I asked folks on the TLUG ("T" is for Tokyo) mailing list about distributions and Japanese a few years ago when I was getting started with Linux. Most people recommended Debian, and after having used it and a couple of others, I would agree. Debian has a number of very active Japanese developers, and includes everything that you'll need to get Japanese input / display working; just point dselect or apt to the packages you need and get cracking.
As for word processing, take a look at the lyx-cjk package.
I prefer vim for writing, but maybe I'm just old fashioned, but there are other japanese-dekiru editors out there, most notably the xemacs21-mule package.
You might have your father-in-law check out the TLUG pages as well:
I'd say a full 90% of the systems out there have absolutely no need for a full (or even stripped down) Linux (or anything else) kernel. Cellphones?! gimme a break!
I'd agree that it does seem like putting Linux on a cellphone might be a bit of overkill, but I think this actually makes sense given the Japanese electronics market.
The Japanese article mentioned "cellphones, home electronics, and car navigation systems," all of which are fairly complex pieces of machinery here in Japan, more often than not connected to the internet:
The newer car-nav systems are essentially already very specialized PCs in their own right: Color LCD's, internet access with the ability to calculate alternate routes in heavy traffic, and a DVD drive so you can watch movies while you're stuck in traffic.
Home electronics are heading in the same direction (Don't know about you, but I don't see much difference between the PlayStation II and that $199 Linux-powered NIC that showed up on Slashdot yesterday, except that the PlayStation is a lot cooler; imagine if it were open and you could buy one and use it as an X-terminal...)
Cell phones are getting there. The most popular cell-phone service in Japan right now (high school students even carry these things) is NTT's i-Mode, which features e-mail and specialized internet access, with which people can transfer money from their bank account, book airline tickets, find restaurants, read news headlines, etc. (exactly what Japanese people with tiny cellphone screens would want when they're walking around with said tiny cellphones).
It seems that the software in these things would be fairly complex. It seems to me like it's a good idea that these things all use a compatible OS -- I'm frankly amazed and quite happy that all of these companies have decided to decide upon an open and freely-available standard. The nice thing about Linux is that it's free, it's available now, and companies can modify it to make it as light as they need. Just because they're choosing Linux, it doesn't mean that my next cell phone is going to have X and a complete TeX installation on it or anything.
Tako isn't a bad name. One of my least favorite kinds of sushi, but certainly one of the most interesting and probably exotic if you haven't had it before. Least I thought it was the first time someone handed me a piece of the rubbery stuff.
Note: Tako is NOT tuna. It's octopus. I'd hardly call that boring.
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I asked folks on the TLUG ("T" is for Tokyo) mailing list about distributions and Japanese a few years ago when I was getting started with Linux. Most people recommended Debian, and after having used it and a couple of others, I would agree. Debian has a number of very active Japanese developers, and includes everything that you'll need to get Japanese input / display working; just point dselect or apt to the packages you need and get cracking.
As for word processing, take a look at the lyx-cjk package.
I prefer vim for writing, but maybe I'm just old fashioned, but there are other japanese-dekiru editors out there, most notably the xemacs21-mule package.
You might have your father-in-law check out the TLUG pages as well:
http://www.tlug.gr.jp
best of luck to you
I'd say a full 90% of the systems out there have absolutely no need for a full (or even stripped down) Linux (or anything else) kernel. Cellphones?! gimme a break!
I'd agree that it does seem like putting Linux on a cellphone might be a bit of overkill, but I think this actually makes sense given the Japanese electronics market.
The Japanese article mentioned "cellphones, home electronics, and car navigation systems," all of which are fairly complex pieces of machinery here in Japan, more often than not connected to the internet:
It seems that the software in these things would be fairly complex. It seems to me like it's a good idea that these things all use a compatible OS -- I'm frankly amazed and quite happy that all of these companies have decided to decide upon an open and freely-available standard. The nice thing about Linux is that it's free, it's available now, and companies can modify it to make it as light as they need. Just because they're choosing Linux, it doesn't mean that my next cell phone is going to have X and a complete TeX installation on it or anything.
Tako isn't a bad name. One of my least favorite kinds of sushi, but certainly one of the most interesting and probably exotic if you haven't had it before. Least I thought it was the first time someone handed me a piece of the rubbery stuff.
Note: Tako is NOT tuna. It's octopus. I'd hardly call that boring.
Prize: 1 virtual beer. 2 if you don't have to use a search engine
(Unfortunately, I live in Japan right now so the quality of the beer is somewhat lacking. If'n you want virtual sake, I can do that, too).
jawbone
corkscrew
sockemdog
gorilla
sunshine
tablesaw
pillow
ironring
The list could go on and on...