Here is how you can acquire and install a kxterm binary. (There are many other ways to do this, of course. We are just showing one example.) The instructions here have been designed for those without a good Unix background. We assume the C shell is used.

First make sure you are in your home directory.

Now, download kxterm for your machine:

• Sun

• DEC

• SGI

• HP

• Red Hat Linux, Version 6.1 (will probably work for most versions of Linux being used today)

Then from another window in which you are also in your home directory, do the following (if your Web browser told you it uncompressed the file it downloaded, skip the first step):

gunzip kxterm.tar.gz
mkdir kx
mkdir kx/bin
cd kx/bin
tar xf ../../kxterm.tar
chmod u+x kxterm
cd ~

Next, acquire the font files, by clicking here. (Note: We have altered the Imakefile.) Then unpack:

gunzip Font.tar.gz
cd kx
tar xf ../Font.tar
cd xfonts
xmkmf
make
cd ~
rm Font.tar

Next, acquire the dictionary files, by clicking here. Then unpack:

gunzip Dict.tar.gz
cd kx
tar xf ../Dict.tar
cd ~
rm Dict.tar

Finally, add the following to your .xinitrc, .xsession or other X11 startup file:

xset fp+ ~/kx/xfonts
xrdb -merge ~/kx/bin/CXterm.ad

(The first time you use kxterm, you will have to leave X11 and then start it up again, so that these startup commands take effect. Or you can run them "by hand" the first time.)

To run kxterm, type

set k = ~/kx
$k/bin/kxterm -fh hku16et -hz BIG5 -hid $k/dict/big5 -name cxtermb5 -kxdd $k/dict/kx &

set k = ~/kx
$k/bin/kxterm -fh hanzigb16st -hz GB -hid $k/dict/gb -name cxterm -kxdd $k/dict/kx &

for Big5 or Guobiao coding, respectively (or make aliases for such commands).

You can use kxterm just like cxterm, for both reading Chinese text and writing Chinese files. (Click here for an overview of cxterm.) However, kxterm also serves as an automatic dictionary-lookup program, as follows:

While reading Chinese text, each time you see a character you do not know, click on it with the left mouse button. Pronunciations (Cantonese, then Mandarin), as well as an approximate English translation, for the character will then appear at the bottom of the kxterm screen. If this character, along with neighboring characters, forms a character-compound found in Compound.b5, this compound will be displayed as well. This material will also be recorded in the ShengZi file, giving you a record of all the new characters and compounds you have learned.

If you wish to use normal xterm cut-and-paste, you can temporarily disable kxterm's dictionary-lookup feature by clicking the left mouse button anywhere in the bottom area of the screen. This will be confirmed by a dimming of the "KX System" message there. To restore the dictionary-lookup feature, simply click with the mouse again.

Disclaimer: kxterm comes with no warranties of any kind, explicit or implicit.