Jskad/source/org/thdl/tib/input/jskad_doc.html

<html>
<head>
<title>Help on Jskad</title>
</head>

<body topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0">

<a name="top"></a>
<h2>Jskad Documentation</h2>

<ul>
   <li><a href="#latest">Latest Changes</a></li>
   <li><a href="#install">Running Jskad</a></li>
   <li><a href="#start">Getting Started</a></li>
   <li><a href="#tibetan">Typing Tibetan</a></li>
   <li><a href="#english">Typing English</a></li>
   <li><a href="#copypaste">Copying and Pasting TM/TMW</a></li>
   <li><a href="#copyasunicode">Copying as Unicode</a></li>
   <li><a href="#wylietotmw">Converting Wylie to Tibetan</a></li>
   <li><a href="#tmwtowylie">Converting Tibetan to Wylie</a></li>
   <li><a href="#ttot">Converting Tibetan to Tibetan</a></li>
   <li><a href="#converter">GUI Converter</a></li>
   <li><a href="#viewer">External Viewers</a></li>
   <li><a href="#keyboards">Changing Keyboards</a></li>
   <li><a href="#preferences">Preferences</a></li>
   <li><a href="#thanks">Thanks</a></li>
   <li><a href="#trouble">Troubleshooting</a></li>
   <li><a href="#advancedkeyboards">More on Keyboards</a></li>
   <li><a href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad.html">Jskad on the Web</a></li>
</ul>


<!-- DLC NOTE: 3. To produce Wylie from ACIP, first convert ACIP to TMW, then TMW to Wylie. -->
<!-- 
DLC add something like this:
1. Be careful that your file to be converted is in the right format - i.e.
ACIP files must be in txt format, Tibet Machine/Web files must be in RTF
format and so forth.  
2.   Please note that the warning box allows you to specify whether Jskad
writes warnings of failed conversions into your converted document. This is
useful to see the level of accuracy of the conversion, but then also
produces a document with English warning messages. Thus you may want to
first run the conversion with the warning level set at "most" to see
potential problems, but then rerun it with it set at "none" if you want to
produce a document without the warning messages.
-->

<a name="latest"></a>
<h3>Latest Changes</h3>

<p>
Jskad now has first-class support for converting entire
documents.&nbsp; You can convert ACIP to Unicode, ACIP to Tibetan
Machine Web ("TMW", or simply "Tibetan" in the menus), Tibetan Machine
("TM") to TMW and vice versa, TMW to ACIP, TMW to Unicode, and TMW to
Wylie (i.e., EWTS).&nbsp; Try it from the Tools menu.&nbsp; Full
documentation is <a
href="http://thdltools.sourceforge.net/TMW_RTF_TO_THDL_WYLIE.html">online</a>.
</p>

<p>
  Be on the lookout for formatting changes; Java's RTF support is
  currently poor and it's hard to fix Java because (as of February
  2005) Java is not available under an OSI-approved open-source
  license.&nbsp; You will lose some formatting like centering and some
  indention when to convert from RTF to RTF.<!-- DLC FIXME: do this
  correctly, not in a "Latest Changes" section. -->
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="install"></a>
<h3>Running Jskad</h3>

<p>
Jskad is launched via Java Web Start.&nbsp; Java Web Start is a
technology from Sun which allows users to launch Java applications
directly from a web browser.&nbsp; Java Web Start is supported by
Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X 10.1, and so Jskad should work
on all of these platforms.&nbsp; (You don't need Java Web Start, but
it does make upgrades much easier.)
</p>

<p>
Note that after you've run Jskad twice, it will ask you whether or not
you want to create a shortcut to Jskad on your desktop.&nbsp; If you
say yes, then you can launch Jskad from your desktop in future,
without having to visit our web site.&nbsp; Every time Jskad runs, it
will automatically check our site for updates - unless you're offline,
in which case Jskad will just run the version which is cached on your
computer.
</p>

<p>
Note that to run Jskad you no longer need to have the <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/tmw.html">Tibetan
Machine Web</a> family of fonts installed; they are now embedded in
Jskad itself along with the <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/tm.html">Tibetan
Machine</a> family of fonts.&nbsp; But if you wish to copy and paste
into another application as Tibetan Machine Web (rather than as
Unicode), then you do need the <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/tmw.html">Tibetan
Machine Web</a> family of fonts installed.
</p>

<p>
Note also that due to a bug in earlier versions of Java, you should
run Jskad under Java Runtime v. 1.4.&nbsp; If you are running Windows,
Linux, or Solaris and you have an earlier version installed, please
uninstall it, and then install <a
href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/download.html" target="_blank">Java
Runtime v. 1.4</a>.
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="#start"></a>
<h3>Getting Started</h3>

<p>
When you fire up Jskad, a glitz-free window will pop up in the center
of your screen.&nbsp; Start typing and you'll get Tibetan.
</p>

<p>
A menu bar appears at the top of the window.&nbsp; If you are running
Jskad as an application, you'll see four menus: File, Edit, Tools, and
Help.&nbsp; If you're running Jskad as an applet, you'll only see
Edit, Tools, and Help.
</p>

<p>
'File' provides basic options for opening, closing, saving, and
printing Rich Text Format (RTF) documents.&nbsp; To start a new
document, choose 'New'.&nbsp; To open an already existing document,
choose 'Open...' or select from the list of recently opened
documents.&nbsp; In any case, if there is any text in the current
Jskad window, a new window will be opened up.&nbsp; To close a Jskad
window, choose 'Close' or press the 'X' button.&nbsp; To close all
Jskad windows, choose 'Exit'.&nbsp; You will be prompted to save if
you haven't already done so.<!-- done so in regular (non-Unicode) Rich
Text Format, that is -->
</p>

<p>
To save in Rich Text Format, choose 'Save' or 'Save As...'.&nbsp; Like
other applications, 'Save' saves under the current name, while 'Save
As...' lets you save under a new name.
</p>

<p>
As a convenience, 'Save as Unicode&nbsp;RTF...' and 'Save as
Unicode&nbsp;UTF-8...' are provided.&nbsp; An ordinary 'Save' or 'Save
As...' command saves as Rich Text Format using the legacy Tibetan
Machine Web font, but these two options convert the Tibetan Machine
Web to Unicode.&nbsp; These are convenient, but if you encounter
problems you will need to take the long road by first saving normally
and then choosing 'Tools - Launch Converter...' and converting from
TMW to Unicode.&nbsp; (A good Unicode font is Tibetan Machine Uni, by
the way.)
</p>

<p>
The 'Edit' menu lets you cut, copy, and paste Tibetan text and set
document preferences.&nbsp; These topics are covered elsewhere, in <a
href="#copypaste">Copying and Pasting TM/TMW</a>, <a
href="#copyasunicode">Copying as Unicode</a>, <a
href="#tibetan">Typing Tibetan</a>, <a href="#english">Typing
English</a>, and <a href="#preferences">Preferences</a>.
</p>

<p>
The 'Tools' menu provides options to help users who are converting
Tibetan from one form to another and who wish to view the current
document in an external viewer, such as Microsoft Word.

<!-- FIXME DLC <a
href="#wylietotmw">Converting Wylie to Tibetan</a> and <a
href="#tmwtowylie">Converting Tibetan to Wylie</a>. -->
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="tibetan"></a>
<h2>Typing Tibetan</h2>

<p>
Jskad lets you input Tibetan text according to several popular
keyboard input methods.&nbsp; When you type, the Tibetan characters
that appear are stored internally as Tibetan Machine Web, not
Unicode.&nbsp; If you want Unicode, there are numerous ways in Jskad
to convert Tibetan Machine Web to it.
</p>

<p>
The default keyboard is the <!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/Wylie_keyboard.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Extended Wylie<!-- </a> --> keyboard.&nbsp; Other
supported keyboards include <!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/TCC_keyboard_1.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Tibetan Computer Company Keyboard #1<!-- </a> -->,
<!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/TCC_keyboard_2.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Tibetan Computer Company Keyboard #2<!-- </a> -->
, and Nitharta's <!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/Sambhota_keymap_one.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Sambhota Keymap One<!-- </a> -->.&nbsp; For
documentation of these keyboards, see Jskad's 'Help' menu.
</p>

<p>
Jskad automatically opens up in Tibetan-entry mode upon starting it
for the first time, so all you have to do to get Tibetan is start
typing.&nbsp; Jskad subsequently remembers the keyboard you were using
when you last exited Jskad.&nbsp; If you are in Roman-entry mode, then
you will need to first switch to Tibetan-entry mode.&nbsp; Do this by
selecting "Tibetan" from the "Input mode:" selection.&nbsp; The
default point size for Tibetan text is 36.&nbsp; To change this go to
'Preferences' in the 'Edit' menu.
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="english"></a>
<h2>Typing English</h2>

<p>
With Jskad you are not restricted to just typing Tibetan.&nbsp; You
can also type English or other European languages.&nbsp; If you are in
Tibetan-entry mode, you can switch to Roman entry-mode by selection
"Roman" from the "Input mode:" drop-down box.&nbsp; (If this doesn't
get you into Roman-entry mode, then Roman entry-mode has been disabled
by your alterations to your <tt>my_thdl_preferences.txt</tt> file and
you should use 'Edit-&gt;Clear Preferences'.)
</p>

<p>
You can change the font and/or point size of Roman-based text entry by
selecting 'Preferences' from the 'Edit' menu.
</p>

<p>
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</p>


<a name="copyasunicode"></a>
<h3>Copying as Unicode</h3>

<p>
In addition to supporting <a href="#copypaste">copying and pasting TM
and TMW</a>, Jskad supports copying Tibetan Machine Web as Unicode.
</p>

<p>
This effectively does a <a
href="http://thdltools.sourceforge.net/TMW_RTF_TO_THDL_WYLIE.html">TMW-&gt;Unicode</a>
conversion and then copies the output to the system clipboard, ready
to be pasted into MS Word, OpenOffice, Notepad, or wherever.
Depending on how smart the target application is, you may have to
explicitly tell it to use a Tibetan Unicode font such as THDL's own
Tibetan Machine Uni.
</p>

<p>
<font color="red">NOTE WELL</font> that OpenOffice 1.1.4 has a bug
whereby the parts of your selection that were not Tibetan Machine Web
are silently dropped if you paste into a section of Tibetan Unicode.
If this affects you, you should paste into a section of English text
or upgrade to OpenOffice 1.9.79 or later.
</p>


<a name="copypaste"></a>
<h3>Copying and Pasting TM/TMW</h3>

<p>
In addition to supporting <a href="#copyasunicode">copying to Unicode
text</a>, Jskad supports copying and pasting Tibetan Machine Web.
</p>

<p>
Jskad supports RTF copy and paste.&nbsp; That means, among other
things, that you can copy Tibetan Machine and Tibetan Machine Web back
and forth between Jskad and Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.&nbsp; To do
so, you can use standard keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl-A for select all,
Ctrl-X for cut, Ctrl-C for copy, and Ctrl-V for paste).&nbsp; Note
that you must have the <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/tmw.html">Tibetan
Machine Web</a> family of fonts installed on your computer for
applications besides Jskad to be aware of them.
</p>

<p>
Note that not all applications support RTF copy and paste.&nbsp;
Therefore, you cannot, for example, copy from Jskad and paste into
Microsoft Excel.&nbsp; You can, though, copy into Word, select the
snippet of Tibetan again, copy again, and then paste into Excel.
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="wylietotmw"></a>
<h3>Converting Wylie to Tibetan</h3>

<p>
One of the most useful features of Jskad is its ability to convert
from Extended Wylie to Tibetan.&nbsp; <em>Note that there are several
known bugs with this conversion, so study your output.</em>&nbsp;
There are three ways to do this:
</p>

<ol>
<li><b>Copy and Paste from Another Application</b>

<br>Copy a block of Wylie text from Microsoft Word, and then paste it
in Jskad.</li>

<p><li><b>Select Text and Convert to Tibetan</b>

<br>Select the block of text you want to convert, and then choose
'Tools - Convert Selection - Convert Wylie to Tibetan' from the menu
bar.&nbsp; Note that if you try to convert a chunk of text in which
Tibetan text is surrounded by Wylie, the Wylie will convert, and the
Tibetan will remain unchanged.</li>

<p><li><b>Import Wylie and Save as RTF</b>

<br>Choose 'Tools - Import Wylie as Tibetan' from the menu bar.&nbsp;
You will be prompted to 'Import Wylie'.&nbsp; Use the file chooser to
select a .txt (text) file which contains nothing but Extended
Wylie.&nbsp; Then you'll be prompted to 'Save as Tibetan'.&nbsp; Type
a new name for your document.&nbsp; If the Wylie is valid, it will be
converted and saved as RTF.&nbsp; This document can then be opened in
Jskad.</li>
</ol>

<p>
All three of these options are suitable for most situations.&nbsp;
However, if you are converting a lengthy document, you are advised to
use the 'Import' option.
</p>

<p>
In all cases, Wylie can only be converted to Tibetan if it is valid
Extended Wylie.&nbsp; If there is any invalidity, the entire
conversion will halt.&nbsp; An informational message will appear, with
a guess as to what the problem is.&nbsp; Take special note of the fact
that Microsoft Word's 'smart quotes' cannot be converted.&nbsp; If you
are copying from Microsoft Word, please turn off smart quotes (see <a
href="#trouble">Troubleshooting</a>).&nbsp; Remember also that Jskad
does not know the difference between Wylie and English.&nbsp; Just
because you can see that a string of text is Wylie doesn't mean that a
computer knows that it is!
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="tmwtowylie"></a>
<h3>Converting Tibetan to Wylie</h3>

<p>
Another useful feature of Jskad is its ability to convert from Tibetan
to Extended Wylie.&nbsp; Simply select the Tibetan you want to
convert, and then choose 'Tools - Convert Selection - Convert Tibetan
to Wylie' from the menu bar.&nbsp; The text will be converted, and
will appear (if you are using 'Tools - Convert Selection - Convert
Tibetan to Wylie') as Wylie in the default Roman font and point size
(see <a href="#english">Typing English</a>).&nbsp; Alternatively, <a
href="#converter">launch the Converter</a> and use it to convert whole
documents with ease.
</p>

<p>
Jskad is very smart about determining which Tibetan letter is the root
letter when there is ambiguity.&nbsp; (It compares against a
hard-coded list of words for the ambiguous three-consonant cases, such
as '-g-s).&nbsp; Jskad always produces 100% unambiguous Wylie, which
you can feel certain will be read back in later as the very same
Tibetan you started with.&nbsp; (Although, at this time, the
Wylie-to-Tibetan side of the equation is not nearly as well tested,
and in fact has known bugs.)
</p>

<p>
Remember that Jskad only works fully with the TibetanMachineWeb family
of fonts.&nbsp; (It can open TibetanMachine documents for viewing and
for converting to TibetanMachineWeb, but you cannot type in new
TibetanMachine.)&nbsp; Therefore, it will only recognize
TibetanMachineWeb as Tibetan.&nbsp; Any other Tibetan fonts will be
assumed to be non-Tibetan.&nbsp; Note that you can convert
TibetanMachine to TibetanMachineWeb and then convert that to Wylie if
need be.
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="ttot"></a>
<h3>Converting Tibetan to Tibetan</h3>

<p>
  Jskad also has the ability to convert from one digital form of
  Tibetan to another, with perfect results (as far as we know).&nbsp;
  You can convert Tibetan Machine Web to Tibetan Machine (use 'Tools -
  Convert All - Convert Tibetan to TM') and vice versa (use 'Tools -
  Convert All - Convert TM to Tibetan').&nbsp; You can also convert
  Tibetan Machine Web to Unicode (using 'Tools - Convert All - Convert
  Tibetan to Unicode').&nbsp; To convert Tibetan Machine to Unicode,
  simply convert from Tibetan Machine to Tibetan Machine Web and then
  convert from Tibetan Machine Web to Unicode.
</p>

<p>
  To convert whole documents the easy way, just launch the <a
  href="#converter">converter</a>.
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="converter"></a>
<h3>GUI Converter</h3>

<p>
  Jskad features a built-in converter with a user-friendly graphical
  user interface.&nbsp; This converter does not show you the documents
  as it is converting, though it allows you to view documents in an <a
  href="#viewer">external RTF file viewer</a> using the 'Open With...'
  button.
</p>

<p>
  The converter handles all exceptional cases well.&nbsp; Thus, if the
  converter says that it succeeded, it really did succeed
  perfectly.&nbsp; You can rest assured that at least one character
  was converted (it being a common error to open a Tibetan Machine
  file and select a TMW-&gt;Wylie conversion), and that each character
  in the original document was correctly converted to a character in
  the new document.&nbsp; Even uncommon errors like running out of
  memory are skillfully handled.
</p>

<p>
  The TM-&gt;TMW and TMW-&gt;TM conversions have been hand-verified
  using a document that lists each TMW glyph and its TM equivalent,
  and two bugs in Java's RTF support have been worked around.&nbsp;
  Moreover, the TM&lt;-&gt;TMW tables were input by two separate teams
  and results compared.&nbsp; JUnit tests are used to verify that bugs
  do not sneak into future revisions.&nbsp; Ask David Chandler to
  elaborate on the verification and validation for the conversions,
  but the bottom line is that there are no known bugs in the
  TM-&gt;TMW, TMW-&gt;TM, TMW-&gt;Wylie, or TMW-&gt;Unicode
  conversions.
</p>

<p>
  The user interface is fairly straightforward, except for the 'Find
  Some/All' options, which are used to create a list of the characters
  that are not in the desired font.&nbsp; These options are for those
  who want to be sure that they are converting a document that really
  is wholly in Tibetan Machine or Tibetan Machine Web.
</p>

<p>
  At present, the TMW-&gt;Unicode conversion converts to the Tibetan Machine Uni
  font.&nbsp; If users ask for it, the converter can easily be
  extended to convert to the font of the user's choice.<!-- FIXME:
  what about 0020, 2003, 54xx, etc.?  Allow for specifying the fonts
  for those ranges separately. -->
</p>

<!-- FIXME: expound! -->

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</p>

<a name="viewer"></a>
<h3>External Viewers</h3>

<p>
  Jskad allows you to view an RTF document with an external viewer,
  such as Microsoft Word.&nbsp; To use this feature, just select the
  menu item 'Tools - Open With External Viewer...'.&nbsp; The first
  time you use this command, it will ask you to locate a program to
  view RTF files.&nbsp; Navigate to the program of your choice, such
  as "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\WINWORD.EXE".&nbsp;
  This program must be set up to accept the path of the RTF file as
  the sole command-line argument.
</p>

<p>
  On subsequent invocations of the 'Tools - Open With External
  Viewer...' menu item, you will not be asked to choose the program
  again.&nbsp; If you wish to change programs, you must either
  manually edit your <tt>my_thdl_preferences.txt</tt> file or use
  'Edit - Clear Preferences'.
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="keyboards"></a>
<h3>Changing Keyboards</h3>

<p>
As already mentioned, Jskad supports four different keyboard input methods:
</p>

<ol>
<li><!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/Wylie_keyboard.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Extended Wylie<!-- </a> --></li>

<li><!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/TCC_keyboard_1.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Tibetan Computer Company Keyboard #1<!-- </a> --></li>

<li><!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/TCC_keyboard_2.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Tibetan Computer Company Keyboard #2<!-- </a> --></li>

<li><!-- <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/Sambhota_keymap_one.rtf"
target="_blank"> -->Sambhota Keymap One<!-- </a> --></li>
</ol>

<p>
The default keyboard is Extended Wylie.&nbsp; To change to another
keyboard, choose 'Tools - Keyboards' and then select the keyboard you
want to use.
<p>
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</p>

<a name="preferences"></a>
<h3>Preferences</h3>

<p>
Jskad remembers your preferences for a few things, such as the working
directory, the keyboard to use, the font size, etc.&nbsp; Your
preferences are saved automatically at program exit.&nbsp; If you want
to reset your preferences, you must use 'Clear Preferences' from the
'Edit' menu.
</p>

<p>
  Jskad has a multi-level preferences mechanism available, which means
  that system administrators can configure Jskad as desired for all
  users on a certain computer, and then the users can have their
  overriding preferences.&nbsp; Further, power users can override
  their preferences' files using Java system properties.&nbsp; Contact
  Jskad's maintainers for more information about these advanced
  options if any of them interest you.
</p>

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</p>


<a name="thanks"></a>
<h3>Thanks</h3>

<p>
  Portions of this software are copyright Andrew Moulden.&nbsp; Our
  thanks go to him.&nbsp; Without his hard work, our users wouldn't be
  able to browse this very document with the ease they can.
</p>

<p>
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</p>

<a name="trouble"></a>
<h3>Troubleshooting</h3>

<p>
The following are some common problems:
</p>

<ul>
<li><b>I can't open a document I converted using Jskad.&nbsp; It opens
fine in Microsoft Word, but not in Jskad itself.</b>

<br>Java's RTF support is poor, so when Jskad converts a document,
e.g. from Tibetan Machine to Tibetan Machine Web, sometimes Jskad
cannot open the Tibetan Machine Web output.&nbsp; Microsoft Word can
open it, though.&nbsp; The solution is to do any further work on the
hard-to-handle document from within Jskad's converter (i.e., the
converter that comes up when you choose 'Tools - Launch
Converter...').&nbsp; You might have luck with opening the
hard-to-handle document in MS Word and saving as RTF.</li>

<p><li><b>When I paste Tibetan into another application, it shows up
as garbage like <tt>0C-&lt;m=-0+{;-{</tt>.</b>

<br>Either you haven't installed the <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/tmw.html">Tibetan
Machine Web</a> family of fonts, or the application you're pasting
into doesn't support RTF copying and pasting.&nbsp; To work around
this latter problem, try pasting into an application that does support
RTF copy and paste (such as Microsoft Word), and then select the
Tibetan from there, copy it again, and paste into the third
application.</li>

<p><li><b>The vowels don't look right.</b>

<br>Due to <a
href="http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/bugParade/bugs/4498203.html"
target="_blank">Java Bug Id 4498203</a>, Tibetan vowels do not display
properly in some versions of Java.&nbsp; Problematic versions include
1.3.0-02, 1.3.1, and the 1.4 beta 2.&nbsp; Uninstall Java, and
reinstall Java 1.4.&nbsp; The vowels should look better.</li>

<p><li><b>I can't convert from Wylie to Tibetan.</b>

<br>Make sure the Wylie you are using is <a
href="http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/jskad_docs/Wylie_keyboard.rtf"
target="_blank">valid Extended Wylie</a>.&nbsp; Also, check to make
sure you aren't using any illegal characters such as Microsoft Word's
'smart quotes'.&nbsp; If smart quotes occur in your Microsoft Word
document, you can eliminate them by choosing the 'Save As Text Only'
option under 'Save'.&nbsp; Be warned that 'Save As Text Only With Line
Breaks' does not remove smart quotes.&nbsp; Finally, be aware that
there are known bugs with the Wylie-to-Tibetan conversions; you may
have run into a bug.</li>

<p><li><b>I opened up an RTF document in Jskad and some of the formatting was lost.</b>

<br>Java's RTF support has some problems.&nbsp; Therefore not all
formatting information will be retained when an RTF file is opened in
Jskad.</li>

<p><li><b>Jskad runs slow or is error-prone on my Mac.</b>

<br>We are aware of this problem, and hope that things will get better
as both Jskad and Apple's implementation of Java improve.</li>

<p><li><b>I get garbage when I type Tibetan.</b>

<br>This shouldn't happen now that the fonts are bundled inside
Jskad's JAR.&nbsp; But if it does, make sure the TibetanMachineWeb fonts
are installed.&nbsp; See <a href="#install">Running Jskad</a>.</li>

</ul>

<p>
If all else fails, remove Java and Jskad from your computer, and then
reinstall both.
</p>

<p>
<center><font size="-1"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></font></center>
</p>

<a name="advancedkeyboards"></a>
<h3>More on Keyboards</h3>

<p>
If you are brave, you can create your own keyboards.&nbsp; A keyboard
file has five parts:

<ol type=a>
<li>Comments</li>
<li>A list of parameters</li>
<li>A list of characters</li>
<li>A list of vowels</li>
<li>A list of punctuation</li>
</ol>

<p>
Sections (c)-(e) are structured in exactly the same way.&nbsp; A line consists of a value, an equals sign, and another value, for example &quot;k=K&quot;.&nbsp; This means that to get the Tibetan character associated with Wylie 'k', you must press 'K'.&nbsp; If there is no right part of the equation, then there is no way in this keyboard to get the relevant character.&nbsp; For example, if you see &quot;k=&quot;, that means that there is no way in this keyboard to get the Tibetan character associated with Wylie 'k'.&nbsp; Be careful with whitespace, which is not ignored: for example, &quot; = &quot; means [space bar] = [space bar].
</p>

<p>
Although the three additional production-quality keyboards included in
this installation always define only one keystroke per
character/vowel, it is possible to define a keyboard in which multiple
keystrokes correspond to single characters/vowels, as in the Extended
Wylie keyboard.&nbsp; However, punctuation is only ever allowed to
correspond to a single keystroke.&nbsp; Below is a sample (partial)
keyboard, with key parts explained, and much omitted:
</p>

<p>
Sambhota keyboard //Everything before &lt?parameters?&gt; is taken to be a comment.
</p>

<p>
&lt?parameters?&gt; //describes the logic of the keyboard
<br>has sanskrit stacking=true //is there a stack key for sanskrit stacks?
<br>has tibetan stacking=true //is there a stack key for tibetan stacks?
<br>is stacking medial=false //is the stack key medial, ie like '+' in g+y, or not, as in +gy
<br>stack key=f //what is the stack key? must be single character
<br>has disambiguating key=false //is there a key to distinguish between Wylie gy and g.y?
<br>disambiguating key= //if so, what is it?
<br>needs a chen before vowels=true //for a-chen plus vowel, must you type a-chen first?
<br>has 'a' vowel=false //is there a dummy 'a' vowel?
<br>is achung consonant=true //can achung take part in consonantal stacks?
<p>
&lt?characters?&gt; //characters include consonants and numerals
<br>k=k
<br>kh=K //left value is Extended Wylie &amp; right is equivalent in Sambhota
<br>g=g
<br>ng=G
<br>f= //no equivalent of 'f' in Sambhota
<p>
&lt?vowels?&gt;
<br>a=a
<br>i=i
<br>u=u
<br>e=e
<br>o=o
<p>
&lt?punctuation?&gt;
<br> = //read as [Space] = [Space]
<br>/=,
</p>

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