Calling from Python on Windows

Hi fellows,

I need to call FriBiDi on Windows from Python. 

My attempts to call FriBiDi.dll as found on the web (e.g., extracted
from the php project binaries) through ctypes have all failed. 

On the other hand, no fribidi/fribidi2 distribution or CVS can be built
on mingw32 to produce a DLL of my own (tried MSYS on the XP and Linux
cross compilation as well). All broken one way or another, what a pity.

Is using Visual Studio the only way forward?

Thanks, Enoch.

P/S How I wish FriBiDi is included in Python's set of "batteries"...