efore you read any further, take a quick look at this web site.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to read that web page? With the Japanese versions of OS/2, you can! IBM has created Japanese versions of OS/2 Warp for Windows, Fullpack, Connect and LAN server. If you were impressed with the great features of OS/2, you'll be even more impressed with the flexibility of OS/2 Warp 3.0J (Warp J)!

Warp J is simply OS/2 Warp with Japanese extensions. In fact, many of the OS/2 system files (GIF 16k) are exactly the same. Warp J uses the same utilities, libraries, and system configuration files the US version does, but in Japanese. This allows Warp J to run most OS/2, DOS and Windows software without any modifications. Support for DOS/V, IBM's Japanese version of PC-DOS, and Windows 3.1J is also available, giving you a few more Command Prompt (GIF 9k) combinations.

Warp J provides all this with the help of the Double Byte Character Set, or DBCS, and Japanese TrueType and Adobe fonts. ASCII, our standard in North America, uses a Single Byte Character Set, SBCS, which is fine for the English 26 character alphabet, but written Japanese contains thousands of unique characters. The DBCS solves this problem by providing over 65,000 possible characters. There are a number of different DBCS standards, such as EUC, JIS, S-JIS, etc. See OS/2 Magazine, April 1996, page 48 for more details on DBCS support in OS/2.

Japanese is entered by keying Romanized versions of your text. Your keystrokes are then "translated" into the closest Japanese words and characters. With a few more keystrokes, you can easily enter Japanese into almost any OS/2 program that allows font changes. Special Japanese keyboards are also supported.

Warp J comes with Japanese versions of the BonusPak applications, and a number of Japanese specific utilities. (Note: Earlier releases of Warp J had English-Only versions of Ultimail. Upgrades are available through the IBM Japan Web/FTP sites.) The Internet Connection package for Warp J will allow you to access Japanese WWW pages, the fj. news groups, send and receive Japanese e-mail, ftp, etc. For those of you without Warp J, here's (GIF 32k) what the IBM Japan Home page should look like.

Native Japanese OS/2 applications are also available (in Japan). Ichitaro, for example, is the Word Perfect of word processors in Japan, and is now 32bit. SimCity Classic was also ported to Warp J.

Luckily for us, Warp J doesn't require any special hardware or software. It will run on any OS/2 capable PC. However, the differences in Warp J will require more from your machine than regular OS/2. Fonts, for example, will take up to 60MB on your hard disk, and will take up plenty of system RAM. Don't even think of running it on less than a fast 486 with 16 meg.

And, because it was designed for the Japanese market, many of the drivers for American made peripherals are not available. HP, for example, makes Japanese versions of their printers. Printing to an American HP Deskjet caused a number of printing peculiarities. HP/GL and Postscript printers and drivers may solve these problems.

Finding Warp J in the US can be difficult though, and often expensive. Your best bet is to actually buy it in Japan. Warp 3.0J CD for Windows was originally marked at 14,200 yen, which is about US$150, just to give you an idea.

In short if you need the ability to multitask multilingual software (in Japanese), there's no operating system better than OS/2 Warp J!

OS/2 Warp 3.0J

letter to the editor.

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