It has taken me a while to handle Russian text the way I want on all of our computers. Here is some advice - hope it helps.


Windows

The default Russian keyboard on Windows drives me crazy. It is the same as a Russian typewriter, which I hate. English on a Russian keyboard is still Qwerty, so even Russians are somewhat familiar with that layout. I prefer having the layout transliterated, so I don't need to think about it in either language. This is easy. Even if you type in Russian, this is probably a good idea. It won't take long to learn, and will make using a US keyboard easier. You also won't need little stickers on the keyboard.

Go to this page - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PaulGor/kbd_e.htm - there are instructions in English and Russian.

Localizing Windows - This is a harder problem - getting all the programs to have menus in Russian. You need a Russian copy of Windows to get this. Same for each program. Not worth it to me to buy a Russian copy of Office to have a Russian spell check, but there are other options.

OpenOffice.org - there are localized Russian versions. It also has a Russian spell checker. And it is FREE. And doesn't crash.

Installing the Russian versions of chat software, web browsers, etc will give you those programs in Russian too.

Apple Mac OS X:

Apple has a sane phonetic Russian keyboard out of the box. Just turn it on - System Preferences -> Keyboard. Easy.

Mac OS can also be localized (have all the menus in Russian) for free. Go to Apple's Russian website, and download the latest system update for OS X. It will have Russian localizations for all of the menus. You can have one account on the computer in Russian, and one in English.

For Word Processing, you can use NeoOffice (like OpenOffice, but for the Mac). It has Russian spell check as well. Also FREE.

Linux:

Most modern Linux distributions have great Russian language support out of the box. If you install them as a Russian Locale, just about everthing is in Russian. If you have never used it, but have a spare PC that you want to be Russian-Friendly, I would recommend Ubuntu.

Dictionary:

The dictionary at rambler.ru is the most complete on the internet. Словари is the Russian word for dictionary.

Translation:

Google's translator is fast, and just as good as the other ones on the web. http://translate.google.com
Software translation can't help you with slang, context, nuance, etc. That said, this is one of the better ones. It is also faster than a dictionary if you have a few words you would otherwise need to look up in a passage of text.

Internet - General:

There are several ways of encoding Russian text. If you see garbage like Íŕ äŕííîé ńňđŕíčöĺ ďđĺäńňŕâëĺíŕ číńňđóęöč˙ ďî ŕęňč, the problem is that the code page was not detected correctly. In Firefox, go to View -> Character Encoding -> More Encodings -> Eastern European, and try different ones until it works.

This is similar in Internet Explorer.

Fonts and шрифты:

Chances are, the Russian fonts on your computer are awful. Download and install new ones, search on google for "шрифты"

Charis SIL is my favorite: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.ph...d=CharisSILfont
Doulis SIL is also very good: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.ph...d=DoulosSILfont

These will work on any modern computer.

I don't understand how having a "transliterated" layout is easier than having a normal typewriter-layout. It may be easy for you, but it wouldn't make any sense to me or any person who touch-types in both languages.

Most Americans (at least 50% of the people here) do not touch type in Russian, so it would be easier for them. Even if you are Russian, if you don't type well, and are moving to the US, being more comfortable with the Qwerty layout is probably a good idea.

About half the Russians I know prefer a "phonetic-transliterated" layout anyway, since it is easier to deal with on multiple computers, and easier to write Russian transliterated into English when necessary.

Just offering help for anyone that would want this, you don't have to use it if you don't like it.

I like the Dvorak layout myself anyway, but use Qwerty now since I don't know of a good Russian-Dvorak layout, and it is too confusing to switch back and forth.

I have to use translit.ru at work when I need to type in Russian, and I find it extremely inconvenient, but it's just because I'm not used to transliterated typing. I never realized how many people find it easier. And I grew up with the Qwerty layout - I didn't even know it had an alternative! I'm learning new things all the time.

But really, I didn't mean to be rude or anything - I think all your tips are great and thank you for sharing! It's just the touch-typist in me that was a little surprised

translit.ru is just some clever javascript that does basically the same thing.

Why don't you load a Russian keymap on your computer at work? It would drive me crazy if I had to use a website to do this.

I don't think I can load anything on my computer at work It's not allowed.

You don't need a full version of Russian Windows to do this. A copy of Russian Windows is identical to US windows except that they install an additional service pack of a couple hundred megabytes. At least for Windows XP. After that you have an option to switch in between the two language in the Regional and Languages option in the control panel. I believe another tab is added. I played around with it a few years ago and overall chose to stick with the US format because the Russian is just not practical for me.

It will also change the system code page, which may break other things (software that assumes it is running on a US PC).

Sat - where would you get these other language packs?

My wife's cousin burned me a copy of what I thought would be the Russian version of Windows XP. Instead it was just a disk with US windows XP and a folder called Muisetup which contained the Russian language pack. It is about 100 megabytes in size. The readme calls it a "Microsoft® Windows XP Multilingual User Interface Pack." I think you can download it directly from Microsoft as well but it costs money.
I had the link before, but here is something similar but may not be as relevant.
http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/referen...up/default.mspx

Getting used to the Russian keyboard layout took me only a month or so to get down. It was no big deal at all. They place the keys the same way they do for English, with the most common letters being in close proximately. Transliterating only complicates the situation.

Just two kopeks!

Thanks for posting this, Russ.

I'm a big fan of QWERTY and have given up on trying to type in old-school Russian when I switch over. The little stickers have worn out and been replaced several times. Hopefully now, the half that remain will be the last set.

Wow all this talk reminded me of the struggle I have to do anything on my Girlfriends computer.

In the first place, the only time i have ever used windows is at the library to check my mail, I started out on a mac and thats all I know (and not a whole lot of it either).

It is so frustrating to try to figure out what I am doing on her XP while all these boxes with cyrillic warning keep popping up every two minutes.


Then I had the other problem where I could not get my "white-book" to connect on her dial up.
Finally the otherday I went to an Apple message board on Craigslist.org and somene helped me to change the ringer setting so this time ... hopefully I will be able to use my own computer.
Actually the only reason I even bring my "ebay-special" notebook is to unload my camera and video recorder onto it.
That worked out real well, I might add.
I bought this little video camera for like $50 on a close out sale at Comp USA (usually $150), it's about the size of an electric razor. The brand is Aiptec, Target now sells two models.
It uses an SD card and you can put Mp3's on it as well as record sound and of course take pictures and vids.
One other pretty interesting thing about it is you can record off TV or even from a VCR and then it will be stored on the SD card to be burned to disc. I will convert my family vhs tapes to digital this way.


Sure I can make small vid clips from my regular camera but the file is so big, a four minute clip is like 400 Meg. I think there are ways to compress them but, I am not into buying all these programs since computers are not a hobby ... more like a lame-### tool.

If anyone has a simple solution to compress vids, I would be glad to hear it. I tried to put it on my iMovie program but it seemed to take over an hour to even up load it.