diff -ru Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/Lib/connector.py Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/Lib/connector.py
--- Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/Lib/connector.py	2003-11-18 14:18:32.000000000 +0100
+++ Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/Lib/connector.py	2005-01-22 14:58:06.866308520 +0100
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
             try:
                 apply(func, args + fargs)
             except:
-                sys.stderr.write(_("Warning: %s.%s: %s%s\n")
+                sys.stderr.write(_("Warning: %s.%s: %s%s\n").encode('ascii','replace')
                                  % (object, channel, func, fargs))
                 import traceback
                 traceback.print_exc()
diff -ru Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/Model/load.py Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/Model/load.py
--- Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/Model/load.py	2003-12-22 18:49:43.000000000 +0100
+++ Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/Model/load.py	2005-01-22 12:42:41.000000000 +0100
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@
                 value = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(self.GetDirectory(),
                                                      value))
             elif d.conversion == "ascii":
-                value = value.encode("ascii")
+                value = value.encode("ascii","replace")
             elif d.conversion:
                 # Assume it's a callable
                 value = d.conversion(value)
diff -ru Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/UI/about.py Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/UI/about.py
--- Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/UI/about.py	2004-12-20 16:13:38.000000000 +0100
+++ Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/UI/about.py	2005-01-22 15:15:20.427183384 +0100
@@ -137,4 +137,7 @@
 
 def unicodeToLocale(unicodeStr):
     "Function to convert unicode to the user's locale encoding"
-    return unicodeStr.encode(getdefaultlocale()[1])
+    #return unicodeStr.encode(getdefaultlocale()[1])
+    # on Mandrake wxPython is build with unicode and the default
+    # encoding of the system is "ascii".
+    return unicodeStr
diff -ru Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/UI/application.py Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/UI/application.py
--- Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/UI/application.py	2004-02-19 16:19:39.000000000 +0100
+++ Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/UI/application.py	2005-01-22 14:57:05.143691784 +0100
@@ -104,22 +104,22 @@
                         # The ImportError exception was raised from
                         # inside the thubanstart module.
                         sys.stderr.write(_("Cannot import the thubanstart"
-                                         " module\n"))
+                                         " module\n").encode('ascii','replace'))
                         traceback.print_exc(None, sys.stderr)
                     else:
                         # There's no thubanstart module.
-                        sys.stderr.write(_("No thubanstart module available\n"))
+                        sys.stderr.write(_("No thubanstart module available\n").encode('ascii','replace'))
                 finally:
                     # make sure we delete the traceback object,
                     # otherwise there's be circular references involving
                     # the current stack frame
                     del tb
             except:
-                sys.stderr.write(_("Cannot import the thubanstart module\n"))
+                sys.stderr.write(_("Cannot import the thubanstart module\n").encode('ascii','replace'))
                 traceback.print_exc(None, sys.stderr)
         else:
             # There's no .thuban directory
-            sys.stderr.write(_("No ~/.thuban directory\n"))
+            sys.stderr.write(_("No ~/.thuban directory\n").encode('ascii','replace'))
 
     def splash_screen(self):
         """Create and return a splash screen.
diff -ru Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/UI/projdialog.py Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/UI/projdialog.py
--- Thuban-1.0.1/Thuban/UI/projdialog.py	2004-12-16 11:56:17.000000000 +0100
+++ Thuban-1.0.1-new/Thuban/UI/projdialog.py	2005-01-22 14:57:50.971724864 +0100
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@
             try:
                 projfile, warnings = get_user_proj_file()
                 if warnings:
-                    sys.stderr.write("".join(warnings))
+                    sys.stderr.write(("".join(warnings)).encode('ascii','replace'))
                 self.__usrProjFile = projfile
             finally:
                 ThubanEndBusyCursor()