I got a geek question

[wsbill]

How do you set your computer up so that you can see the russian text and the english text at the same time ?

[John K]

... in response to I got a geek question, posted by wsbill on Jan 5, 2002

I have set up dual english/cyrillic computer layouts a few times now and here's what I do.  I will explain it for the Win 9x/Me platform, but it should transfer easily enough to the NT/2000/XP platform as well.

1) In Control Panel, I select Keyboard, languages and add Russian (cyrillic) to my keyboards.  As the keyboard switching has been a pain, I disable it and use only mouse switching.  You will then see a small blue box in your status bar with either EN or RU in it.  EN is English and RU is Russian.  When you type, watch out for which one is set.  To change character sets, simply click the mouse on the blue box and select your language.

2)  I install some Russian fonts.  I have a small package of cyrillic fonts, like ER Burkinst 1251 and ER Burkinst KOI8.  The 1251 and KOI8 are encoding patterns.  Russian text will usually come in one way or the other.

3)  I get Cyrillic keyboard overlays from Datacal and put them on the keyboard.  I do this over buying a Russian keyboard, so my wife can see the Russian letters, while I can use the English.

4)  I install Pan European language support on my browser.  That lets my browser view cyrillic web pages easier.  I also install Russian in my browser preferences (Tools menu, Internet Options, Languages, Add, Russian).  It can be second to English and still display Russian web sites ok.  Beware putting it first though.  If you do, some popular web sites will come up in Russian.  Ever try to use Yahoo when it's in Russian?  Not so easy.  Then again, Microsoft's site might be easier to manage if you didn't know what you were doing... :-)

5) When typing a Russian Email, or filling in a Russian web form, my wife selects the Russian keyboard, and if necessary ER Burkinst 1251 for her base font.  Her mother and grandmother seem to get the email without any problems.  When an email comes in, she handles it one of two ways.  If it comes into Outlook Express, she opens the email and changes the encoding to Windows Cyrillic, or sometimes KOI8 Cyrillic to read it.  If it comes into her Compuserve email account, she selects the entire letter, copies it to the clipboard, pastes it into Word or Wordpad and changes the base font of the entire text into ER Burkinst 1251 (or ER Burkinst KOI8 if the encoding is different).

Hope that helps...

[John K]

... in response to How I do it., posted by John K on Jan 7, 2002

As a nice touch, I make www.yandex.ru my homepage.  My wife likes it to come up to a russian search engine.  It makes it a lot easier to start surfing...

[JohnL]

... in response to I got a geek question, posted by wsbill on Jan 5, 2002

Set a second computer up, but place it behind you, then, place a mirror alonside the the first computer and Jack's your Uncle. See Bill, that was easy.

By the way, when are you going to be up on that W Call, havent heard you yet?

73's

[spyke]

... in response to I got a geek question, posted by wsbill on Jan 5, 2002

what version windows you use ?? 98 ME 2000???
russian or english?? XP only in english except office...
I been messing all this the last week :-))

[Burt]

... in response to I got a geek question, posted by wsbill on Jan 5, 2002

How do I edit my PL profile, to make updates, changes, etc?  

Can't find any specific guidance on the site, so I send the  question to PL e-mail address (twice), but no response.

Appreciate your help.

[Cold Warrior]

... in response to Re: Another geek question, posted by Burt on Jan 5, 2002

At the top of this page,right hand side on the blue bar where it says Edit Profile.

[Burt]

... in response to Re: Re: Another geek question, posted by Cold Warrior on Jan 5, 2002

Thanks for the tip, CW.  Can't believe I missed that, but first go the eyes, they say.

[Cold Warrior]

... in response to I got a geek question, posted by wsbill on Jan 5, 2002

ARE you are talking about been able to see the cyrillic fonts while on the internet? if you are using Microsoft explorer go to View-encoding and select Cyrillic(windows).