From: yawei@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (~{QG9p~})
Subject: How to Read Chinese Text on Usenet: FAQ for alt.chinese.text
Followup-To: alt.chinese.text
Keywords: faq, chinese text
Supersedes: <Bt0AGB.Kry@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 03:33:28 GMT
Expires: Mon, 26 Oct 1992 05:00:00 GMT


Archive-name: chinese-text-faq
Last-modified: Wed Aug 26 1992
Version: 0.3

 (1) What are those ~{BRF_0KTc5D6+Nw~}'s  posted to this newsgroup?

     Believe it or not, they are supposed to be Chinese characters. 
They are coded in one of two protocols: 'zW' and HZ. You'd need some
software that understands these protocols to read them.


 (2) Where can I get such software?

     It depends what kind of machine you are using. The following is
probably an incomplete list of software that you can use to read
this newsgroup:

  a. If you are using a PC running MS-DOS (with CGA, EGA, VGA or
     Hercules monochrome video systems):
     ZWDOS -- is a MS-DOS kernal extension that gives DOS text mode
     programs the ability to display and manipulate 'zW' and HZ 
     Chinese text. Available for anonymous ftp at:
               cs.purdue.edu: pub/ygz/zW-hz/zwdos*.zip
               ahkcus.org:src/zw/zwdos*.zip

  b. If you are using a Mac, try:
     (1) Subtitle -- a program which decodes zW and HZ texts as subtitles
     for some terminal emulators. A trial version can be ftp'ed from:
               ftp.apple.com:pub/lai

     (2) HZTerm -- a simple terminal emulator that supports the HZ coding.
     HZTerm seems to require the Chinese MacOs available from Apple.
     Available at:
               ahkcus.org:src/mac/HZterm.hqx

  c. If you are using a Unix system with X-windows:
     CXTERM -- is an xterm with Chinese extension. It understands
     Chinese text coded with the Guo-Biao format. To read HZ and 'zW'
     codes, you also need 'HZTTY'. You can get them at:
               ahkcus.org:src/unix/cxterm*.Z
	       cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/cxterm*.Z
	       cs.purdue.edu:pub/ygz/zW-hz/hztty*.Z

  d. Chirk -- A Unix program for displaying Chinese text on Tektronic
     compatible graphic terminals (Graphon 225, 230, 140; DEC VT240, 
     VT330/340; XTerm, etc.)  C source code is provided and may be
     portable to other platforms. Supports Guo-Biao, Big5, zW and HZ.
     Available for ftp at:
               ahkcus.org:src/unix/ChiRK*.tar.Z

     Note that chirk is not a terminal emulator, and it only accepts
     input from the command line or the standard input. You'd need
     to pipe the article through chirk to see the Chinese characters.
     If you are using unix "rn", the command is "s | chirk". 

  e. gb2ps -- converts Guobiao or HZ Chinese text into hard copies
     by using PostScript printers. Ftp site:
               bellatrix.anu.edu.au (150.203.23.14)
               in pub/gb2ps/gb2ps.2.02.tar.Z.

  f. hzview -- Converts 8-bit Guo-Biao text into huge Chinese characters
     composed with ASCII characters. It is possible to convert zW and
     HZ text into GB text (see question (6)) and then use hzview to
     read them even if your terminal is a dumb terminal without any 
     graphic capability. Beware: the characters are so huge that you
     can only see a few characters at a time. Ftp site:
               ahkcus.org:src/unix/hzview-2.0.tar.Z
    

 (3) Is the above software pretty easy to use?

     Supposedly. Some of the software listed above is either terminal 
     emulators or can be run in conjunction with a terminal
     emulator.  Once you install them, reading Chinese text on this 
     newsgroup should be care free. Typically, you just read the 
     news as you would with an English newsgroup, except that the 
     Chinese text is automatically displayed as Chinese characters. 
     Consult the documentation with the software for exact their 
     specifications.

     If you have problems installing the software, you may post
     help requests to alt.chinese.text or contact the software
     authors.


 (4) What exactly are 'zW' and 'HZ' anyway?

     They are Chinese coding protocols derived from Guo-Biao,
     the standard Character set used in mainland China. Compared
     to Big-5 (character set used in Taiwan), Guo-Biao has
     the property that each character in the set can be easily
     represented by 2 printable (7-bit) ASCII characters. The 'zW' 
     and HZ are protocols that allow mixing of these Chinese 
     text and and ASCII text, which are the main reason they
     are being used in this newsgroup.

     A description of the HZ protocol is available for ftp at:
               ahkcus.org:src/unix/HZ-2.0.tar.Z


 (5) What exactly is ftp and how do I use it?

     It is beyond the scope of this document to provide a detailed
     tutorial about network file transfers. Yet I hope the following
     example will give you an idea.

       ftp ahkcus.org
       username: anonymous           [or just "ftp"]
       password: your_name           [or anything else]
       binary                        [use binary transfer]
       cd src/unix                   [change directory]
       get HZ-2.0.tar.Z              [get file]
       bye

     After getting the files, you'd probably need to uncompressed/
     unarchived the files in some system specific manner. Your local
     system admin or users of similar machines should be your best
     source of help for this.

     The CND Chinese Magazine (Hua Xia Wen Zhai) has compiled a suite
     of help files some of which may be useful for you. To obtain
     an index, send a mail "get cmhelp index" to listserv@uga.bitnet.


 (6) Is it possible for me to convert the Chinese text
     on this newsgroup into these other Chinese systems that
     I've been using?

     Yes. If you are using a Guo-Biao based system, conversion
     programs can be found in the HZ-2.0 package mentioned above.
     Use hz2gb and gb2hz to convert between Guo-Biao and HZ text.
     If you are using a Big-5 based system, check out hc.tar.Z
     and b2g.tar.Z in ahkcus.org:src/unix. These utilities allow
     you to convert from Big5 to GB which can then be converted 
     to HZ (and back). 


 (7) What else do I need to know about alt.chinese.text?

     Alt.chinese.text is a free forum. It is not a topic oriented
     newsgroup, as long as your articles are in Chinese or is
     otherwise related to the subject "Chinese text." Nonetheless,
     after you get a hang of the software, you are strongly
     suggested to post in Chinese. Even for articles that best
     serve their purposes in English, a Chinese summary should
     still be provided.


 (8) Some sites do not carry alt-groups. What can we do about 
     that?

     One possible solution would be to upgrade our newsgroup into
     one of the "official" usenet hiararchies (rec, soc, comp, 
     etc -- I am not sure exactly which hiararchy our group belongs
     to), provided someone is willing to spending time leading us
     through the voting process. Until the day, your best bet will
     be to ask a site the carries alt.chinese.text to give you
     remote access.


 Last Revised August 26, 1992 by Ya-Gui Wei ~{N:QG9p~}.

 Acknowledgements:
     Thanks are due to Dan_Jacobson@ATT.COM ~{;}5$Da~} for valuable 
     advice for the improvement of this document.

Newsgroups: alt.chinese.text