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  • SBBS - multi-language support?

    From Nimda Oropax@1:103/705 to All on Thu Aug 6 14:13:36 2020
    Hi All!

    It is nice to be in the BBS world after 20+ years break.

    For several years I was running a FidoNet node in Poland, as 2:480/70, and now after a long break I've started to set up a BBS as a part of the history museum project, to show the networking looked like in the past.

    The problem I've encountered, however, is the lack of the multi-language support. As I'll be targeting amateurs, kids, etc, I need the board to speak Polish, too. I remember back in the days, when I was running RA, that it was pretty common, however did not find any solution for SBBS so far.

    Is there an easy way to prepare a localisation package?

    Or if not, is there an elegant way to make a hack to support it, I don't know, maybe a variable that is set during the new user creation, and later on, based on that variable, the proper directory with the localised menus would appear?

    Any help would be much appreciated.
    Thanks!

    Nimda Oropax

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Duro Sector BBS (bbs.krap.pl)
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Underminer@1:103/705 to Nimda Oropax on Thu Aug 6 15:52:38 2020
    Re: SBBS - multi-language support?
    By: Nimda Oropax to All on Thu Aug 06 2020 02:13 pm

    speak Polish, too. I remember back in the days, when I was running RA, that it was pretty common, however did not find any solution for SBBS so far.
    Or if not, is there an elegant way to make a hack to support it, I don't know, maybe a variable that is set during the new user creation, and
    later
    on, based on that variable, the proper directory with the localised menus

    You could use the existing flag system to corrospond to languages, then write your own tree to display different .ans or .asc menu files if you write a new default shell in baja or js. Probably not as easy as you were looking for, but what comes to my mind.
    ---
    Underminer
    The Undermine BBS - bbs.undermine.ca:423
    Fidonet: 1:342/17
    ---
    þ Synchronet þ The Undermine - bbs.undermine.ca:423
    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)
  • From Digital Man@1:103/705 to Nimda Oropax on Thu Aug 6 22:42:17 2020
    Re: SBBS - multi-language support?
    By: Nimda Oropax to All on Thu Aug 06 2020 02:13 pm

    Hi All!

    It is nice to be in the BBS world after 20+ years break.

    For several years I was running a FidoNet node in Poland, as 2:480/70, and now after a long break I've started to set up a BBS as a part of the
    history
    museum project, to show the networking looked like in the past.

    The problem I've encountered, however, is the lack of the multi-language support. As I'll be targeting amateurs, kids, etc, I need the board to
    speak
    Polish, too. I remember back in the days, when I was running RA, that it
    was
    pretty common, however did not find any solution for SBBS so far.

    Is there an easy way to prepare a localisation package?

    Or if not, is there an elegant way to make a hack to support it, I don't know, maybe a variable that is set during the new user creation, and later on, based on that variable, the proper directory with the localised menus would appear?

    Any help would be much appreciated.

    Synchronet supports multiple command-shells and alternate text.dat files (or even string-by-string replacement, if you don't want/need to translate/localize *all* the strings). It'd be easy enough to ask a new user their language preference a set a flag (you have 104 of them choose from) and then load a custom/translated shell or text.dat based on that flag.

    The tricky part is if they can't use the CP437 character set...

    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #87:
    UTF-8 = 8-bit Unicode Transformation Format
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    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)