Re: [tlug] Need purchasing advice for a linux compatible desktop

[Joseph Essertier <essertier@example.com>]

Lyle,
Hmm... I'm just about convinced.  After a little more thought, if I can't think of any good reasons to get a Japanese keyboard, I'll go with an English one. 

The digest messages did come in actually, but they went into my junk mail box.  The junk mail filter is in learning mode.
The individual messages, however, are not coming in.  Is the Digest Mode mutually exclusive to the individual messages mode, I'm wondering.

Thanks for this debate on the merits of English keyboards over J'ese ones.

And thanks for your thoughts on the merits of buying used hardware.  What I read--what you and others wrote--convinced me that for me, new hardware will be best this time.
Joe




Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon wrote:

Joseph Essertier wrote:

  

Lyle: Then you are using direct hiragana input? Otherwise, if you're
inputting Japanese text via romaji, the Japanese symbols on the keys are
of no use anyway!

Joe: No, I'm using romaji like everyone else, but for example, on my
English Mac keyboard at least, there is no single key to choose between
hiragana or katakana or romaji, at least that I am aware of. (Maybe I
was missing something this past 2 years!) With the input system I'm
using now on Ubuntu, I can use the shift key and the space bar (2 keys)
to switch between romaji on the one hand and kana on the other, but then
I use a mouse sometimes to choose between hiragana and katakana.
Although I discovered recently that you can just hit the F7 key in
Ubuntu to convert hiragana you just finished typing into katakana ....
    

That's pretty universal I think - it's worked on just about every
computer I've used, so that's not specific to Ubuntu, although it
doesn't work with all of the input systems I've tried on Linux. With the
Japanese keyboard I used before I would switch over to katakana before
typing, but now I just write things in hiragana and then hit F7 for
converstion to katakana (or F8 for half-width katakana).

  

Also the yen symbol? It and other keys like it are probably somewhere,
or can be assigned to some key, but do you just remember where they are,
or do you physically relabel the keys on the English keyboard? I'm used
to using the Japanese keyboard now, so it's easier to just switch
keyboards for a Japanese text document.
    

To tell you the truth, I have gotten used to using a capital Y for yen
instead of the correct mark, but you can either use the "／触蔵 諷ù 犛緕
籙攩鱚 蜴 梼芟蜩è 迴粤 ㊽² 闥 籙õ 竅î 摑鞳 蜴 えん and convert to ￥ in
Japanese mode. (With brand-W, the "／触蔵 諷ù 頏閼桲纉 á 篗î 轣鳬 蜴 繪抅纈
梼芟蜩è 迴粤 闥 蜴 捕鞜鈬黼 迴粤份

  鹿頏緇
  錫跫站髟阡å 摑鞳就竕扖⊂
    腫鱚 獼瘰就⊂É 跚諷 抅å 捕鞜鈬黼 洹鴦蜿î 閹 宸棱搐¬ 抅å 棱閹肅竕瘡 闔絳 矼竅椵å 抅å
諷ù 赱矼跂ä 半角／全角　漢字 works as it should on a Japanese keyboard.
(The one on the top left that Japanese Windows users use all the time).
I like that key and like where it is.
    

With an English keyboard when using brand-W, use <Alt>+<`/~> to toggle
between English (chokusetsu nyuryoku) and Japanese.

  

It seems like Anthy and the other open source input systems are
advancing so fast, that new, really convenient input systems are right
around the corner. Like the way that some of these systems, including
Atok, can remember what you have written before--what a lifesaver that
is. For ありがとうございます you only have to hit 2 or 3 keys.
    

Turbo Linux Fuji comes with ATOK by the way. I bought it and tested it,
but they've got it set up to register pretty much the way it is in the
brand-W world, so I'm sitting on it until I want to set up a machine for
someone else who wants it on a more permanent installation than my test
machine.

  

All the keyboards I've seen in the fairly large Laox down the street are
really low quality. The old IBM style keyboard that someone mentioned
sounds really appealing. Those fancy, big electric IBM typewriters had
great keyboards.
    

The Funai one I'm using I bought new from a store that was clearing out
old stock. I don't know if it's available any longer or not. I look at
keyboards when I see them, and I haven't seen anything that I like much
for a few years now. I'm hoping my Funai will hold out for a while.....

Lyle

PS - Sometimes the messages take a pretty long while to come back after
sending them to the list - like 20-60 minutes.....