Information
·	BRAMA Computing
·	Brief Explanations of Software Available at this Server
·	Configure your PC: Ukrainianization of Windows/PC/DOS-based Applications
·	Configure your Mac: Ukrainianization of Macintosh by Zenon Feszczak (non-technical)
·	RUSTEX-L Cyrillic Encoding FAQ (Technical)
·	Cyrillic Encoding Tables (Technical)
·	BRAMA Home

Software
·	Macintosh (fonts, keyboards, other)
·	Unix/Linux (fonts, utility, keybd)
·	Windows 3.1 (fonts, keyboards, other)
·	Windows 95/98/NT (fonts, keyboards, other)
·	DOS (fonts, keyboards, other)

Interactive Forums
·	Subscribe to: computers@brama.com or go to the Computer Archives.
·	ukr.* newsgroups

Digital Images
·	Digital Embroidery traditional sidebars, dividers, etc.
·	Ukragrafix large collection of wallpapers, sidebars, dividers, icons, graphics sets
·	Icons for Windows
·	Tryzub art images

Other Resources
·	Links

About fonts and encodings

In order to view and read items which use the Cyrillic alphabet on your PC it is necessary to have proper fonts installed. Fonts are based on something known as encodings. Encodings are mappings of letters and symbols to numbers, generally limited to 256 numbers. By convention and standardization the numbers 0 to 127 are assigned to letters and symbols used in English; numbers 128 to 255 are used to accomodate the letters and symbols of non-English alphabet languages. This "English+some other alphabet" mapping allows for the use of English and other languages together, convenient for things such as translations.

In the case of Cyrillic and more specifically Ukrainian Cyrillic letters, they are mapped to this "upper" range. However, rather than there being one mapping accomodating all Cyrillic letters which are used in all modern Slavic languages there are several, with no one predominating. These encodings all bear cryptic names and are used more by convention within particular applications and operating environments rather than for particularly compelling technological reasons.

Encodings (with their particular operating and application realm) include but are not limited to:
CP1251 - Predominantly used on Windows-based systems and many webpages
Apple Standard Cyrillic - Predominantly used on Macintosh systems
KOI8 - Predominantly used for communicating in email and Usenet groups on the Internet
CP866 - Mostly used on DOS-based systems
ISO8859-5 - Mostly used on multi-user systems such as Unix
Unicode - A 38,000+ character multilanguage encoding currently in development designed to support the interchange, processing, and display of the written texts of the diverse languages of the modern world. In addition, it supports classical and historical texts of many written languages.

Further, CP1251, Apple Standard Cyrillic, and ISO8859-5 can accomodate all modern Cyrillic based Slavic languages, including Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbian. KOI8 and CP866 encodings only enable you to work in Ukrainian, Russian, and Belorussian. One more complicating factor is that KOI8 was initially designed for exclusive use with Russian, several variants (koi8-r, koi8-u, koi8-ru or koi8-unified) have developed in attempts to standardize the encoding for use with Ukrainian and Belorussian. For those interested in the more technical details of encodings please refer to the Rustex-FAQ; to see the encodings' mappings to numbers please refer to " Cyrillic Encodings". Both items are available at this website.

About keyboards

Fonts offer the possiblity to view and read text in Cyrillic, but in order to create and edit text it is necessary to have keyboard utilities (or drivers) which enable you to type in Cyrillic. The principal feature common to all keyboard drivers which enable you to use Cyrillic is that they switch (or toggle) between one keyboard layout (generally used for English) and another (generally used for Cyrillic, in our case Ukrainian Cyrillic). Basic keyboard drivers are relatively easy to install and come with preconfigured keyboard layouts giving users simple choices and being. More involved and versatile ones allow users to reconfigure keyboards along with having onscreen displays of the layout in use.

About zipping/compression

Many files and programs found on the Internet, including fonts and keyboard drivers, are distributed in "zipped" format. This is a defacto convention used for compressing and/or bundling related files. After retrieving "zipped" or compressed files and programs, and prior to their installation and configuration, it is necessary to "unzip" or uncompress them. For links to "zipping/unzipping" programs and information on their use please see our system-specific section.