Announcement of VISCII-Compliant Software Applications - Release 3
==================================================================

            San Jose, California, September 1992
                  The TriChlor Group
             Email: trichlor@haydn.stanford.edu


This release includes major support for Microsoft Windows 3.1,
and a move to VISCII 1.1.  It has been an unusually productive 
period for TriChlor and TriChlor-Talk members. Many thanks to
everyone for their time and efforts.  New software added in 
this release is:
   winvnkey, vnfont1, vn-nhac, butviet, more bdf fonts for X,
   vietxrn, vprint, thitap1 .
		
With the newly added Windows and TrueType supports, one can
generate "beautiful" and "professional" publications easily,
such as DDa(.c San, Ba'o Xua^n, Bi'ch Ba'o , Sa'ch ....
And data files are identical across Unix, DOS and Windows
platforms, with the same keyboard entry style.
If you use TriChlor software to generate these publications,
we would be glad to receive a compliment/souvenir copy.

Most of TriChlor software provides a foundation upon which other
Vietnamese dedicated applications can be built.
Following is a short description of all programs.
All are Viet-Std VISCII 1.1 & VIQR compliant.
Unless otherwise specified, most software is written/ported
by   Cuong T. Nguyen (cuong@haydn.stanford.edu)
and  Cuong M. Bui    (bui@berlioz.nsc.com) 



For UNIX & X-Window:
====================

include: Include files for software developers.

lib:     Library routines for software developers.

fonts:   Contains X-Window bitmap fonts, METAFONT sources for
         TeX, pre-made TeX bitmap .pk fonts, and scalable outline
         Type-1 fonts. 

         METAFONT can be used to generate different point sizes
         and typefaces for TeX bitmap .pk fonts. 

         X-Window .bdf fonts include:
           vn10x20.bdf, vnlucida18      [NEW]
                    designed by Thu V. Vu (tvu@sg102a.ess.harris.com)
           vn9x15.bdf , vn-r14.bdf.

         Type-1 fonts: include all the TrueType fonts in vnfont1
         archived under VN/WINDOWS 

vietterm: 
         A modified version of X-Window xterm. It allows
         entry and display of Vietnamese characters, at the same time
         stays compatible with US-ASCII environment, and uses existing
         8-bit clean Unix tools. Changes include 8-bit Viet-Std compliance,
         support for both Athena and MOTIF widgets, radio buttons
         to switch/display keyboard and screen modes.

vnterm :
         A modified version of X-Window xterm. It allows
         entry and display of Vietnamese characters, at the same time
         stays compatible with US-ASCII environment and uses existing
         8-bit clean Unix tools. Changes include 8-bit Viet-Std support.
 
vn7to8 :
         Filters for conversion between 8-bit Viet-Std (VISCII) and 7-bit
         Viet-Std (VIQR) , for printing, posting or mailing . 
         SCV articles and Viet-Net mails (7-bit) can be printed by 
         converting them to 8-bit Viet-Std.
           Algorithm by Hoc D. Ngo (ngo@nas.nasa.gov)

vnpstext:
         Prints 8-bit Viet-Std compliant text files to PostScript printers.
         Uses  PostScript Type 3 Courier font.
         Both regular and bold typefaces are supported. 
         Default to font size 10. Prolog files can be modified
         for different font size.
         Also available for DOS.

vietxmail:
         A modified version of X Window xmail. Used together
         with "vnmailtool" to allow one to read/write 8-bit
         Vietnamese chars in 7-bit channel mail transparently.
         Updates include 8-bit Viet-Std VISCII codes.
         Allows choice of different mail-agents (sendmail) or filters.
         Needs utilities from "vnmailtool" to work.

vnmailtool:
         A set of conversion filters, when set up properly,
         will process Viet-Std mail messages from 8-bit VISCII
	 to 7-bit VIQR and vice-versa transparently.
         Allows choice of different mail-agents (sendmail)
         or filters. Can be used with vietxmail or vietterm/vnterm.
         Also included are viet7to8 and viet8to7 for conversion between
         8-bit VISCII and 7-bit VIQR for posting or mailing.

vn_editmsg:
	Vietnamese filter for Unix mail, rn, Pnews under X.
	Requires vnterm or vietterm, vnelvis, and vn7to8.  Allows
	you to edit your mail messages in Vietnamese and send
	them off after automatic conversion to 7-bit VIQR.
	Similar capability for rn and Pnews.  Implemented as a
	Unix shell script.

vnelvis: 
         A modified "elvis1.4" ("vi" editor clone), tuned for
         8-bit Viet-Std & C0 space characters. Needs vietterm or vnterm.
         Works with most Unix systems. Also available on DOS.
         Needs vietdos on DOS. 

vpp8:    
         A modified version of vpp, a troff preprocessor, used
         to print 8-bit VISCII files. Original program written by Hu+~u,
         ported to C by Nha^n Tra^`n (tran@peora.sdc.ccur.com), ported
         to 8-bit VISCII by TriChlor. Support for Italic added.
         troff is standard on most Unix systems. Scalable fonts.

vnfortune:
         Same as Unix "fortune" program. Displays Vietnamese
         poems, tu.c ngu+~, ca dao ... randomly. Users can add or modify
         the database. Database consists of around 100 phrases ,
         contributed by SCV and Vietnetters, most notably,
            Nguye^~n Thi. Ca-Dao   (ca-dao@sjsuvm1.bitnet)
         Author: Qua^n Tra^`n (qdt00@duts.ccc.amdahl.com)

locale.sun:
         VISCII locale for SUN running OS 4.1. When installed will
         allow direct use of Sun's "vi", "ls" and other tools
         that support locale to work also on 8-bit VISCII
         Vietnamese chars.

vnless: 
         A modified version of "less" to work with 8-bit VISCII.
         Very powerful pager. 

vietsc: 
         A modified "sc", a popular public domain Unix spreadsheet.
         Includes mortgage calculation examples. May need vncurses.

vncurses:
         Vietnamese capable curses library.
         Unix's curses from BSD 4.3 or SVR3 is not-8 bit clean.

lambai:
         A sample application for teaching Vietnamese. Teachers
         can generate coded quiz in Vietnamese. Students answer
         in either English or Vietnamese.
         Also available on IBM PC.

vietxrn:
         Vietnamese capable version of xrn 6.17. For posting, reading and
         replying using Vietnamese 8-bit Viet-Std. Automatic, transparent
         conversion to Viet-Std 7-bit VIQR for posting and mailing.
         To compose and print in 8-bit, needs vietterm or vnterm,
         vnelvis or locale,  and vpp8 or vnpstext. Supports both MOTIF
         and Athena widgets.

For IBM-PC WINDOWS
==================
winvnkey:  [NEW] 
         Allows entry of Vietnamese chars in Microsoft Windows 3.1
         applications. Works with most existing Windows
         applications such as Word, Notepad, Paintbrush, ...
         Viet-Std compliant.

vnfont1 :  [NEW]
         Set of 4 Vietnamese TrueType fonts, VISCII encoding.
           HeoMay   (vn-helvetica) 
           HoangYen (vn-present-script)
           MinhQuan (vn-courier)
           UHoai    (vn-utopia)
         From these fonts, Windows can generate many font sizes and
         variations such as Italic, Bold, and Bold-Italic.         

monmoi:	   [NEW]
	 Adds Vietnamese description to icon. Window's File Manager
         has trouble doing this.

thitap1:   [NEW]
	 Electronic poetry collection of 11 poems by Quang Du~ng.
         Displays and prints poems using Windows' Help facility.

For IBM-PC DOS
==============

vietdos: 
         Allows entry and display of Vietnamese chars. Works
         with most existing softwares such as vi, vnelvis, pctools, xtree,
         MS Edit, WordPerfect, brief , Paradox, Word , C, Pascal, ASM ...
         Requires EGA or VGA. Uses vprint or vlaser to print.

vnelvis: 
         "elvis1.4", a "vi" editor clone, tuned for Vietnamese.
         This is the same version of vnelvis on Unix, ported to DOS.

viet78: 
         filters for 7-bit  (used by SCV, vietnet ) to 8-bit
         VISCII. Also from 8-bit VISCII to 7-bit.

less:  
         public domain "less" pager, better than "more", with environment
         variable for charset tuned for 8-bit Viet-Std

lambai:
         same version of lambai on Unix, ported to DOS.
         Dedicated for teaching/testing using Vietnamese language.
         Requires vietdos.

vlaser2: 
         printing 8-bit Viet-Std Vietnamese on laser printers.
         Supports 4 typefaces.
         Author: Ho`a Nguye^~n (nguyenh@cod.nosc.mil)
         Also author of viet1p6, a Vietnamese word processor.

testdata.std:
         A file of VISCII-1.1 characters for testing software.
         Author: Ho`a Nguye^~n (nguyenh@cod.nosc.mil)

vn-nhac:         [NEW]
         A colorful program that display collection of Vietnamese songs, menu 
         driven.  Currently, there are four volumes consisting of about 200 songs
	 contributed by SCVers and Viet-Netters.
            Author: Ho^` Phu+o+'c Hu`ng (hho@aludra.usc.edu)

butviet:         [NEW]
         A Vietnamese editor, Viet-Std VISCII and VIQR
         compliant, can be used with CGA, Hercules, EGA, VGA.
         Has multi-windows and mouse support.
            Author: Nguye^~n Doa~n Vu+o+.ng (vnguyen@adobe.com)

vprint:	         [NEW]
	 VISCII-1.1 printer driver for Epson and IBM dot-matrix printers.
         Can be invoked from a pipe.  
            Author: Nguye^~n Doa~n Vu+o+.ng (vnguyen@adobe.com)

convert 1.3:     [NEW]
    	 Converts files in one Vietnamese coding format to a dozen other
	 Vietnamese coding formats, including VISCII and VIQR.
            Author: Vietnamese Professional Society
                    (Ho^.i Chuye^n Gia Vie^.t Nam)
                    Email: hcgvn@netcom.com


Work in progress
================
vietvu: similar to winvnkey, can also use clipboard besides
        message hook. 
         Author: Vu~ V. Cha^u (chauv@microsoft.com)

thitap: a bookshelf of poetry volumes, currently has thitap1 (Quang Du~ng).
        Will have  thitap2 (Nguye^~n Bi'nh), thitap3 (Nhie^`u ta'c gia?) ... 
        Many poems were posted by Viet-Netters and SCV-ers. 
        Needs volunteer editors! Contact bui@berlioz.nsc.com if interested.


Proposed projects (Need volunteers!)
====================================

TrueType fonts: Additional fonts are needed. Should be public domain,
         re-distributable.

text2speech: to encode Vietnamese speech and implement text to 
	 speech conversion for Vietnamese text files.

multimedia application:

vietspell: a dictionary-less speller based on lex/yacc.



Getting the software
====================
There is an archive site at sonygate for anonymous ftp, or
if you don't have ftp, there is a mailserver at saigon.com.
Pre-compiled binaries for IBM-PC and  Sun 4/SPARC  are also
available via floppy disks. Binaries are compiled under Sun OS 4.1,
X11R4, OpenWindow 3.0, Motif 1.1 .



  Using anonymous FTP
  ===================

  Here are the instructions for accessing the anonymous FTP archive.

  Site name: sonygate.Sony.Com [192.65.138.2] (try 192.65.138.240 if the
						first one doesn't work)
  Login as anonymous, password is anything (please use your email name).

    % mkdir VN          # where you'll be compiling everything
    % cd VN
    % ftp sonygate.sony.com
    Connected to sonygate.sony.com
    220 sonygate.sony.com FTP server ready.
    Name (sonygate.sony.com:<your_login>): anonymous
    Password (sonygate.sony.com:anonymous): <type_your_name>
    331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
    230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
    ftp> cd tin/VN
    250 CWD command successful.
    ftp> type image  # (or "binary")
    200 Type set to I.
    ftp> get <file>.tar.Z
    ftp> quit

    If you have question/problem accessing the archive, please contact
          Tin Le (tin@smsc.sony.com)

  Using modem or mailserver at Saigon.COM
  ==============================
  From: tin@smsc.sony.com (Le TinTin)
  Subject: [TECH] Instruction for accessing Viet files
  Date: Tue, 4 Aug 92 00:19:56 GMT

  The mailserver at Saigon.COM has been updated to contain the latest
  files from the anon FTP archive at sonygate.  This is for those of
  you without FTP access.  You can retrieve the files through email
  requests.

  You may also dial up Saigon.COM directly and download the files.
  The front end to it is Station Zebra, a BBS.  It is located in the
  San Francisco Bay Area.  The phone number is 408-739-1520.  Login
  with user id of bbs.

  [ MailServer Instructions ]

  Vietnet and Viet software MailServer archive

  This is the MailServer archive for Vietnet and Vietnamese software.  
  It is a duplicate of the anonymous FTP archive.  The purpose of this
  mailserver is to allow those without ftp access to retrieve these
  files.

  The MailServer looks for its instructions in the body of the message.
  Subject header is ignored.  Some of the instructions are:

	LIST directory_name
	DIR directory_name
	CD directory_name
	GET filename
	HELP

  Please make sure that your email address in the header of the message
  is good.  The MailServer uses that to send the files to you.  We've
  gotten a lot of bounced messages from those of you with unreachable
  email address.

  Here is an example session:

	$ mail mailserver@saigon.com
	Subject: <anything here>
	DIR viet.net
	GET viet.net/vnterm.tar.Z
	EOF (type a Control-D)

  The email address of the server is mailserver@saigon.com.
  Some of you who are in the UUCP domain might have problem sending mail
  to an Internet style address.  You could try the following bang paths:

	uunet!sonyusa!szebra!mailserver
	claris!szebra!mailserver
	zorch!szebra!mailserver

  Using modem to phsys.com
  ========================
   VIETNET BBS - phsys.com (PH. Systems)
        Phone No: 1-213-734-8528  (Modem: Hayes V32-V42, 8N1, 300-38400bps)
           Login: NEW  (then fill out questionaire for account)
           Owner: Hu`ng P. Ho^`, hung@phsys.com  (Los Angeles, California, USA)
           Mail Server will be in operation 2nd week of Oct 92, please mail
           to mail-server@phsys.com for more info

  The BBS is a 24-hour public system with Vietnamese newsgroups, Job listings,
  limited Usenet News, mail connections to many other nets including Internet.
  Archive site of all Vietnamese PD software and technical documents from
  Viet-Std, Vietnamese Professional Society, TriChlor , MAT/CAT etc..
  Graphics section has been updated with *.gif from the Viet Nam War era.
  You are welcome to login and download software/gif. Please leave me a
  message/mail so I'll give you full access.



  Using Post Office
  =================
  For DOS/Windows send $5.00 to cover the set of 2 floppy
  disks, and specify your disk type (5-inch disk or 3.5-inch disk). 
  Setup and installation are automated, executables and files will be put 
  in proper place and proper Windows group.

  For Sun Sparc/Sun4/X-Windows binaries, send $10.00 to cover the set
  of 2 floppy disks which contain the following programs:
  vietterm, vnpstext, vpp8, vietxrn, vnelvis, locale, ...  and bdf fonts. 

  Make check payable to : Cuong T. Nguyen (acting accountant)
  Please send to :

    		TriChlor Software
    		3388 Burgundy Drive
    		San Jose, CA 95132


  We definitely are not going to profit from this.  The $5 covering
  mailing expenses doesn't come anywhere close to representing the
  huge effort everyone, named and unnamed, has put into this, both in
  terms of time, keyboard stress, head strain, and out-of-pocket
  expenses to buy compilers, font converters, hardware, etc. to bring
  VISCII/VIQR compliant software to the Vietnamese community.

  If you like what we are doing and would like to to help us meet
  expenses---which are quite real and considerable---your contribution
  in any amount is always welcome, but is never required.




[ For an experimental period, precompiled binaries for a select set
  of TriChlor software will be available via anonymous FTP to
  Haydn.Stanford.EDU (36.22.0.47).  Although limits are not enforced,
  please try to schedule your access between 7PM - 6AM Pacific time .
  Depending on the resulting load on the system, this service may
  become permanent, off-hours, or altogether removed.

  Binaries are currently available for DecStation 3100, Sun-3,
  and Sun-4.  Knowledgeable users with binaries compiled for
  these and other platforms are encouraged to make them available
  to other netters.  Trichlor-binaries@haydn.Stanford.EDU
  is a mailing list for that circle of volunteers who participate
  in this distribution system.  If you have binaries and are
  interested in helping, please send a "SIGN-ON" message to
  trichlor-binaries-request@haydn.Stanford.EDU . ]


Copyright
=========
All software products are copyrighted by respective authors or
the TriChlor group. All rights reserved.
You may copy, distribute, and use these software for any purpose,
as long as you do not charge a fee for doing so, and
include this copyright notice.  All software is provided "as is", 
without express or implied warranty.

All software is provided free of charge as copyrighted freeware
(that means you can have it for free and make as many copies for
as many friends as you like, but we reserve the copyright in order
to prevent unauthorized modifications and to prevent people from
selling it to unsuspecting users---we want to keep the freeware
free).

About the TriChlor group
========================
TriChlor is a group of volunteers whose  common interests are to
provide quality and free utilities, codes, libraries for use with the
Vietnamese language, and to integrate Vietnamese language to current
computing environments.

If you would like to pitch in and help, we can be contacted at
    trichlor@haydn.stanford.edu
If you wish, you may get on the mailing list and participate in
discussions by sending a message to
    trichlor-talk-request@haydn.stanford.edu
 with the subject
    "SIGN-ON".
But please be prepared to donate your time :-).
All works, unless specified, will be placed on public domain.



The TriChlor Group
