Arabic-L:GEN:More on Arabizing Windows 98

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 18 Dec 2002
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-------------------------Directory-------------------------------------

1) Subject:Arabizing Windows 98
2) Subject:Arabizing Windows 98 (AD)
3) Subject:Arabizing Windows 98--Diacritics query


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1)
Date:  18 Dec 2002
From: enm at umich.edu
Subject:Arabizing Windows 98

Paul Roochnik gave the following response to the problem of Arabizing  
Windows 98:

> Gaye Price asked about doing Arabic on a PC with Win98.  To the best of
> my knowledge, you must install the Arabic-enabled version of Windows   
> 98.
> After that, you should install the Arabic-enabled version of MS   
> Office.
> That is the platform on which I worked for 4 years and it  served my
> Arabic processing needs quite well.  Now I am using Win2k-Pro  which
> requires no Arabization.  Either way is fine.  Cheers from Abu  Sammy.

I had the same problem with Windows 98, and eventually decided on  
another solution: I bought Windows Office 2000; this alone can print  
out Arabic as well as English--and other language scripts.  To be fully  
truthful, I had to buy a new computer to be able to accommodate the  
larger software.  I later downloaded free from Microsoft the file Ariel  
Unicode MS which contains just about every language font you could want.

Good luck.
Ernest McCarus

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2)
Date:  18 Dec 2002
From: GnhBos at aol.com
Subject:Arabizing Windows 98 (AD)

I have few suggestions that are commercially
available at the AramediA Website www.aramedia.com

1- MS Windows 2000 is multilingual and available along with MS Arabic
Word 2000 or Office 2000. This is the Arabic version, meaning the
SpellChecker is included also. The above is also valid for XP too.

2- Get MS Arabic Windows 98 Upgrading the English version and
MS Arabic Word 2000 or 2002. All of MS Arabic software is bilingual
(English and Arabic):

http://www.aramedia.com/mshome.htm

3- Universal Word 2000 ML-1 Arabic Languages/English Word Processor.
You may cut and paste Arabic text into MS English Word, or compose
both texts (English and Arabic) on the same page with UW 2000, it is
also UNICODE compliant.

ML1, Arabic Languages: Arabic, Azeri-Arabic, English,
Farsi, Malay-Jawi, Pashto, Urdu, Transliteration, Int'l Phonetic.

UW 2000 will work with your English or any Windows, it does not
require an Arabic Operating System like MS Arabic Windows,
download a free Demo:

http://www.aramedia.com/uniword.htm
http://aramedia.com/uniform2000.htm

Arabic/English PS-2 Keyboard is available.
Arabic/English Keyboard Stickers for either Laptop
or Desktop are available also:

http://www.aramedia.com/keyboard-ar.htm
http://aramedia.com/stickers.htm

Please contact me, if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

George N. Hallak  
T 617 825-3044 F 617 265-9648
http://www.arbicsoftware.net
http://www.eislamicsoftware.com

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3)
Date:  18 Dec 2002
From: Aman Attieh <attieh at rice.edu>
Subject:Arabizing Windows 98--Diacritics query

Following  William Kopycki's suggestions, we successfully tested  
Windows XP and multilingual Office XP, with Arabic (Saudi Arabia) -  
Arabic 102 and we cleared all problems concerning direction of numbers,  
fraction of the numbers, and insertion of words. However we are still  
dissatisfied with the behavior of diacritics.

I am at a quandary that at this time and age the diacritics of Arabic  
fonts for Windows are substandard for instructional purposes if our  
target population are beginners

The Times Roman and Arabic Transparent:  These are the same font with  
two different designations.  Examples of confusion to the novice is  
that the sukuun, when displayed by a letter, is so close to the dots  
particularly the "nuun", while the "kasrah" joins the dot of the "baa".  
The  situation  worsens when using smaller size fonts especially in   
placing a " fatHah" or a "Dammah" on top of the "shaddah" where the two  
symbols become fused, and the resultant of this hybrid are unknown  
symbols in Arab grammar .

The Simplified Arabic is the other extreme where the diacritics are  
placed far away from the letters so much so that sometimes the "kasrah"  
in a given line looks like a "fatHah" on a letter in the subsequent  
line.

The Simplified Arabic does not have any diacritics, and the Andalus  
style is not suitable for beginners.

Does someone have a solution to this diacritics problem on Windows?

I am wondering if the MAC (OS X) fonts display such problems of lack of  
clarity as described above. Also can anyone address the differences in  
clarity between diacritics typed on Windows XP or MAC OS X?

I appreciate any help in this regard.
Aman Attieh, Ph.D.

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End of Arabic-L:  18 Dec 2002