Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 22:24:27 +0100 From: "Serguei Belov"@FreeBSD.ORG, oznob@au.ru To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Console localization problem Message-ID: <5933.001001@au.ru>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Trying to switch from Linux to FreeBSD I've found out that the documented way of FreeBSD console localization for Russian does not cover some of the common needs. As you may know the majority of users here in Russia are being forced by Micro$oft to use the CP1251 encoding while the standard encoding for Russian in *nix world is KOI8-R. Let alone the question of which encoding is _right_, Russian *nix users still have to take one alternative or the other, and many of us consider using CP1251 more comfortable, since it really simplifies data exchange with Windows-based systems. Setting up X Window for CP1251 is not a problem at all. The same is true about, for example, using CP1251 in Linux console. But FreeBSD console setup for Russian turned out to be somewhat troublesome. There are three main problems: 1) I see no documented way to make FreeBSD console speak CP1251, even at the price of creating a new locale. 2) The documented method of setting up the console for KOI8-R includes defining two environment variables: LANG and MM_CHARSET. The first of them causes the whole lot of apps, including nvi, WindowMaker, KDE and so on to switch their interface to Russian. This is probably good for some purpose, but IMO there should be a way to make console handle Russian right without switching the interface! If you simply do not set the variables, the console refuses to take input in KOI8-R. 3) Is this a joke that the only method of switching the input language is CapsLock?! Don't Russians need CapsLock anymore? I wasn't able to find any reasons for it neither an explanation how one could change it. So, my questions are these: 1) Is there a how-to or the like of creating a new (Russian CP1251) locale? 2) Can someone explain how one can make FreeBSD console speak KOI8-R without switching the interface of most apps, i.e. without setting the LANG variable? 3) What exactly should be done to change the lang swithcing key for the FreeBSD console? Serguei Belov mailto:oznob@au.ru To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?5933.001001>