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kobeonsen · Feb 20, 2004, 05:19 AM

hi guys,

I am planning to ask a friend to buy an iBook G4 (933 MHz) from japan. I like to know if I can change the default language to English instead. Will there any complication if I use/install the English software such as iLife and Freehand?

Another question (sorry), can I use Adobe PageMaker for edit/type Chinese or Japanese characters?

Thanks and regards,

Kobe

nobitacu · Feb 20, 2004, 06:07 AM

Hello,

The good thing about Mac OS X is that it is the same OS all around the world. The only difference is what language is selected as default. To make the change is easily done, simply click on the "System Preferences" on the dock, than under "Personal" you will see the icon that says "International" Click on that than you will see a list of all the languages that Mac OS X supports. Just drag and put the main default language you want to use to the top of the list, than log out than log in again, you'll have that as the default language of your OS. Also, you would want to than change the formats as well, and change the keyboard input under "input Menu" Just mess around with those and see what happens.

Ming

rjenkinson · Feb 20, 2004, 06:11 AM

don't forget that the machine itself will come with a japanese keyboard unless you order it from apple japan. either keyboard can be used for english or japanese, but the japanese keyboard has a slightly different layout.

-r.

kobeonsen · Feb 20, 2004, 06:13 AM

Thanks a million, Ming. I was worried once if I will get a problem with the iBook from Japan. I probably buy from Japan since the price is a hundred cheaper than Singapore.

fuji · Feb 20, 2004, 03:27 PM

Hi,

I have a japanese ibook g4 brought in japan and using successfully in London, when you first turn on the machine fresh out of the box, all the initial setup stuff such as setting main user account, address details, .mac account signup, time/date settings are all in japanese. Once you boot into the desktop the first time it will all be in japanese but like other posters have said, its simply a matter of changing the options in the system preferences which is very easy to do. Mines in English.
You may have to log in and log out to see the changes.
The login window/sign-in screen buttons (sleep, restart, shutdown) are still labelled (in my case anyway) in japanese and displays japanese text when booting to the login/sign-in screen.
The spacebar on the japanese keyboard is much smaller as an extra key sits either side for changing japanese alphabets.
Hope this helps.

wataru · Feb 20, 2004, 07:25 PM

After changing the setting in System Preferences you do have to log out to get all apps and services into English.

Note that many people hate the JIS keyboard with a passion. If you plan to be typing a lot of English on it, I suggest you get a regular US keyboard. You don't want to have to hit shift-7 for an apostrophe all the time, do you?

nobitacu · Feb 20, 2004, 09:43 PM

I've never seen what the Japanese keyboard looks like on the iBook or Powerbook. Anyone here have a link for a picture or can load one in here so I can see what the difference is?

Thanks,

Ming

rjenkinson · Feb 20, 2004, 09:51 PM

-r.

nobitacu · Feb 21, 2004, 08:57 AM

Wow! It looks so confusing...

Ming

David Lee · Feb 22, 2004, 06:15 AM

Don't worry about that, it looks much more confusing than it actually is, simply because almost no one uses the hiragana input method - the "romanji" letter input is standard even for 99% of the Japanese. Aslo you can install OSX and specify English from the first page, switching to Japanese later (have to add that language during the install). I use that keyboard on a 933 iBook G4 and I'm an American. You probably would feel more comfortable with the English one though. I ordered the Japanese board to keep all of the keyboards I use here the same (have a G4 tower too with the JIS layout.) no sweat really.

wataru · Feb 22, 2004, 12:32 PM

Originally posted by David Lee:
"romanji"

It's "romaji." [\petpeeve]

yogi · Feb 22, 2004, 09:49 PM

Hey Kobe.
I bought same ibook as you considering, and love it. If you order through the apple online store in Japan you can get US keyboard. The OS can be completely switched to English. The only language issue with the software is with Appleworks--the word processor, spreadsheet, etc software. This is Japanese language only. However when I called the phone support they were very nice and sent me new OS with English appleworks.
Enjoy your new mac!
yogi