Re: Zaurus

[turnbull@example.com (Stephen J. Turnbull)]

>>>>> "leo" == glynn  <glynn@example.com> writes:

    leo> Hi All Zaurus sounds like a buy !! But .......  I`m reading
    leo> http://www.convict.com/pda/zaurus/

    leo> and I got this from it
    >> You'll have to be quite well versed in the Kana if you want to
    >> use this Zaurus (known as the MI-10DC here in Japan). It only
    >> operates in Hirigana, Katakana, and Kanji, the three written
    >> language systems used in Japan

    leo> Is there any support for romanji in later versions of Zaurus ?

I have no idea what this person is talking about.  The Zaurus has
never been labeled the MI-10DC as far as I know (and that goes back 2
years now).  Of course any Japanese system *must* support romaji; many
things are done in romaji, and---much more important ;-)---you can't
possibly be "fashionable" if you don't use them.  Not to mention the
fact that you probably can't get a license to sell the damn thing
without it since romaji is part of the JIS standard character set....

You do have to be able to *read Japanese* if you want to get the most
out of the Zaurus; the help system (at least as good as "man" to damn
it with faint praise) and manuals are not internationalized.  8-P

But even that isn't necessary; you can point and shoot at most buttons
and get the right response.  Icons are pretty well chosen.  You'll
have to learn about 2-3 dozen kanji (most of which are known to 3rd
grade children) and know how to read katakana to use the Zaurus
effectively.  That's all.  Basically, if you can find the right
bathroom by the kanji for "o-te-arai", "otoko", and "onna", you can
use the Zaurus.

But if you're in the market for the Zaurus, I assume you want the
Japanese dictionary capabilities, which are about 1/4 of the price
(you can get similarly capable dictionary machines for about 1/4 of
the cost of the Zaurus)---otherwise you'd go for a Psion or the USR
machine or something like that.  So you already satisfy that minimal
requirement.

-- 
                           Stephen John Turnbull
University of Tsukuba                                        Yaseppochi-Gumi
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences  http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, 305 JAPAN                 turnbull@example.com
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