============================
CHINESE OS for PalmPilot 1.2
============================

1. Introduction
2. Files in the archive
3. Installation
4. Ordering
5. Known Bugs
6. Future Plan
6. History
7. FAQ
8. Contact



1. Introduction
---------------

Welcome to Chinese OS for PalmPilot.  Now you can read/write chinese in
PalmPilot.

The program supports changjei, easy cantonese and pinyin input method.
For GB version, it only support pinyin input method.  The font size
is 12x12 only in order to fit the field height of PalmPilot and it
should be readable.

I have tested the OS while using Datebook, address book, todo, memopad
and Doc.  Now you can make some chinese DOC!!!

Someone has requested for larger font size, but it will reduce the
compatibility with english applications.  If you found the current font
size unreadable, please let me know.  Notice that the database size will
be increased by about 60% for larger font.


2. Files in the archive
-----------------------

Before you install Chinese OS, you should decide which version you
should use, there are three different version of Chinese OS:

1. GB(simplified) light version (about 3700 fonts, ~120k)
2. GB(simplified) full version (about 6700 fonts, ~180k)
3. BIG5(traditional) light version (about 5000 fonts, ~140k)
4. BIG5(traditional) full version (about 13000 fonts, ~300k)

GB and BIG5 are different encoding methods used to represent chinese
character.  GB is used mostly in PRC and BIG5 are used in Hongkong
and Taiwan.  You should choose the program with the same encoding method
as your desktop computer.  You can also choose larger BIG-5 font set
if you have enough memory.


Depends on the version of Chinese OS you downloaded, you will get the
following files where '?' is:

'h' for GB(simplified) light version
'g' for GB(simplified) full version
's' for BIG5(traditional) light version
'l' for BIG5(traditional) full version


chos1?.prc      main program (including chinese input method) for OS 1.0
chos2?.prc      main program (including chinese input method) for OS 2.0
cfont?.pdb      12x12 Chinese Fonts
cjtable?.pdb    Changjei input table (no need to install if you don't want
                changjei or easy input chinese)
pytable?.pdb    Pinyin input table (no need to install if you don't want
                pinyin input method)
cttable?.pdb    Cantonese input table (no need to install if you don't want
                cantonese input method)
readme.txt      this file


3. Installation
---------------

HotSync chos??.prc and cfont?.pdb to you PalmPilot.  If you want to have
changjei or easy input method, also install cjtable?.pdb.  If you want
to have pinyin input method, install pytable?.pdb.  If you already
have an older version of Chinese OS for PalmPilot on your pilot, you
can skip the installation of *.pdb since the databases are seldom
changed.

Once you have installed the programs, click the 'Chinese OS' icon.
Check 'Enable Chinese OS' to enable the OS.  Check 'Enable Chinese
Keyboard' if you want to have chinese input.

Click 'Appl' icon to get back to Launcher, now you can view chinese in
any application.  I have tested it in Address Book, Memo and Doc.  If you
want to enter chinese, invoke the Chinese Keyboard Dialog in the same way
you invoke the original Keyboard Dialog, that is, Command-K, clicking the
lower corner of Graffiti area or using menu.  The interface is trivial
and you should know how to use if you have used old Keyboard Dialog and
changjei input method.  You can also invoke the keyboard once more to
get back to the original english keyboard.

Please disable all functions of Chinese OS (uncheck it) before you
uninstall or reinstall Chinese OS.

IMPORTANT -- From version 0.92, the font database will be locked forever
in order to improve speed.  If you want to uninstall or reinstall the
cfont.pdb database, you must SOFT RESET the pilot to unlock the database.
You don't need to reset the pilot if you only want to reinstall chos?.prc
or the input method databases though.


4. Ordering
-----------

The price of the program is US$20 or HK$150.  A registration code will
be given to you after registration.  This code can also be used in the
future versions of Chinese OS.  i.e., users can get the free upgrade
as long as I develop this software. :>

For asian users, especially Hongkonger, you can register the program
by mailing HK$150 cheque to

        LOU Chi Wai
        416, Han Ching House, Yee Ching Court
        Shamshuipo, HONG KONG

with your email address and the username of your palmpilot.
I will send the registration code to the email address.  If you do not
have email account, you can mail me with your snail mail address with
postage.  I will mail you the code by snail then.

You can find the username of your palmpilot by looking at the HotSync.
The message "Welcome, XXXXX" will be shown on screen where XXXXX is
the username that I want.

You can also register online through Kagi.  Please refer to my
homepage http://www.hk.super.net/~cwlou for detail.  Remember to
send me the username at the "comment to author" field.


5. Known Bugs
-------------

a. Word wrapping not work very well on OS1.0 (I have no solution to fix it :)
(I don't have old pilot 1000 or 5000, so if you find bug in this machine
 please let me know, but I don't think I can fix it very quickly)


6. Future Plan
--------------

a. Add custom input method so that user can generate its own english->chinese
   database for input.  Useful for users who input chinese names only.

Note: I have no plan to add handwriting input due to the speed of
 the CPU and ... most importance, I don't know how to do it :)


7. History
----------
12/1/97   Chinese OS 1.2
     Great Speed improvment, I don't think I can speed it up anymore :>.
     Some minor bug fix.
     Will prompt for re-enable Chinese OS after reset.
     Add 'Auto Insert Space', which will insert space after the inputed
     chinese character.
     Will show the key of the input method after you select the characters,
     it will let user the learn the input method easily.
     Better support for using with pilokey.
     User Fonts supported, you can get Hong Kong common fonts at my site.
     Revise cantonese input method.
     TOO MANY CHANGES IN THIS VERSION, PLEASE DELETE THE WHOLE PACKAGE OF
     CHINESE OS BEFORE INSTALL.

10/15/97  Chinese OS 1.12
     Add GB light version.
     Font database structure is changed a little bit, please install it again.
     Fix some major bug which will hang the system.
     When tapping the numeric corner, numeric keyboard is invoked instead
     of Chinese Keyboard now.

10/6/97   Chinese OS 1.11
     Add Cantonese input method for BIG5 version, To enable it, install
     cttable?.pdb and select 'User' in Chinese Keyboard.
     All input methods can use graffiti to input chinese.
     User can hide the virtual keyboard to save space to view text.

9/21/97   Chinese OS 1.1
     Release GB version and full BIG5 version.
     Fix a bug that deleting a chinese character didn't work on
     single line field.

9/10/97   Chinese OS 1.03
     Fix a bug that the field height don't change automatically after
     invoking chinese keyboard (e.g., in address book, choose a field,
     invoking the keyboard, type some return and quit.  In english keyboard,
     the height of the field should be changed.

     The tapping bug is fixed.

     The backspace, forward (>) and backword(<) strokes will now detect if
     the character is chinese character, so that the backspace will not
     delete only half chinese character...

     After the tapping action, the OS will now detect if the insertion point
     of selection positions are at the middle of chinese character.  If yes,
     the position will be reset to a proper position, so user should not
     mistakenly set the insertion point at the middle of chinese character.

     Add a time delay at the registration dialog ;P, user must wait for ten
     seconds to enter Chinese OS if he is not registrated

     Fix the bug that mess the screen after popping up Chinese Keyboard in
     'Owner' with password set.
     
8/26/97   Chinese OS 1.02
     Great speed improvment, now drawing chinese is as fast as english!

8/13/97   Chinese OS 1.01
     Fix some cosmetic bugs
     Forgot the add the virtual button ':' for pinyin so that some
     character cannot be entered.
     Add one more input method PY-G which allow you to input pinyin by
     Graffiti rather than virtual keyboard.

8/9/97   Chinese OS 1.0 (Release)
     Add Easy input method (just type the begin and end code of changjei).
     Add Pinyin input method.
     Activate keyboard once more for english keyboard.
     Keyboard is now bitmap, so it is now more flexible and the invoking
     speed is much faster.
     Marginally speed improvement.
     Compiled with new gcc 0.5.0, thanks to all the people who develop
     this useful tools!

7/30/97   Chinese OS 0.92
     Fix bug introduced in 0.91a which makes Chinese OS not work in address
     book.
     Speed improvement, the drawing speed is much faster now.  The font
     database is open forever to prevent the open/close database overhead.
     But now you must reset the pilot before uninstall/reinstall the font
     database.

7/29/97   Chinese OS 0.91a beta
     Link a wrong resource in last version, which will make a fatal exception.

7/29/97   Chinese OS 0.91 beta
     No need to tap the field in keyboard dialog to enable graffiti.
     Now will have auto height change when height is changed after chinese
     keyboard input.
  
7/28/97   Chinese OS 0.9 beta


8. FAQ
------

1. Your Chinese OS didn't work!

Make sure you have installed all needed files, especially cfont.prc.  Pilot
will not load the database when the memory is full.  You should check the
memory used by Chinese OS using 'Memory'.  It should be about 150K when
the font database and one input method are loaded.

2. Why I can't invoke the Chinese Keyboard?

Like the english keyboard, the chinese keyboard can be invoked only when
a field is in focus.  Try to open a memo in memopad and invoking chinese
keyboard again.

3. My system seems slower than before.

Yes, I overload several system traps which are frequently used by the system.
Because I need to check if you words are chinese or english.  It must have
some time penalty.  Anyway, I have tuned the program as fast as possible :>

4. Many symbols, like pound, didn't show correctly anymore.

It is because chinese character set are overlapped with those characters,
I cannot know whether it is symbol or chinese, and I cannot fix it.



9. Contact
----------
  Any comment, please e-mail to cwlou@hk.super.net.
