CHINESE OS for Palm 3.06

The program supports changjei, easy, juyin, pinyin and cantonese 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 Palm and it should be readable. a new font set 10x10 is also implemented to reduce the memory requirment and for clear small font support.

Files in the archive

1. GB(simplified) version
2. BIG5(traditional) version

GB and BIG5 are different encoding methods used to represent Chinese character. GB is used mostly in PRC (MainLand China) and BIG5 are used in Hongkong and Taiwan. You should choose the program with the same encoding method as your desktop computer so that you can view your Chinese information on your desktop computer.

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

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

chos.prc	main program for OS 2.0 to OS 3.3
chosf.prc	main program for OS 2.0 to OS 3.3. This version is different from chos.prc because it can flash to ROM. However, the performance of this version is a little bit slower. You should choose only one of these two to install.
chos35.prc	main program for OS 3.5 or later, i.e., Palm Vx and Palm IIIc
chosf35.prc	main program for OS 3.5. This version is different from chos35.prc because it can flash to ROM. However, the performance of this version is a little bit slower. You should choose only one of these two to install.
cfont?.pdb	12x12 Chinese Fonts
cfont10?.pdb	10x10 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)
jytable?.pdb	Juyin input table (no need to install if you don't want juyin input method)
jptable?.pdb	Japanese input table (no need to install if you don't want japanese input method)
sytable?.pdb	Symbol input table (no need to install if you don't want symbol input method)
cntable?.pdb	Cantonese input table (no need to install if you don't want cantonese input method)
b5gb.pdb	Big5<->GB lookup table (no need to install if you don't want to view GB code in BIG5 version of Chinese OS or vice versa)
files inside local	Resource files for localization, if you want to have a complete Chinese interface, you should install all files in this directory and enable Chinese Localization in the Chinese OS main menu.

Installation

Water's Suggestion:

HongKong Users	chos35.prc(main program, if you are using old model, use chos.prc), cfontl.pdb, cfontl10.pdb, cjtablel.pdb(Changjei)
Taiwan Users	chos35.prc(main program, if you are using old model, use chos.prc), cfontl.pdb, cfontl10.pdb, jytablel.pdb(Juyin)
PRC Users	chos35.prc(main program, if you are using old model, use chos.prc), cfontg.pdb, cfontg10.pdb, pytableg.pdb(Pinyin)

Install the files

HotSync chos??.prc and cfont?.pdb to you Palm. 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 Palm on your Palm, you can skip the installation of *.pdb since the databases are seldom changed.

Enable Chinese OS

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.

Using Chinese OS

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.

There has several functions in menu under Chinese Keyboard:

1. Cut/Copy and Paste
2. Toggle Chinese/English
   For keyboard user, you can user graffiti(keyboard) to input Chinese and english at the same time, you only need to use this command to change the mode.
3. 3. Input Code Lookup
   This function is useful for user to learn input method or Chinese, it will show the input code of the current selected text. The step is as follows:
   
   1. Highlight the text your want to lookup.
   2. Choose the input method you want at the bottom of Chinese Keyboard.
   3. Choose this command.
   4. A dialog will pop up and show the result.

If you want to use Chinese OS to view chinese webpage in avantgo, remember to enable 'avantgo fix' in the options dialog of Chinese OS.

Uninstall/Reinstall Chinese OS

Please disable all functions of Chinese OS (uncheck it) before you uninstall or reinstall Chinese OS. If you want to remove/reinstall font database, you must soft reset your Palm first. It is because that in order to improve the speed of Chinese OS, all font databases are locked at system level, which prevent you to remove it from memory. The step-by-step uninstall/reinstall procedure is as follows:

1. Disable Chinese OS
2. Soft reset by press the reset button at the back of your Palm
3. Don't enable Chinese OS after reset
4. Now you can uninstall/reinstall Chinese OS safely

To reinstall other files, e.g. input method, the main program and the phrase table, you can simply disable Chinese OS and uninstall/reinstall the files.

Flash Chinese OS to FlashRom

Palm III and later version of Palm (except IIIe) devices contains FlashRom, so that you can save your ram space by flashing Chinese OS to FlashRom using a program called FlashPro http://www.trgnet.com. All database files used by Chinese OS can flash to rom without problem. However, there has two versions of Chinese OS main program, chos.prc and chosf.prc which chosf.prc can flash to rom while chos.prc cannot flash to rom. chos.prc is a little bit faster, so you should decide which verion of main program you will install.

The following is the procedure to flash Chinese OS to ROM

1. Disable Chinese OS
2. Soft reset by press the reset button at the back of your Palm
3. Don't enable Chinese OS after reset
4. Flash to rom using FlashPro
5. Enable Chinese OS again

1. Disable Chinese OS
2. Soft reset by press the reset button at the back of your Palm
3. Don't enable Chinese OS after reset
4. Remove Chinese OS from rom using FlashPro

Registration Code

Upon receipt of payment, a registration code will be computed using your Palm user name and emailed to you. The username can be found in Hotsync and Chinese OS in your pilot, in the startup screen of HotSync or Chinese OS, there has a message 'ID: XXX' where XXX is the username I need. If you are using Palm III, Palm IIIx or Palm V, the username is shown at the top-right corner of HotSync program.

Important: An incorrect Palm user name (e.g., incorrect upper and lower cases, omitted spaces, punctuation marks or special characters) will result in unusable registration code.

By HK$ Checks	By Cash Deposit/Transfer	By Credit Card
Accept checks In Hong Kong Dollar (HK$) Issued by bank branches in Hong Kong Crossed ordered Payable to LOU CHI WAI DO NOT send checks in other currencies or checks issued by branches outside Hong Kong. They involve remittances with handling fees as much as HK$100! Mark down the check number and then send the check along with your Palm user name and email address to me at: LOU Chi Wai 416, Han Ching House, Yee Ching Court Shamshuipo, HONG KONG	If you are in Hong Kong but do not have any checking account or credit card, you may deposit or transfer the money to my account at HangSeng Bank. The account number will be e-mailed to you upon request. Make a photocopy of the voucher and then send the original voucher, your Palm user name and email address to me at: LOU Chi Wai 416, Han Ching House, Yee Ching Court Shamshuipo, HONG KONG .	Pay with your credit card. Register online through Kagi. If your browser doesn't support SSL, try the non-secure version of on-line registration. Put your Palm user name in the 'additional comments for the vendor' field.

History

• 4/04/2001 Chinese OS 3.06
  1. Fix a bug which make bold Chinese font didn't work.
  2. Fix a bug in sorting for OS 3.5.

   

  3/23/2001 Chinese OS 3.05
  1. Fix a bug since 3.03 which sometime make backspace didn't delete the whole Chinese correctly, which should also affect other functions.

   

  3/19/2001 Chinese OS 3.04
  1. Update localization database for ToDo and some others for Visor Deluxe.
  2. Fix a bug introduced in 3.03 which crash the Palm when localization is on.

   

• 2/27/2001 Chinese OS 3.03
  1. Add localization support for Visor Platinum/Prism.
  2. Fix wrong localization on Expense
  3. Add Jog Dial support for Sony CLIe in Chinese Keyboard. User can use jog dial to make selection.
  4. Various minor bugs fixed

   

• 2/5/2001 Chinese OS 3.02
  1. Enhanced word warp calculation.
  2. Chinese Localization.
  3. Fix Keyboard didn't show up in some cases.
  4. Fix B5/GB convert didn't work in some cases.

   

• 12/21/2000 Chinese OS 2.51
  1. Fix Chinese searching sometimes didn't work.
  2. Fix wrong compile in version 2.5 which make the system crash.

 

• 12/11/2000 Chinese OS 2.5

1. Fix searching crash on search iSilo in OS3.5 version of Chinese OS.
2. Improved algorithm to match better with English version of Palm OS in word warp calculation.
3. Fix messy display in the main page of Memo when the line is too long and with Chinese.
4. Needn't to soft reset before reinstalling/removing font databases.
5. Fix potential crash in Chinese OS's main window.
6. Revised phrase input database.

• 7/19/2000 Chinese OS 2.2
1. Fix search problem on search address book in OS3.5 version of Chinese OS.
2. Fix corrupted font database in GB version which symbol cannot be shown, GB version's user should reinstall the font database.

• 5/27/2000 Chinese OS 2.1
1. Fix bug which crash with ActionNames.
2. Fix bug which mess up searching function.
3. Remove powerful search in OS3.5 version because OS3.5 itself already fix the problem of searching in Address.
4. Fix GB symbol didn't show proper.
5. Intergrate avantgo fix into the main program, so no avantgo fix version anymore.
6. A little bit performance fine tune for OS 3.5 version.

• 4/25/2000 Chinese OS 2.0
1. Support New OS 3.5, complete color and grayscale support.
2. Speed improvment.
3. Better Keyboard Support.
4. Finally, 10x10 GB fonts.
5. 100% works on Palm emulator, including the debug rom.

• 10/22/99 Chinese OS 1.61
  1. Merge light version and full version program, the program will detect database correctly.
  2. New Input Method mechanism, which allow larger database (about 400k per input method), and supplementary input method (add more entries on one input method, without replace the main input method, like the hkfont's changjei input method database)
  3. Much faster response on Chinese display.
  4. New and better phrase input.
  5. Fully tested and compatible with Palm OS 3.3.
  6. Large userfont set support.
  7. GCCS HongKong Fonts support.
  8. Better Go-Type support
  9. New Keyboard layout
  
  
• 7/5/99 Chinese OS 1.48

  After a long beta stage, I decide to make this as release version, new features:
  1. Drop support for Palm 1000 and 5000, those users please use Chinese OS 1.33.
  2. small fonts (you can either install cfont10s.pdb or cfont10l.pdb)
  3. Can select thin large font in 'Select Font' dialog of most application.
  4. Power search, can search Chinese correctly and you can use power search to search substring for english.
  3. Add scrollbar in Chinese keyboard.
  4. Fix Tapping bug in PalmIIIx and PalmV.
  5. Japanese fonts in eten format.
  6. history implemented in Chinese Keyboard, which will remember previous 9 input characters.
  7. Move all arrow to the right side of keyboard, and new interface.

  Remember to remove previous version of Chinese OS if you use 1.33 previously and you only need to reinstall the program if you are using 1.47 beta

• 7/8/98 Chinese OS 1.33

  Again fix a bug that when enabling 'Sort Chinese'.
  ...

• 4/19/98 Chinese OS 1.24

  Palm III support!!! - The old database is built wrongly which cannot install on Palm III correctly.
  Cut/Copy and Paste in Chinese Keyboard
  Can toggle the graffiti to input Chinese or english on Chinese Keyboard, good for PiloKey user to input Chinese and english at the same time.
  Fix some behaviour of Chinese keyboard to work better with PiloKey:
  Can disable Hint in Changjei/Easy mode for fast typist.
  Will not block user when a wrong code is typed.
  ...

• 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!
  ...

• 7/28/97 Chinese OS 0.9 beta

Make sure you have installed all needed files, especially cfont.prc. Palm 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. Moreover, ensure that you have installed at least one input method database into your Palm. Lastly, install the CORRECT version, chos1x.prc for OS 1.x and chos2x.prc for OS 2.x. The different between these two OS make the keyboard cannot popup.

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.

5. I can't delete the font database of Chinese OS from my Palm.

If you have install Chinese OS 2.2 or before, you should warm reset your Palm before deleting/reinstalling the font database. For speed reason, I have locked the font database and it will be unlocked only after warm reset. You can warm reset your Palm by pressing the button at the back of Palm, or using one of the menu item in LaunchPad.

Contact