Chinese Character Fonts for Windows?

[Dieter Brand <dbcon -at- TELEPAC -dot- PT>]

Walt Brennan wrote:

     *IF* we could get a text file, could we print it?
     Are there Chinese character fonts available?  Can we get a Chinese
     language module for OmniPage or some other OCR program?

     Are there multiple character sets for different Chinese languages - my
     desk reference lists 8 (Mandarin, Yue, Wu, Fuzhou, Minan, Xiang, Gan,

Chinese script is the same for all dialects. There are different fonts:
mingli, cuhei, zong, yitai, zhongtai, etc., in the same way you have
different fonts for western languages.

     and Hakka) PLUS "local dialects"?  The newswire sends us two chinese
     versions - "Traditional" and "Simplified" - anyone know the

The PRC introduced a simplified set of characters in the early 50s.
I can't remember the exact figure, but I believe something like 6000
to 8000 characters have been simplified up to the present day. The
simplified set of characters is mainly used in the PRC, while ROC,
HK and Singapore continue to use traditional characters. Anyway,
there is a one-to-one relationship between the two, and most Chinese
systems give you the choice of viewing a document one way or the other.

What is more important is encoding! You have to find out the encoding
used by your Chinese contact. The predominant systems are: BIG5 and GB.
Both can be used on the Internet.

The easiest way to read Chinese in an English Windows is to download
Unionway (2.5MB) from the net (www.unionway.com??). If the URL is
wrong let me know. I will search my references. Unionway lets you
view Chinese in BIG5 and GB encoding. You can also read Korean and
Japanese in JIS, S-JIS and EUC. It is possible to view the text on
the screen and print what you see. However, the print quality is lousy,
to put it mildly.

I use a Chinese Windows 3.1 from Microsoft, which can be installed
on an English DOS. I'm not sure if MS will sell the product in the US.
I got mine in Hong Kong. I also bought almost 40 MB of true type
fonts there. The print quality is excellent.

There is also Chinawriter, which transforms my Japanese Windows
into a Chinese environment. I prefer it to the Chinese Windows
because it gives me better functionality and it allows me to
reduce the number of operating systems on my HD from 3 to 2.
The print quality is good. I never tried to install it on an
English Windows.

I think there are other systems that will allow you to use Chinese
in an English environment. I just can't think of them right now.
If you need more info let me know by private mail.

PS: This is my first posting on this list. I only subscribed yesterday,
and hope that I didn't violate any rules. I'm not a technical writer
either, as you can see from my signature line - I translate.

Cheers,

Dieter Brand______________________________________________________
dbcon -at- telepac -dot- pt                    Japanese English French German
Tel/Fax: (+351-1) 258-1366                  TECHNICAL TRANSLATIONS