rzhu@watmath.waterloo.edu (Rupert Zhu) (05/08/91)
CND-CM Help File For PC Users
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Table of Contents Last Revised: April 27/1991
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1. What Software Do You Need For Reading Chinese Text
2. How To Get BYX Editor
3. How To Get UUDECODE Program
4. How To Read Hua Xia Wen Zhai
5. Basics Of BYX Editor
6. If You Don't Have Access to FTP
7. Miscellaneous
Acknowledgement
Appendix: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
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Author: Rupert Zhu <rzhu@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Jian Ding <B366JDX@UTARLVM1.BITNET>
1. What Software Do You Need For Reading Chinese Text
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(1) You need a BYX editor or a CC-DOS editor, or other GuoBiao file
viewers.
(2) You need a small program called "uudecode" to decode the files
you received via E-mail.
(Note: On all UNIX machines and many other mainframe computers,
uudecode program is a built-in command. If your mainframe computer
has this command, then you don't need to have this one on your PC.)
(3) You need MS-DOS (or PC-DOS) version 3.0 or higher.
2. How To Get BYX Editor
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In its original format, BYX 1.1 takes three 360 KB diskettes.
At the following anonymous FTP site, BYX 1.1 files are grouped according
to their functionality, and are compressed in self-extracting format.
Site: AHKCUS.ORG [IP: 192.55.187.25 ]
Directory: src/pc
Files: byxview1.exe byxprn1.exe
byxview2.exe byxprn2.exe
byxutils.exe byxprn3.exe
First use anonymous FTP to get these files to your computer account,
then download these files to your PC. Please make sure that you set
mode BINARY before you FTP the files from remote site. Please also
remember to set mode BINARY at both mainframe end and PC before you
download the files to PC.
After downloading them to PC, you just type "byxview1" (without
quotes), then the files inside will extract themselves out. You
will see a bunch of new files being created in current directory.
Do the same thing for other BYX files. Then you will finally get
all BYX files in your current directory.
If you don't know how to do FTP, please consult our FTP-Help
file.
3. How To Get UUDECODE Program
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Note: If your mainframe computer provides uudecode command, then skip
over this section.
You can get uudecode program via anonymous FTP.
Site: AHKCUS.ORG [IP: 192.55.187.25 ]
Directory: src/pc
Files: uudecode-dk20.exe
You can get this file using FTP and downloading, similar to what you
do for BYX files.
This is a self-extracting file. On DOS prompt, just type "uudecode"
(without quotes), then three files will be extracted automatically.
One of them is uudecode.doc, which tells you how to use uudecode
program.
(Note: The long file name will get truncated when you download it
to PC. So on your PC the file becomes "uudecode.exe" instead of
"uudecode-dk20.exe".)
4. How To Read Hua Xia Wen Zhai
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Step 1: After you receive an issue of Hua Xia Wen Zhai via E-mail,
save it in a text file called "magazine.uue", say. (Here "uue"
indicates that the file is in uuencoded format.)
Step 2: If your mainframe computer has uudecode command built in,
then do uudecode on the mainframe computer. A file with
name "CM9104C.GB" (or alike) will be created. Download
this file to your PC using BINARY mode at both PC and
mainframe.
If your mainframe does not have uudecode command, then
you may have to do it on your PC. First download the file
"magazine.uue" to PC, then use the program you obtained in
Section 3 to do uudecode on PC.
Step 3: Now view the file "CM9104C.GB" (or alike) with BYX editor.
(Here "GB" indicates that the file is in GuoBiao format)
5. Basics Of BYX Editor
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
BYX is a good Chinese text editor for PC, developed by Dr. Yan Yongxin.
The BYX version 1.1 was freely distributed. With permission from Dr. Yan,
it is now available for anonymous FTP.
Starting from version 2.0, BYX adopted a Chinese name: Xia4 Li3 Ba1 Ren2.
And it becomes a commercial software. BYX 2.0 provides laser printing
capability and much better method for fast text input. However, for
ordinary readers who only want to read Chinese files, BYX 1.1 is good enough.
The latest version of BYX is version 2.1.
Unlike CC-DOS programs, all versions of BYX editor are well
documented. In BYX 1.1, there are two README files.
README.EGL --- This file is written in English. It contains
information on how to install BYX 1.1 and how
to start using it.
README.CHN --- This is a manual written in Chinese. You need
to use BYX editor to read it.
To start, you need to know only two commands: to enter and to exit.
To Enter: On DOS prompt, type "byx filename", where filename
is the file you want to view.
To Exit: Inside the editor, type
<Ctrl>-X <Ctrl>-Z
(That is, while holding the CTRL key, type X Z)
To scroll down one page, press the key <Page Down>.
To scroll up one page, press the key <Page Up>.
For more features, please read the README.CHN file yourself
(using BYX editor).
6. If You Don't Have Access to FTP
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FTP is the best way to obtain files from a remote site. Nowadays, most
computer systems are equipped with FTP facility. Please first ask a
consultant or a system manager at your site to make sure whether your
machine has FTP capability.
For those who really do not have FTP access, a dedicated mail
server is available. To obtain BYX and uudecode files, just send an
E-mail to <sendme-byx@ahkcus.org>. Then the mail server will send
all necessary files to you, including six BYX files plus "uudecode.bas",
"BYX.readme" and a notice. The six BYX files are in uuencoded
format. After decoding them using the uudecode program (in the same
package), you will get six self-extracting files (with extention ".exe").
On DOS prompt, type the name of these files and press <return> key,
then all necessary files will be extracted automatically.
Please note that the size of the nine files above is huge. They
take more than 1100 KB of disk space. This adds a lot of burden to
the E-mail system, and it may even flood your own mail box. So please
take this service only as your last resort.
Before sending out your request mail, please make sure that your
account has enough free space to hold these files. Also, please be
patient waiting the files after you send out your request. It may
take several hours or even a day for the mail server to respond.
Duplicate requests will bring you duplicate copies of these files.
7. Miscellaneous
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(1) For more information about FTP, please consult our FTP Help file.
(2) For general information about Chinese computing, please read the
INTRO file.
Acknowledgement: We would like to thank Dr. Yan Yongxin for his kind
permission to allow distributing his BYX 1.1 Chinese software freely.
We are also grateful to Mr. Aaron Cheung for offerring the anonymous
FTP site AHKCUS.ORG for CND-CM related files, for setting up the
dedicated mail server, and for many other wonderful helps.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
==========================
Q1: When I run the BYX program which I obtained via FTP, it hangs
my PC (or I got a response: "Not Enough Memory", or other kind
of error messages). What's wrong?
A: This is the most commonly asked question. Don't take the
DOS error message in its face value. Among the tens of
reported cases so far, none of them was really caused by
insufficient RAM memory or by problem of PC. The only thing
it tells is: Some of the parameter settings or transmission
protocols you used is incorrect, and the file is corrupted!
The problem may reside in either the FTP process or the
downloading process (or both).
The FTP process is fairly simple. The only thing you
need to remember is to set mode BINARY before transerring files.
The downloading process is a little complicated. Most
of the reported problems were caused during this process.
The BYX files and other program files are binary files, and
need to use binary mode to download. So you have to set the transfer
mode to BINARY before you download your files. Different softwares
have different commands to set Binary mode. You need to specify
BINARY mode on both mainframe and PC.
PROCOMM users who download files through KERMIT sometimes get
into a tricky situation. Procomm sets "binary" as default for kermit
downloading. Whenever you transfer a file, the screen displays that
you are doing binary downloading. However, this only tells that
your PC is in BINARY mode. If the other end (i.e., mainframe) is not set
in BINARY, the whole transmission may still not be in BINARY mode and the
trouble would arise here.
If you have access to several downloading protocols, you are
recommended to choose KERMIT. For more technical details on downloading,
please ask an expert at your site to help.
Q2: I can get the Chinese file, but there are many wrong/strange
characters in the articles. What is the problem?
A: The problem often happens on IBM mainframes. It may be caused by
the different standard between IBM mainframe (using EBCDIC) and
PC (using ASCII). Try avoid using IBM's own transfer protocol and
use some standard protocol instead. Kermit is the most popular and
standard protocol existing on almost every mainframes. Using Kermit
for your downloading should solve most of this kind of problems.
Q4: My PC is fairly old and I have only a CGA graphic card. BYX 1.1 does
not support CGA.
A: The later versions of BYX editor supports CGA card. The advertised
price for BYX 2.1 Basic Package is about $69 (US fund). For more
information about BYX 2.1 Basic Package or Enhanced Packages, call
(617) 424-1592 or (301) 890-9356
Q5: How can I print Hua Xia Wen Zhai on a dot-matrix printer or a LaserJet?
A: BYX 1.1 supports 9 pin and 24 pin dot-matrix printers. BYX 2.0 and higher
provides better capability in dot-matrix printers and LaserJet. For more
information, please call the developers directly.
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