| 0,0 → 1,85 |
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| %hInternationalization and NLS overview |
| |
| SvarDOS is a multi-language system, meaning that it can be set to operate in a |
| variety of languages. This process comes in several distinct steps, all of |
| which are preset inside AUTOEXEC.BAT by the SvarDOS installer during the |
| installation of your system. |
| |
| This article aims at explaining the basics to provide the user with enough |
| knowledge to configure his system in the most common situations. For detailed |
| information about advanced settings please consult the documentation of each |
| of the mentioned programs. |
| |
| |
| %hOutputting message in your language |
| |
| The majority of CORE SvarDOS programs are able to output their messages in |
| different languages. To know which language should be used, they look for two |
| environment variables: |
| |
| LANG - the language to output messages in |
| NLSPATH - provides the path where all language files are stored |
| |
| Example: |
| |
| SET LANG=FR |
| SET NLSPATH=%DOSDIR%\NLS |
| |
| |
| %hSetting up your video adapter to a suitable codepage |
| |
| Many languages come with glyphs specific to their alphabet. That is why |
| codepages have been designed - a codepage is a set of glyphs that are adapted |
| to display one or more languages. The default codepage hardcoded into most |
| video adapters is the 437 codepage, known as "US ASCII". Using this codepage |
| requires no configuration, but outputting messages in a non-English language |
| might require using a different codepage. Loading a user codepage requires an |
| EGA or VGA card. Older cards (MDA, CGA, Hercules...) had a single codepage |
| hardwired in their memory. |
| |
| Setting up a custom (non-437) codepage on your system requires the DISPLAY |
| driver to be loaded. This driver is a TSR that makes sure to refresh the |
| custom codepage whenever the video adapter reverts to its default one |
| (typically after every video mode change). |
| |
| To load the DISPLAY driver, use this command: |
| |
| DISPLAY CON=(EGA,,1) |
| |
| Once DISPLAY is loaded, you may configure your video adapter with the codepage |
| of your choice using the two commands below: |
| |
| MODE CON CP PREP=((CODEPAGE) PATH-TO-THE-CPI-DEFINITION) |
| MODE CON CP SEL=CODEPAGE |
| |
| ...where "CODEPAGE" is the identifier of your codepage, like 850, 991, etc and |
| "PATH-TO-CPI-DEFINITION" is the full path to the CPI or CPX file that contains |
| the definition of glyphs for the given codepage. |
| |
| Working example for the Polish language: |
| |
| MODE CON CP PREP=((991) C:\SVARDOS\CPI\EGA10.CPX) |
| MODE CON CP SEL=991 |
| |
| You may see the full list of available CPX files and the exact codepages that |
| each of them contain here: %lnls-cpx.ama:List of CPX files and their codepages%t. |
| |
| |
| %hKeyboard layout |
| |
| Displaying country-specific glyphs is one thing, but typing them is another. |
| To set up the keyboard layout suitable to your country, use the "KEYB" TSR. |
| |
| Example: KEYB PL |
| |
| |
| %hNLS settings |
| |
| A language is not only different words and glyphs, it is also different |
| conventions for things like paper sizes, currency, units of measurement, |
| battery sizes, time format, and many other. |
| |
| DOS NLS support addresses a few of these variations through a standard, |
| system-wide NLS API. In SvarDOS, this API can be configured through the |
| LOCALCFG tool that generates a SYS file suitable for being loaded via a |
| COUNTRY directive in CONFIG.SYS. |