HOWTO: Japanese input in qt and gtk!

[ventper]

thank you, i really needed to find the updated guide.

now i just need to figure out hanyu pinyin input.

[shannon.jacobs]

For Japanese input capability, it used to be sufficient to install Japanese capability from the Language Support tool of the System -> Administration. Obviously not now. I'd already spent a lot of time with the so-called obvious answer before winding up over here... The Language Support tool did SEEM to give me the option of installing Japanese input support, but apparently they fooled me again.

Excuse me, but this is completely insane. Why is Ubuntu getting worse and WORSE with each release? They've already convinced me to stop recommending Ubuntu. I can't even defend Ubuntu against criticism. The reply to "Ubuntu isn't ready for prime time" would be "Yes, but it's even LESS ready than it used to be." I'm still keeping my finger in, but at this point it's basically inertia and residual dislike of Microsoft (and increasing dislike of Apple and Google). I've already spent a lot of time becoming fairly comfortable in the Ubuntu environment, and I think that any other Linux distro would probably give me the same amount of grief. I've given up hoping for any joy here...

[James Keating]

Update for Lucid 10.04:

Ubuntu now uses IBus and no longer supports SCIM. Too bad IBus doesn't work with any Qt-based programs.

My current language setup:

1. Under System, Administration, Language Support, choose Japanese.

2. Install programs that Ubuntu doesn't include by default (including essential packages ...)
edict
enamdict
gjiten
kanjidic
kdrill
poppler-data (to view Japanese PDFs)
gs-cjk-resource
cmap-adobe-japan1
cmap-adobe-japan2
xpdf-japanese

To use SCIM, install:
scim-anthy
scim-bridge-agent
scim-bridge-client-gtk
scim-bridge-client-qt
scim-gtk2-immodule
scim-modules-socket
scim-qtimm

Anthy should already be present, along with ibus-anthy.

To be able to add Japanese words to the dictionary (such as names and place names), install kasumi.

I also installed more ttf fonts, but not all: Sazanami and Kochi gothic and mincho, VL Gothic, , Kiloji, Mikachan and ttf-mscorefonts (MS Gothic and Mincho, Osaka).
Other nice fonts are available at http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Japanese2.html; download and put in your ~/.fonts directory. Not all have romaji, and not all even work. I kept: Aoyagi Kouzan(青柳衡山), Soseki and Reishoka (青柳隷書下), Aquafont, Armed Lemon, Azukifont, Cinecaption, Deshima (出島), several Epson fonts, HuiFont, Kouzan brush (two), Makiba, Mona, Moon, MtTare, nagurigaki, Ohisama, Onryou, SZG Memo, Sanafon (two), Sea, Sword, unifont

3. the hidden home directory file ~/.xinput.d/en_US, which links to /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/scim-bridge, may need editing (as root)
I changed mine to prefer scim-bridge, then scim, and not xim:

XIM=SCIM
if [ -e /usr/bin/skim ]; then
XIM_PROGRAM=" "
else
XIM_PROGRAM=/usr/bin/scim-bridge
fi
XIM_ARGS="-d"
if [ -e /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/*/immodules/im-scim-bridge.so ]; then
GTK_IM_MODULE=scim-bridge
else
GTK_IM_MODULE=scim
fi
if [ -e /usr/lib/qt3/plugins/inputmethods/im-scim-bridge.so ]; then
QT_IM_MODULE=scim-bridge
else
QT_IM_MODULE=scim
fi
DEPENDS="scim | skim, scim-bridge-agent, scim-bridge-client-gtk | scim-bridge-client-qt"

4. Opera, and possibly other QT-based applications, may have more trouble than before. If you can't get Opera to work again with scim, you can start it from the command line with
scim -d & XMODIFIERS="@im=SCIM" QT_IM_MODULE="scim" opera

To start it from the regular menu, I made a file called ~/.bin/opera-scim:

#!/bin/sh
QT_IM_MODULE="scim"; export QT_IM_MODULE
XIM_PROGRAM="scim -d"; export XIM_PROGRAM
opera

and then edited the menus to change the properties of the Opera item to run that file:
opera-scim %u

[orengolan]

Thank you so much James for taking the time and writing those steps for Lucid.

since I use Lubuntu Lucid I don't think I can use the visual instructions on this thread.
I would really like a step by step instructions (I would assume text-based) including all the packages I need and the way to switch between English and Japanese.

having Those instructions will be valuable for
xubuntu/lubuntu/kubuntu or any ubuntu-based distro.

Thanks again!

[James Keating]

Thanks. I've edited my post to note a few more packages that may be needed, especially for those running QT programs like Opera and KDE.

I never heard of Lubuntu before, but the steps ought to work for any variant of Ubuntu. I think it's all there. Add Japanese under System > Administration > Language Support, and pick an input method (IBus is preferred now, but SCIM-Bridge is still better). With Synaptic, add the packages Ubuntu forgot, plus those you may need for QT applications.

Ubuntu makes this all simple, aside from pushing IBus before it's ready.

The only thing that has confused me so far was switching the display language. Anything in the list you initially see under Language Support is available, even if it is grayed out. To change to a language that is grayed out, you can't click on it. Instead, you have to grab it and drag it to the top of the list, then log out and in. Took me quite a while to figure that out. The whole interface is very counterintuitive. (And I wish it would stop insisting I have every English variant installed.)

[orengolan]

thanks!

I also found this thread and going to try it as well:
http://swiss.ubuntuforums.org/showth...1473389&page=3