On 10-Jul-01, Matt Sealey wrote:
>> I thought the discussion started well, but there didn't seem to be
>> any simple answer unless Olaf Barthel gets involved. AmigaOS itself
>> needs Unicode support and it is hard to add this without upsetting
>> existing programs.
>
> Don, I'm telling you I've been through this, I researched it, I did a
> lot of work looking at the AmigaOS and how it could possibly get
> support for odd codepages, Unicode and the like.
>
> You cannot (repeat CANNOT) do it using the existing API - since there
> is no way of telling any of it what codepage you're using, or to tell
> Text() which unicode format you're using: we could assume UTF8 but
> that would mean that only the first 127 characters would be usable for
> old programs, essentially breaking support for everything but English
> text: no umlauts, no accents, no nothing.
>
> Seriously, all you are going to get is a system whereby AmigaOS has
> the old API, and there is a new API to use: and programs will either
> be recompiled for the new, or continue using the old. After all, the
> chore of unicode conversion isn't for everyone.
That's what I said: there is no simple answer. It involves a major
rewrite of a large part of AmigaOS, which then becomes incompatible with
all current software. I'm not disagreeing with you.
I mention Olaf because he seems to be doing more OS development than
anyone.
>> It is something to think hard about for a few weeks.
>
> I did. We don't need Olaf Barthel to tell us that it cannot be done.
> What the OS needs is a unicode conversion library, and a library that
> can load, manipulate, report and draw, unicode fonts, texts, and
> metrics to supplement graphics.library and diskfont.library.
Yup.
The Mac, of course, has all this. Have you looked at the Text volume of
Inside Macintosh?
The Amiga is going to have to have it sooner rather than later. It would
have to be a completely new set of library calls which existing programs
would ignore.
Regards
--
Don Cox
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_____________________________________________________________________
Voyager Mailing List - http://v3.vapor.com/
Voyager FAQ....: http://faq.vapor.com/voyager/
Listserver Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=HELP
Unsubscribe....: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=UNSUBSCRIBE
