by Joseph
Chen
Last Updated: Feb 10, 1998
The author want to thank Mark Wong and Chih-hung Chen (Klaus) for their generous support. The free software here are dedicated to those ordinary people who are yearning for a better multi-lingual computing envrionment on a better platform (I'm one of them).
The author of the softwares on this page, Joseph Chen, holds the copyright of these. All rights reserved.
Individual user and non-profit organization may install and use these programs
onto her/his/its computer free of charge provided the computer on which the programs
is installed is exclusively used for non-profit purpose. For other purposes, please
contact the author.
These programs' archives may be distributed freely by non-profit organizations as
long as they are unchanged. Commercial organizations who want to distribute the archives
must first obtain a written permission from Joseph Chen. AOL and CompuServe are excluded
from this commercial limitation and may distribute these archives freely on line.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE SOFTWARES ARE STILL IN TESTING
PHASE, USE THEM AT YOU OWN RISK.
USE OF THESE PRODUCTS, IMPLIES THAT YOU WILL HOLD JOSEPH CHEN HARMLESS TO ANY DAMAGES
CAUSED BY THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE PRODUCTS. YOU ALSO AGREE THAT JOSEPH CHEN CANNOT
BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY OTHER DAMAGES YOU MAY INCUR BY THE USE OF THESE PRODUCTS.
JOSEPH CHEN PROVIDES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, OF THESE PRODUCTS, INCLUDING
ITS MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON INFRINGEMENT.
This is a modular design. You can choose your own input method module(s) and install it (them) separately as she would. A generic input method is automatically installed, which is nothing but a writing panel for Roman script input. At the time of this writing, the available modules are,
If the English-Chinese Dictionary is installed, the use can fill in the English word and choose among the Chinese definitions thereof.The Chinese Input Method main window looks like the following,
If the PinYin/Phrase Input Module is installed,
the 'Toggle Phrase Mode' and the 'Toggle Compact Phrase' buttons are enabled. Otherwise,
click on them has no effect. If the corresponding Chinese characters of a input key
(for example, 'an4' shown above) are more than one line (this is almost always the
case by a phrase input method), you can click on the 'Previous Row' and the 'Next
Row' button to scroll up and down. Click on the individual character in the 'Char
Choice' window will post the character to the front-most application which receives
key input (make sure that you can see the caret before you try to use the input method
here ;-) ). If the input module chosen happens to be a phrase-mode input method,
click on any of the characters in the phrase will post the phrase as a whole. After
that all the windows will be cleared. Click on the 'Clear the Input Windows' button
will clear up all input windows and on the 'Punctuation' button will show the Chinese
punctuation. (you guess it right!). The 'Get Info', the 'Style Palette' and the 'Close'
buttons are self-explanatory, I hope.
There is something to say about the keyboard. The 'Show Keyboard' button will open
the alphanumeric keyboard (can be Graffiti) for all Roman-letter based input methods
and a handy CangJie keyboard for the CangJie input method. Note that the built-in
alphanumeric keyboard posts its key string directly to the front-most application.
This is the bad news, indeed! That means you can only 'type' Roman letters using
the 'TypeWriter'. But, don't be disappointed so quickly, here is the good news, you
can use either Graffiti or Newton Connection Utilities as the keyboard to input Chinese
characters. The input method engine works something like the input window on your
Macintosh (sorry, I hate M$ Windose, so didn't give it a try and am not planning
to). You type in the letters, let them be Roman letters or CangJie radicals, correct
them using 'Delete' key on you Mac keyboard, press 'enter/return' to show the Chinese
characters, press 'enter/return' again to throw in the first one or press '1' ...'7'
for other choice, 'left arrow' and 'right arrow' to scroll through multiple lines,
voi-la! Note that you can bring in the input method engine by pressing '\' (back-slash)
any time, even the generic input method is chosen and the input method window is
not shown. The other characters that are not valid for a specific input method will
simple get through (such as Roman punctuations, etc.) Please
inform me if you encounter any problems and/or have any suggestions to improve
this interface.
Download Input Method Engine.
Change Logs:
Oct 26, 1997
Left/Right and Delete buttons added (Graphic not yet updated, the function should be self-explanatory :-) )
Re-Orientation added.
Automatically lookup when using a (software) keyboard. (That is, you don't have to press 'enter' again!)
Jul 14, 1997
Input Windows default font changed to 'Taipei';
Valid Keys filter added;
PinYin / Phrase Minor bug fixed.
Jul 13, 1997
External input module enabled;
Customized keyboard added (for CangJie IM)
This is an input method reflecting my idea about (phonetic) Chinese character
input method on Newton. If this input module is selected, the 'Toggle Phrase Mode'
and the 'Toggle Compact Phrase Mode' buttons are enabled, which are indicated by
the tiny black bars in the main input method window. The default is a vanilla PinYin
input method. If neither 'Phrase Mode' nor 'Compact Phrase Mode' is on, you will
have to write the tone number in the 'Tone Input Window' to indicate the tone (1
for Yin1Ping2, 2 for Yang2Ping2, 3 for Shang3, 4 for Que4, 5 for light). If no number
is given, first tone (Yin1Ping2) is assumed. Please note that this free Yin1Ping2
is effective only in vanilla PinYin mode.
If the 'Phrase Mode' and/or 'Compact Phrase Mode' is turned on, you can write a phrase's
PinYin phonetic (without tone!) or the consonant-abbreviation of phrase
(the compact form -- only the initial consonants (or vowel, if the initial phonetic
is a vowel). These mode is not mutual exclusive and if either 'Compact Phrase Mode'
or 'Phrase Mode' is turned on, there will be two 'Input Windows'. The priority is,
- Compact Phrase Mode (if 'Compact Phrase Mode' is on)
- Phrase Mode (if 'Phrase Mode' is on)
- PinYin for a single Chinese character (you will have to write the tone as well)
This might sound quite complicated, so let's take a look at some concrete examples.
For example, if you turn on the 'Phrase Mode' (indicated by the tiny little black bar to the right of the input window), you begin by writing the first PinYin phonetic ('tai', here) in the first 'Input Window' (you'll always have to begin with the first one), and the second phonetic ('wan', here) in the second 'Input Window'. The input method engine will search the dictionary and show the corresponding phrase if it can find it (though not found in the United Nations!). The result is shown in the following figure,
You can write further, either in the first 'Input Window' or the second, if you are
expecting a longer phrase.For example, if there is a dictionary entry named 'taiwangongheguo',
you'll be able to find it (don't try it yet. If so, you won't be allowed to use this
software in Hong Kong, ;-) ). By the way, you might want to write the whole phrase
phonetic in the first 'Input Window'. If you manage to do it, it will work, too.
If the 'Compact Phrase Mode' is turned on, you can write down the consonant abbreviation
to retrieve the phrase, as shown in the following figure.
Please note that these mode are not mutual exclusive. You can still write in the
phonetic (with tone) to retrieve the individual character if both the 'Phrase Mode'
and 'Compact Phrase Mode' are being turned on.
Did I tell you that this software is still being tested? Tell me
your suggestion.
Download PinYin/Phrase Input Module.
Change Logs:
Jul 14, 1997
Valid keys added. Minor bug fixed.
Jul 13, 1997
First Release.
Personally I don't use CangJie (and can't), but it is said that it is amazingly
fast and you won't have to be able to speak Mandarin to use this input method. So
this is the module.
If this input module is selected, clicking on the 'Open Keyboard' button will bring
up the CangJie Keyboard. This is shown in the following figure.
Not that you can still write in the 'Input Window' if you have memorized all the
corresponding Roman keystrokes for the CangJie radical s(for example, 'ff', here).
Download CangJie Input Module
Change Logs:
Oct 26, 1997
Keyboard re-orientation. Necessary to use the IME in landscape mode.
Jul 14, 1997
Valid keys added.
Jul 13, 1997
First Release.
Personally I can't speak Cantonese, so I don't know if this makes sense. Please give it a try if you happen to speak Cantonese. Also let me know if you have a better database. Don't you Cantonese speakers use tones?
Download Cantonese Input Module
Change Logs:
Jul 14, 1997
Valid keys added. Minor bug fixed.
Jul 13, 1997
First Release.
The database is adopted from Johnson Lam's Cantonese database.
Download Cantonese Input Module (Lam)
Change Logs:
Oct 26, 1997
First Release.
Download Boshiamy Input Module
Change Logs:
Jul 14, 1997
First Release.
Based on CangJie, only the first and last CangJie radicals is needed when input. If this input module is selected, clicking on the 'Open Keyboard' button will bring up the CangJie Keyboard.
Not that you can still write in the 'Input Window' if you have memorized all the
corresponding Roman keystrokes for the CangJie radicals.
Download Simplified CangJie Input Module
Change Logs:
Oct 26, 1997
First release.
In arbitrary order,
- External keyboard support. (Until I've got enough money to buy me a new MP2000/MP2100 and an external keyboard, maybe you're considering to support me?)
- ZhuYin (bopomofo, are you still using these?)
- Wade-Giles?
- Chinese Character Recognition (that might bring me another degree ;-))
Please send bug reports and suggestions to me by e-mail <joseph@nats.informatik.uni-hamburg.de>.