With the release of System 7.5 there is built in support for many European languages. For more informaiton search the Tech Info Library for the article titled, "Keyboard Control Panel: International Layouts (10/94)".
You can add keyboard layouts from other countries to your system by
dragging keyboard resources known as a KCHRs into your System Folder.
You can extract the KCHR from the internationalized version of system
software of the country you want. Using German as an example, find
the German 7.1 Images on the System Software CD (part of the
Developer CD series). Double click on the Deutsch 7.1.sea and
download the software to your hard drive. Double click on the System
suitcase, and you'll see the KCHR for German.
Once you've extracted this resource, follow these steps:
1) Drop the German KCHR file into your U.S. System File within the
System Folder.
2) Choose the Keyboard Control Panel in the Apple Menu. You'll see
that for Keyboard Layout, German KCHR is now one of the choices.
If you highlight German KCHR, your keyboard now becomes German.
3) You can check that you're in German mode by choosing Key Caps from
the Apple menu. You'll find, for example, that the "y" key now
becomes the "z" key and vice versa.
For your reference, system resources of type KCHR map key codes to
character codes. Each resource of type KCHR normally corresponds to a
natural language, and represents the character set in which the
language is written.
Another good source of information is the book called "Guide to
Software Localization" which you can order through APDA.
Article Change History:
17 Jan 1995 - Added System software version and System 7.5 information.
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