Installation instructions for Windows 2000

Requirements

You will need to install the following items:

• Meltho OpenType Fonts
• Syriac Keyboards

Microsoft Products

To work with the Meltho Syriac fonts, you must first install a Microsoft product that supports Syriac under Windows 2000. Microsoft products that support Syriac are:

• Office XP
• Internet Explorer 6.0

1. INSTALLATION

1.1 Installing Syriac Keyboards.

Double click on the file kbdsy.exe. There are no other steps involved. When the program is done, it would have installed two keyboard drivers for you: Syriac 101 (the standard Syriac modeled after the Arabic 101 keyboard), and Syriac Phonetic.

1.2. Installing Meltho Fonts

Double click on Meltho.msi and follow the instructions.

If you cannot run Meltho.msi, you can extract the files manually from Meltho.zip. The font files go to the Font directory. For Meltho.dot, see section 2.2 below. The User Guide file should go in a new directory called C:\Program Files\Meltho so that it can be accessed from Meltho.dot.

2. SETTING YOUR SOFTWARE TO USE SYRIAC

2.1 Making Syriac available Under Windows 2000.

You must have Windows 2000 in order to create Syriac documents.

Click Start | Settings | Control Panel. Double click on Regional Options. Check Arabic. Click OK. (Note. Windows XP will have Syriac listed. For now, we need to use Arabic.)

Now click Start | Settings | Control Panel. Double click Keyboard. Click Input Locales. Click Add. Under Input Locale, choose Arabic (Syria). Under Keyboard Layout/IME, choose either Syriac 101 (if you want a Syriac keyboard like the Arabic one), or Syriac Phonetic (if you want a phonetic keyboard). Click OK. Click OK again. Now you should see in the lower right corner of the screen an icon with the letters EN (for English; that is if you are running in English mode). Click on that icon. You should see an option for Syriac. To make available both the Standard 101 and the Phonetic keyboards at the same time, repeat this steps again.

2.2 Making Syriac available Word XP.

Make sure you have Office XP installed. Click on Start | Programs | Microsoft Office Tools | Microsoft Office XP Language Settings. Click on Arabic. Click Add. Then click on Syriac and click Add.

The Meltho package also comes with menus and macros that will help you write Syriac in Word. These are in a file called Meltho.dot and are located in C:\Program Files\Meltho (after you do the installation in step 1.2 above). If you want to use these menus in all your Word documents (recommended), you need to copy the Meltho.dot file to the directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Startup. These menus feature:

• Easy access to Meltho fonts.
• Images of the Syriac keyboards.
• Inserting Syriac numbers: type a number between 1 and 1,000,000 and the macro will covert that into Syriac letter numbers.
• Meltho Documentation.
• Links to the SyrCOM discussion group and the Beth Mardutho Site.
• About Meltho: list of contributors and financial supporters.

You should be able to use Syriac in Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher. You will be able to use Syriac also in Internet Explorer for Web pages, and Outlook Express for email. Yes! You can send Syriac email!

2.3 Making Syriac available Outside of Word (Optional)

Office XP ships with Syriac support, but this support is limited to Office XP applications. Until Windows XP comes out at the end of 2001, you can make the Syriac support that comes with Office XP available to other applications that use the Unicode Script Engine such as Notepad, Paint, etc.

Warning! This step is involved. You do not need to perform it to use Syriac under Office XP.

Basically, you need to copy the file C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Office10\usp10.dll to C:\WINNT\system32.

Have an empty formatted disk ready for back up - just in case!! You have to reboot your machine is "safe mode". To do so, click on "Start" | "Shut down...". Now choose "Restart". Windows 2000 will now restart. As it is restarting, keep hitting the "F8" key until you get a Menu of options. Chose "Safe Mode" and hit enter. (Note. If you get to the main Window screen, that means you did not hit F8 fast enough!!) Restart and try again. If you succeeded in choosing "safe mode". Windows will now run and will indicate that you are in safe mode.

Click on "My Computer". Chose your main hard drive, probably C:. Click in "WINNT". Click on "Show Files". Click on "system32". Click on "Show Files". Look for the file USP10.dll and click on it. Click on "Edit" on the top menu, then "Copy". Insert the empty disk. In the "Address" bar, choose the A: drive. Once you are on A:, click on "Edit", then "Paste". Now you have made a backup copy of your original USP10.dll. This copy is for safekeeping in case you make a mistake that you will regret in the steps that follow.

Now, using the "Address" bar, go to the directory C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Office10. Click on USP10.dll. Click on "Edit", then "Copy". Now go back to the "C:\WINNT\system32" directory as before. Click on "Edit", then "Paste". Now you have replaced your original USP10.dll with the one that is part of the Meltho package. Now click on "Start", then "Shut Down...", then "restart". Let the computer restart in normal mode.

In some computers, you might get an error message concerning "sharing violation" and you are not allowed to replace your original USP10.dll with the new one. In this case you have to follow another method for installing it as follows: First copy the file C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Office10\usp10.dll to a floppy disk. Then you need to make another bootable disk on a Windows 98 machine. Find a computer that has Windows 98 on it. Insert an empty disk. Run Start | Programs | Windows Explorer. Right-click on drive "A", then choose "Format". Under Format Type, check "full". Under Other Options, click "Copy System Files". Then Click "Start". Take this disk to your Windows 2000 Professional machine. Insert the above disk on the Windows 2000 Professional machine, and restart the computer. Insert the first floppy with the usp10.dll file, then using DOS commands, type "copy a:usp10.dll C:\WINNT\system32" and replace your old file with the new one. Remove the disk, and restart the computer.

George Kiraz, Ph.D.
Director, Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Computing Institute