Thai(5) File Formats Manual Thai(5)
NAME
Thai, thai - Introduction to Thai language support
DESCRIPTION
TIS 620-2533 is the Thai national standard that defines a primary set of graphic characters for information interchange. The operating sys-
tem supports this standard with coded character set (codeset), locale, device, and other kinds of system files.
Codesets
The operating system supports the following codesets for Thai by means of locales, codeset converters, or both. The string that represents
this codeset in names of locales and codeset converters is TACTIS. For more information, see the TACTIS(5) reference page. The strings
that represent these encoding formats in the names of locales and codeset converters are UCS-2, UCS-4, ucs4, and UTF-8. For more informa-
tion, see the Unicode(5) reference page. The string that represents this encoding format in the names of codeset converters is cp874. For
more information, see the code_page(5) reference page.
Note
Character encoding in UCS-2, UCS-4, and UTF-8 formats is identical to character encoding in the TACTIS codeset. Therefore, you can use data
converted from cp874 format to UCS-2, UCS-4, or UTF-8 when the locale setting is th_TH.TACTIS.
See the i18n_intro(5) and l10n_intro(5) reference pages for introductory information on codesets. The iconv_intro(5) reference page dis-
cusses codeset converters and how to use them.
Locales
The operating system supports the following Thai locale for Thailand:
th_TH.TACTIS
Applications can use the th_TH.TACTIS@ucs4 variant of this locale if they need to convert file data in TACTIS format to UCS-4 process code
to perform certain character-classification operations.
You can use the locale command (see locale(1)) to display the names of locales installed on your system. See i18n_intro(5) for information
on setting locale from the operating system command line.
In the Common Desktop Environment, you also need to set the session language. To do this, use the Language menu, which is accessed from the
Options button of the Login window.
Input Devices, Servers, and Methods
The operating system supports one Thai terminal, the VT382-T.
The operating system supports the LK201, LK401, LK471, LK97W, and PCXAL keyboards for the Thai language. Thai characters are printed on
the keys of the following models:
LK201-T LK401-T LK471-CB LK97W-CB PCXAL-T
There are several methods used to input Thai characters. The following list briefly describes both Thai input methods and the way English
characters are entered on Thai keyboards: Thai Character Input
Non-graphic Thai characters and English characters map to the same set of keys. When input mode is set to on, users can enter the
Thai characters. When input mode is set to off, users can enter English characters. Hex Input
Thai characters are entered by typing their hexadecimal code values. Special Thai Character Input
Graphic characters defined in the TIS 620-2533 standard map to certain keys on Thai keyboards and these characters are entered by
pressing those keys.
For the VT382-T terminal, Thai input mode is provided by terminal firmware.
In a Motif environment such as CDE, Thai input methods do not require an input server to be running. However, if your system default key-
board is not a Thai keyboard, you must load a Thai keymap before starting an application window. See keyboard(5) for more information about
setting and using keyboards.
The Thai VT terminal and Motif keymaps support locking-shift mode switching to toggle between English and Thai character input. English
characters can be entered in the Mode Switch Off state and Thai characters in the Mode Switch On state. Use one of the following key
sequences to toggle the Mode Switch state:
For the VT382-T terminal, press Compose For LK201 keyboards, press Compose+Space For LK401 keyboards, press Compose For PCXAL, LK471, and
LK97W keyboards, press Right Ctrl
These keys are defaults; you can change them to be other keys.
Setting Up Screen Fonts for Motif Applications
X or Motif applications require non-ASCII fonts to display Thai characters. The font path must be set appropriately before starting an
application that displays Thai characters. An application can find Thai fonts in either of the following directories:
/usr/i18n/lib/X11/fonts/decwin/75dpi, for low resolution display /usr/i18n/lib/X11/fonts/decwin/100dpi, for high resolution display
For applications running under CDE, users do not need to set the font path. In other environments, you may need to use the following com-
mand to check the font path: % xset q
If one of the directories in the preceding list is not in the font path, the following example shows how to add the directory. You can
substitute 100dp for 75dpi if you want high resolution display. % xset +fp /usr/i18n/lib/X11/decwin/75dpi/ % xset fp rehash
Printers
The operating system supports the following Thai printer. The associated print filter is noted in parentheses following the printer name.
The Epson LQ1050+ is a 24-pin dot matrix printer.
For more information on setting up and configuring this and generic printers for Thai print jobs, refer to the i18n_printing(5) and
lprsetup(8) reference pages.
In the desktop publishing (DTP) environment for Thai, it is necessary to implement above vowel and tonemark characters that are not defined
in the TIS 620-2555 standard set of graphic characters. These supplementary characters provide the text morphing that appears in printed
Thai text.
Currently, there is no standard way to implement text morphing. Therefore, the rules used by the generic PostScript print filter (wwpsof)
that is supplied with the operating system is proprietary and works with the Thai fonts that are also supplied with the operating system.
If your site installs Thai fonts from third-party vendors, be sure to verify printed output carefully before making the Thai printer queue
generally available.
To enable text morphing in printed output, specify the tm option on the -A flag of the lpr command (see lpr(1)).
SEE ALSO
Commands: locale(1), lp(1), lpr(1), xset(1X), lpd(8), lprsetup(8)
Files: printcap(4)
Others: code_page(5), i18n_intro(5), i18n_printing(5), iconv_intro(5), l10n_intro(5), TACTIS(5), Unicode(5), Wototo(5)
Writing Software for the International Market
Thai(5)