[PLUG] Font issues

[Robert Kopp]

Recently I asked for advice about using Russian fonts
in X-Windows. I have solved this by editing the
XFree86 configuration file, although this solution
only works for Netscape. Netscape provides mail, news,
and Web services, so that's most of what I would need
to do using a non-Latin font. However, I considered it
desirable to have at least basic text-editing
capabilities, too.

I opened an xterm window with a font argument (-fn).
For some reason it's also necessary to use
$xmodmap yawerty.koi8.xmm

(I have only one regular user on my system, so quite a
few things are present in my home directory that on
many systems would be installed system-wide.) At any
rate, invoking Pico then brings up an editing window,
and Cyrillic text entered into it is displayed
properly and can be saved. I would be greatly
surprised if "lpr"  
would print such a file properly, but I think I know
where to go for help on this.

Having issued "xmodmap," if I go back to Netscape the
text doesn't look right. One can reset the X-server to
fix this, but it would be more convenient to issue a
command that simply undid the effect of xmodmap.

OpenOffice has localized versions for many languages.
The Linux version for Russian is not available for
download, so I have ordered it for $3.49. 

Vim and Emacs are supposed to be capable of
internationalization. I should know how to use these
clients better anyhow, so I'll look into this. At
present files containing non-Latin text look like a
bunch of garbage when displayed by these clients.

In a sense I have "solved" my problem, but the general
issue of installing and using fonts of various kinds
interests me.Some linguists have returned in despair
to M$ after their discouraging experiences with
non-Latin fonts in a UNIX environment.  

=====
Robert "Tim" Kopp
http://analytic.tripod.com/

"SAMBA--opening Windows to a wider world."