--- Forwarded Message from "Kanig, David" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Subject: Converting Devanagari from Mac Classic format to Unicode
>Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:05:14 -0400
>Thread-Topic: Converting Devanagari from Mac Classic format to Unicode
>Thread-Index: AcZlfubqereK19GPRba50U4b6EG9vg==
>From: "Kanig, David" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>

A user has for years been working with Devanagari documents in Mac OS 8,
then 9, using:
 
    1. Apple's Indian Language Kit;
    2. MS Word, up to ver. 2001, now run under Classic in OS 10.4.
    3. two true-type fonts of unknown origin:
        a. DevanagariMT.ttf 
        b. DevanagariMTBold.ttf
 
How can I migrate these docs in this font into platform-independent
Unicode for shared use in modern apps?
 
So far, I've tried: 
 
    1. In Classic Word 2001: attempted to switch the Devanagari font
within a doc to Kanchi NR, a Font Suitcase from Yamada dropped into
System Folder/Fonts, to prepare to attempt to open the doc in a current
version of Word with the new Kanchi font.  However, Devanagari
characters in the Word 2001 doc turn to garbage on change of font
selection to Kanchi.   
 
    2. Word 2003 on Windows XP cannot work with the Mac fonts.
Attempting to install by Control Panel > Fonts > File > Install New
Font... > the wizard does not see any of the fonts: Devanagari MT,
Devanagari MTBold, Kanchi NR.
 
    3. Word 2004 on the Mac: I copied the fonts into:
        a. /Library/Fonts
        b. /System/Library/Fonts
        c. /Users/X/Library/Fonts
However, the fonts don't show up on the font list within Word 2004
(though DevanagariMT shows up in FontBook and TextEdit; see below).
 
    4. TextEdit: opens existing Word 2001 files and renders Devanagari
characters correctly.  However, Devanagari characters in files saved by
TextEdit in Word (.doc) format are garbled in Word 2003 and 2004.
 
    5. Cyclone: the freeware batch-capable front end to the OS X Text
Encoding Converter has explicit settings to convert from the Mac
Devanagari format to Unicode.  I tried converting to Unicode 4.0 UTF-16,
and plain vanilla Unicode.  Devanagari characters in the resulting files
are garbled in Word 2003 and 2004.
 
    6. Apple's Pages (a word processing app in the iWork '06 suite)
opens existing Word 2001 files and renders Devanagari characters
correctly.  However, the .pages format is incompatible with Word.  On
exporting into .doc format, Pages fails with the alert: "The font
'Devanagari MT' couldn't be converted for use by Microsoft Office."
 
    7. AppleWorks 6: cannot open Word 2001 Devanagari files.
 
Can you suggest any tools or strategies for trying to convert this
obscure Mac format Devanagari font into something intelligible to modern
MS Office?
 
David Kanig
Language Resource Center
Brown University
[log in to unmask]
 

***********************************************
 LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for
Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and
Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu).
Join IALLT at http://iallt.org.
Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
***********************************************