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%hInternationalization and NLS overview
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SvarDOS is a multi-language system, meaning that it can be set to operate in a
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variety of languages. This process comes in several distinct steps, all of
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which are preset inside AUTOEXEC.BAT by the SvarDOS installer during the
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installation of your system.
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This article aims at explaining the basics to provide the user with enough
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knowledge to configure his system in the most common situations. For detailed
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information about advanced settings please consult the documentation of each
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of the mentioned programs.
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%hOutputting message in your language
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The majority of CORE SvarDOS programs are able to output their messages in
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different languages. To know which language should be used, they look for two
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environment variables:
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LANG - the language to output messages in
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NLSPATH - provides the path where all language files are stored
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Example:
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SET LANG=FR
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SET NLSPATH=%DOSDIR%\NLS
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%hSetting up your video adapter to a suitable codepage
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Many languages come with glyphs specific to their alphabet. That is why
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codepages have been designed - a codepage is a set of glyphs that are adapted
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to display one or more languages. The default codepage hardcoded into most
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video adapters is the 437 codepage, known as "US ASCII". Using this codepage
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requires no configuration, but outputting messages in a non-English language
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might require using a different codepage. Loading a user codepage requires an
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EGA or VGA card. Older cards (MDA, CGA, Hercules...) had a single codepage
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hardwired in their memory.
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Setting up a custom (non-437) codepage on your system requires the DISPLAY
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driver to be loaded. This driver is a TSR that makes sure to refresh the
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custom codepage whenever the video adapter reverts to its default one
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(typically after every video mode change).
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To load the DISPLAY driver, use this command:
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DISPLAY CON=(EGA,,1)
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Once DISPLAY is loaded, you may configure your video adapter with the codepage
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of your choice using the two commands below:
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MODE CON CP PREP=((CODEPAGE) PATH-TO-THE-CPI-DEFINITION)
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MODE CON CP SEL=CODEPAGE
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...where "CODEPAGE" is the identifier of your codepage, like 850, 991, etc and
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"PATH-TO-CPI-DEFINITION" is the full path to the CPI or CPX file that contains
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the definition of glyphs for the given codepage.
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Working example for the Polish language:
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MODE CON CP PREP=((991) C:\SVARDOS\CPI\EGA10.CPX)
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MODE CON CP SEL=991
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You may see the full list of available CPX files and the exact codepages that
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each of them contain here: %lnls-cpx.ama:List of CPX files and their codepages%t.
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%hKeyboard layout
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Displaying country-specific glyphs is one thing, but typing them is another.
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To set up the keyboard layout suitable to your country, use the "KEYB" TSR.
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Example: KEYB PL
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%hNLS settings
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A language is not only different words and glyphs, it is also different
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conventions for things like paper sizes, currency, units of measurement,
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battery sizes, time format, and many other.
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DOS NLS support addresses a few of these variations through a standard,
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system-wide NLS API. In SvarDOS, this API can be configured through the
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LOCALCFG tool that generates a SYS file suitable for being loaded via a
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COUNTRY directive in CONFIG.SYS.
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