TwinBridges Software (23 Apr.-4 Nov.1995)
H-ASIA
TWINBRIDGES SOFTWARE
(23 Apr.- 4 Nov. 1995)
H-Asia
Item number 447
Sun, 23 Apr 1995 22:47:24 -0400
? on Twin Bridges Chinese Software
I am interested in hearing the evaluations of those who have tried Twin Bridges as a means of inputting Chinese characters in English software such as word processor and data base programs.
Mel Thatcher
mpt@hk.super.net
H-Asia
Item number 448
Mon, 24 Apr 1995 17:29:48 -0400
RE: TwinBridge inputting of Chinese
1)
Dear Mel Thatcher: According to a recent article (Yuwen Jianshe Tongxun-Chinese Language Review no.46, Dec.1994) by Lu Bingfu and Xie Tianwei, "the Twinbridge can only input the first syllable plus the first letter of the second syllable. Thus, for 'zhongguo' you can only input 'zhongg', and then choose according the listed numbers for zhongguo, zhonggong, zhonggu or zhonggao...". Their preference is for the NJ Star-NanJi Xing. I personally agree with their assessment.Why not add NJ Star to your Twinbridge, the print out is beautiful. Happy Imputing!
Beverly Hong-Fincher
Asian Studies Faculty, The Australian Nat'l University, Canberra
Beverly.Hong@anu.edu.AU
2)
RE: H-ASIA: Japanese Software FTP sites
Mon, 24 Apr 1995 09:44:07 +0100 (MET)
In answer to the request for Japanese language software under Windows from Prof. Thomas Selover, I should like to recommend Kanjiword for Windows. Next to my work as historian my wife (Japanese) and I operate a translating and counseling service in which we use this program. It is available in the USA, its maker is located in the State of Washington. An ad has been in a recent number of the Journal of Japanese Studies (Autumn or Winter 1994). (I have not the exact data here because I am answering this from my university desk).
Herman J. Moeshart
Leiden University
MOESHART@rullet.LeidenUniv.NL
3)
RE: ? on Twin Bridges Chinese Software
If you need to produce right-justified text including Chinese, using TwinBridge and WPW6, forget it. A bug makes random characters disintegrate during printing. No problem with ragged right.
Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-3325
nsivin@sas.upenn.EDU
4)
RE:? on Twin Bridges Chinese Software
In reply to Mel Thatcher's query about Twin Bridge:
I have been using TB for 2+ years; I currently use 3.2 (there is a later up-date that I have not purchased). 3.2 has 13,000+ characters in Ming font, smaller numbers available in a range of other fonts. It is also possible to build new characters either by drawing them yourself (not easy) or by matching components of characters already in the data set (very simple) -- I have "created" about 2 dozen characters via the latter method and they are indistinguishable in text from the program's own.
I most commonly use TB with Word 6.0. I have heard that others have had problems with this, but I _never_ have had. The characters embed in text easily and are very clear. I have also used TB/Word as a Chinese word processing system; not having any other system to compare it to, I can't really comment on its utility relative to dedicated Chinese word processing systems, but I find it a very satisfactory solution for my limited needs.
Hugh Clark
Ursinus College
hclark@acad.ursinus.EDU
H-Asia
Item number 486
Sat, 29 Apr 1995 00:33:25 -0400
Chinese Software
1)
I would like to thank all those who have responded to my question about the performance of TwinBridges. On balance, it seems to get the job done for those who use it to insert Chinese characters into English texts. The problem reported by Nathan Sivin would appear to be a conflict between TwinBridges and WP6W codes, a problem that can probably be solved without great difficulty by TB programmers.
Thanks again for your generous comments.
Mel Thatcher
mpt@hk.super.net
2)
TwinBridge Chinese input system for Windows
I've been using TB for nearly a year and a half, at first version 3.2, and lately 3.3. Version 3.3 is definitely worth upgrading to. It allows you to specify tones, which makes the search for homonyms and near homonyms much easier. You can easily specify two-character or three-character words as well as longer phrases. If these are not already in the dictionary you can easily add them. You can add up to three additional input methods, though programming the appropriate file may take a long time to do. (You have to list every character next to the input coding you have devised and save the list as a text file rather than as an ordinary file formatted for you word processing program.) Creating new characters is somewhat awkward and the process badly described in both the English and Chinese versions of the manual, but once you figure it out (or have a colleague solve the puzzle for you, as Paul Buell did for me), you should have no further problems. Sometimes the Chinese manual is clearer than the English one. Fonts are True-Type Windows fonts, look very good and can be printed in all sizes from very, very small to headline-size. Additional ones can be purchased in groups of three for under a hundred dollars. Final results are very handsome and (in Word for Windows 2 and 6, at least, hold up very nicely in justified text). I don't know if Nathan Sivin has tried changing the default to having a space between each character. That is supposed to avoid the problem he encountered with WordPerfect used in the right-justified mode. I've so far prepared camera ready text combining Word and TB for two fat volumes we put out in the Western Washington University Studies on East Asia and East Asian Research Aids and Translation series: These are OPUSCULA ALTAICA: ESSAYS PRESENTED IN HONOR OF HENRY SCHWARZ and Peng Xinwei's A MONETARY HISTORY OF CHINA (translated by me). You can check these out of your nearest major university library to see the quality of the characters' printing. Nanjixing's input method could conceivably be adopted to TB, but you would have to know how to modify the special file appropriately & that would take real programming expertise. The nice part about using a Windows program like TB is that it allows you to take advantage of all the features of the word processing program into which TB inserts characters. I understand that a 3.4 or 4.0 version of TB is due out some time soon, but don't know anything about the additional features it might contain.
Edward H. Kaplan
East Asian Studies/History
Western Washington University
KAPLAN@HENSON.CC.WWU.EDU
H-Asia
Item number 1582
Thu, 26 Oct 1995 20:54:02 -0400
TwinBridges & Win95K
I just installed Windows95, and suddenly my TB is disabled. Has anyone else had this problem? How did you solve it? HELP! I'm in the middle of a project, and this throws me for a loop. Hugh Clark
Ursinus College
hclark@acad.ursinus.edu
H-Asia
Item number 1588
Sat, 28 Oct 1995 22:46:12 -0400
RE: TwinBridges & Win95
October 2, 1995 1)
In response to Hugh Clark's post on Twinbridges/Windows95 problems. I'm not sure what the problem is but there is a Twinbridges for Windows 95. It costs $100.!! Pacific Rim probably sells it. I haven't had experience with it. Why not call Twin Bridges at 818-293-1661? I would be interested to hear what you learn about the problem and its solution.
Mary G. Mazur (mgmazur@midway.uchicago.edu)
2)
RE: TwinBridges & Win95
Yes, the Twinbridge folks agree that it won't work. They claim to be writing a new version that will work. They also claimed that five months ago (when I was foolish enough to try the Win95 beta). Call the company or send them email:
techsup@twinbridge.com
Christopher Gerteis
University of Iowa
Ph.D. Student, Modern Japanese History
Center for Asian and Pacific Studies
http://www.uiowa.edu/~caps/index.html
chris-gerteis@uiowa.edu
H-Asia
Item number 1640
Sat, 4 Nov 1995 13:20:13 -0500
TwinBridge 3.x and Windows 95
The other day I posted a plea for help concerning problems I encountered when I upgraded (?) to Win95 -- my TwinBridge 3.2 was suddenly disabled.
I want to thank those who responded. Ultimately I contacted tech support at PC Express. They advise that all versions prior to the newest 4.0 _will not_ work with Win95. Nathan Sivin has already posted several messages concerning the drawbacks of 4.0 so we ought to be advised.
Hugh Clark
IN%"hclark@acad.ursinus.edu