|
Tibetan Word Processing on the Mac:
Shifting Development to OS X
The Nitartha-Sambhota 2.0 keyboard word processing system is not available for the Macintosh platform at this time. Keyboard software for Mac OS X is
currently in development.Although at the present time we do not have a keyboard for inputting Nitartha-Sambhota fonts directly into a Mac system, our new Tibetan
fonts work with the Nitartha-Sambhota Converter for the Mac
to allow portability of Nitartha-Sambhota documents between the PC and Mac platforms. Microsoft Word for the Mac since version six has has had an
uncomfortable relationship with the Mac OS. Due to bugs in Word, we discontinued distribution of Nitartha-Sambhota 1.0 for the Mac platform and started development for Mac OS X, the next generation Mac-OS system
announced by Mac some years ago. Nitartha-Sambhota 1.0 Macintosh Limitations
Prior to Word 6.0, Nitartha-Sambhota functioned on the Mac platform as expected. However, problems with the Nitartha-Sambhota 1.0 interface running in Microsoft
Word 6 for the Mac have been reported by a number of our users. This may be related to other widespread reports of instability in certain features of Microsoft Word 6 for the Macintosh. Those using using Word 6 for the Mac and later with Sambhota version 1.0 reported that they were able to achieve limited functionality through the following work-arounds. First,
one must make sure that sufficient memory is available for Word 6 to run on the Macintosh. At a minimum one needs 7 megabytes of memory beyond what is used by System 7. This typically means that 16 megabytes
of physical memory are required on the machine. When using the Sambhota interface to Word on the Mac, virtual memory and the modern memory manager need to be turned off. One may also have to check that there
are no problematic extensions running using the Extensions Manager. Finally Microsoft Word on the Mac will gradually lose memory. This means that after one has typed four or five pages in Tibetan, one has to
save the current work, exit Word and then restart Word. Even though such problems exist, some of our users are successfully using the product. However, we do not deem this state of affairs acceptable.
We conveyed the problems to Microsoft. Microsoft has stated that the subsequent releases of Word fixed many of these problems, but our testing of the implementation was not satisfactory. Accordingly, we
discontinued distribution of Nitartha-Sambhota for Word for this generation of Mac OS and have turned our development efforts to OS X. At this time, no keyboard program is available for OS X, but we hope to
announce release plans in the near future. Please check this website for details. In the meantime, we have made N-S Converter for the Mac available to those who wish to use the Mac platform for Tibetan documents input
in roman script transliteration or transported from other platforms.
Click here for information on purchasing N-S Converter for the Mac. |
