| Q |
Is it possible to use
characters from mainframes? |
| A |
There are two problems that
must be solved first. |
Mainframes use different
proprietary character sets depending on the
manufacturer. In addition, some users among those
using mainframes have a large number of
user-defined characters of their own.
The characters used on these systems cannot be
utilized on PCs as they are.
There are two barriers to making it possible to
use them.
-
Character codes
The character set usually
used on PCs, called Shift JIS, has far too few
characters available when compared to mainframe
computers. Even if the characters not available
in Shift JIS were registered as user-defined
characters, it is now often the case that the
number of user-defined characters that can be
used is insufficient.
Some form of system to replace Shift JIS that can
handle large numbers of characters is necessary.
- Fonts
The bitmap fonts used on mainframes cannot be
used on PCs in their current form. This makes it
necessary to find a font that contains the
required characters.
XKP has, as its main purpose, the creation of a
standard method for solving these two problems.
However, XKP is not a group for creating
character codes or fonts. The characters required
differ depending on the user, so there is no
point in standardizing them. The purpose of XKP
is only to provide a method for using the
characters needed.
|
