Arabic-L:GEN:problem with Arabic in XP

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 27 Jun 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:problem with Arabic in XP

-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------
1)
Date: 27 Jun 2007
From:Jan Hoogland <j.hoogland at let.ru.nl>
Subject:problem with Arabic in XP

Dear colleagues,

I’m having a problem with reusing an old database containing dictionary
data.

The database is in Borland Interbase format and was produced between  
1997 en
2003 with Arabic enabled Windows 98.

Since the dictionary now needs to be updated, I installed the old  
database
programme and opened the database.

To my disappointment the Arabic in the database is shown as garbage.

Then I installed Windows 98 under MS Virtual PC, but with the same  
problem:
the Arabic data in the database can not be recognized as Arabic.  
However,
this time it’s different garbage (but still garbage).

XP-garbage:

To give you just one example, the word kitâb (kaf-kasra-ta-alif-ba)  
is shown
as: #oECE

And it seems the number of Arabic characters is reduced to just a few:
#oECaoOuUIi (see example 1 below)

Win98/Virtual PC garbage:

Since I can’t transfer files easily from the Virtual PC environment  
it is a
bit more complicated to show an example.

The word kitâb (kaf-kasra-ta-alif-ba) is shown as: shin-?-zay-“-lam, or
maybe in reverse order it’s not clear if it’s RTL or LTR (so there are
Arabic characters but garbage shows up as well).

Does anyone have any suggestions how to solve this problem?

The ultimate solution would be a PC running with only Arabic enabled  
Win98
of course, but I hoped to avoid this solution since Win98 is no longer
supported by our technical people and it would be more difficult to use
remote desktop etc.

Thanks for your help.

Jan

===

Example 1 from the database in XP:

#oECE <aoOuEaU> boek [Ca#oECE Caao#oIooO] bijbel, het boek der boeken,
Schrift; [Ca#oECE CaaoEia] (=> aoEia); [Ca#oECE Ca#oNia] {het Heilige  
Boek,
de koran}; [ICAo Yi Ca#oECEo Caao#oIooOo] in de bijbel staan; [EoaC aoa
Ca#oECEo Caao#oIooOo] voorlezen uit de bijbel; [ao#uOoU aoa Ca#oECEo
Caao#oIooOo] bijbeltekst; [#oECE Ooioo# \ IoiooI] een boeiend/goed boek;
[#oECE Caaao] {Gods boek, de koran}; [#oECE OoEuIo] kookboek; [#oEoE  
NoIiOE
\ aCIoNE \ NCAoIE] goedkope/zeldzame/populaire titels; [


Jan (Abu Samir) Hoogland
Dept. of Arabic, University of Nijmegen
POB 9103, 6500 HD Nijmegen, the Netherlands
phone (0)24-3612641, residence: (0)24-3550199, mobile:(0)653652861
mobile in Morocco/GSM au Maroc: +-212-(0)79 146312
fax: (0)24-3500719
mail:  <mailto:j.hoogland at let.ru.nl> j.hoogland at let.ru.nl
personal website:  <http://www.janhoogland.com> www.janhoogland.com
Arabic dictionary project website:  <http://www.let.ru.nl/wba>
www.let.ru.nl/wba
website Nederlands Instituut in Marokko:  <http://www.ru.nl/NIMAR>
www.ru.nl/NIMAR

weblog: http://janhoogland.blogspot.com

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End of Arabic-L:  27 Jun 2007