: The keyboards on the localized versions of the Apple IIgs 
: are all mechanically the same; that is, the shapes and 
: arrangements of the keys are the same, only the legends are 
: different. The character encodings for the different 
: versions are all stored in the keyboard decoder ROM.

If the French keyboard would have the same layout as the US keyboard
(that is, if its "�" would be where the US keyboard has the "|",
etcetera), no keyboard mapping would be needed. However, it doesn't,
so it is.

> >Oh, by the way, you cannot type *all* foreign characters using the
> >normal option key combinations. Try option-` plus U for an uppercase
> >�; that won't work.

> That's true, but the characters are still available using the
> standard table and "non-standard" option key combinations.

Correct - for uppercase accented letters, that is. But you cannot
type all of the 256 characters: the last four are missing in the
"Standard" table. If you would want to type a � for instance, you'd
really need a new keyboard table. Video Keyboard wouold not help,
since it only displays those characters for which there are key combinations.

-- 
Groetjes, Pim

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