============================================================== How to use English Windows2000 or XP to run in asian locales and see multibyte and be able to input it. (This would apply to other non Asian localized windows OS) First of all, this will not make your windows into a localized windows, and you will not usually see menus or windows in other languages ! Secondly, it takes only 5 to 10 minutes to set up, and never has to be set up again; and I know various developers on different product teams have been using this setup more and more. This can be helpful for those dealing with i18n issues or development, since issues arise with use of multibyte that don't always show when using locales like european ones; thats why these instructions emphasize asian locales. Steps below refer to w2000; steps on xp same in general but some regional settings dialogs and items are slightly different than on 2000, but I think w2000 instructions do give the basic steps. For adding solaris or linux locales, please consult the documentation of those OS. 1. To install asian fonts and input tools on windows: aa. get your PC OS disk (we each should have a license for the windows we use, unless we use MSDN which has other licensing details, so being able to get the system disk as needed is ok, if you don't have it with you. a. go to some web page in IE browser that has Chinese fonts like cn.yahoo.com b. choose view->encoding->more->simplified chinese (make sure its simplified chinese, not traditional as we are choosing mainland China now. c. popup appears asking if you want to install language pack d. choose install and then when asked insert the windows OS disk e. windows should find the needed fonts and other files and install them. - you may need to explicitly point to directory where fonts are if can't be found automatically. f. repeat steps b-e for japanese go to yahoo.co.jp choose view->encodings->Japanese autoselect item (you might need to choose view->encoding->more to see this item) (if japanese(autolselect) does not cause popup to appear then choose japanese (euc) follow steps b-e. g. reboot machine just to be sure. ===================================================== 2. set regional settings for locale and keyboard lets use simplified chinese as example control panel->regional settings - has several tabs 1) general tab - your locale - choose Chinese PRC ** In any of these operations, do NOT choose Traditional Chinese, that is Taiwan and a different locale entirely; we don't localize our products for it yet. This will set your default locale to be simplified chinese but of course os messages and windows will still be in english since this is not a localized os, which is good as we still want to see os messages in english. 2) input locales tab - choose Add ... 3) in popup choose Chinese PRC as locale and Chinese (simplified - Zheng Ma as the Keyboard layout/IME ** make sure to choose Zheng Ma and not US keyboard here. 4) choose ok and ok to the whole regional settings popup 5) after you download fonts/tools for Japanese, you can repeat these steps using for general tab choose Japanese and in input locales tab choose Japanese Japanse input system (IME-2000) (not US keyboard) 6) whichever locale choice is made in general tab is the current locale as viewed by the OS. 7a) additional important step for w2000 on first tab, choose set default in lower left under language settings for the system in the popup "Select System Locale, choose the same locale as was chosen at the top of the first tab under your locale 7b) Additional important step for xp - choose the advanced tab of the regional settings and then Language for non-Unicode programs section popup - choose the very same locale/lang you chose in step 1) --> These steps are important to ensure that some other parts of windows OS view the assigned locale correctly - this does not happen with just basic locale setting. 8) reboot to make sure and in fact, after doing step 7, you will need to reboot for it all to take effect, and its probably a good idea to reboot in any case. ======================================== 3. I think setting whole OS to another locale can be more accurate than starting ide with lang/region/encoding args since product also deals with other servers and databases, and we want all of these to have sense of other locale, not just the ide. Also, this more clearly emulates what typical user of a language specific windows will have. (that is, don't start ide with the -J-D lang/locale/encoding related args) ========================================== 4. how to input multibyte aa. The simplest way for limited use is just to cut and paste. To cut and paste: aa1. start wordpad aa2. choose insert->date time aa3. choose some format in the popup that has multibyte as part of it aa4. now you can copy some of this text and paste into ide as needed. bb. Or, get some text from a browser on page of other language for example, using Chinese locale as example, browse to cn.yahoo.com and get some page that has text that can be copied and pasted. Make sure IE view->encoding says Simplified Chinese. Same approach for japanese, go to www.yahoo.com.jp Then just copy some text and paste it into ide where needed. cc. using windows input tools Heres just one way to do it using the windows chinese input tools (There are several input tools for some asian locales, and each input tool has many options and ways to input and compose characters; this below is just one simple way to do that. a. in right corner of windows is some icon like EN or a red dot or a red/white/blue circle, depending on which input tab item set to default. You may have to look for this. b. click left on it and you see choice of which input tools to use - EN, Japanese (red dot) or Chinese (red/white/blue circle) c. choose the red/white/blue circle - on left side bottom is a small toolbar appears (maybe on right side) d. open wordpad and leave cursor focus there e. You may need to rechoose on right side, the red/white/blue circle. f. in wordpad, type some letter like t g. you should see a popup with some multibyte and numbers - this helps you build a multibyte string h. choose 1 and you see the multibyte letter now in wordpad i. go to another line and type letter "tack" and you see an evolving string appear and then a final popup asking to choose 1 or 2 - choose 1 and another multibyte string appears. (dont type the quotes in "tack" ) j. what if I want to now type ascii characters ? go to the rectangular tool that has as its leftmost icon the red/white/blue circle and click on it - it changes to an A now you can type ascii. Its better to return to this ascii mode once you are done typing the chinese characters. k. for japanese, its a different tool with some different ways of invoking it; both these tools have many many options and styles of input, and really, cut and paste can suffice for what we need to do. Please consult windows documentation for more information on how to use the input tools.