skim howto

[jyp]

Does anybody know how to make skim work in Kubuntu?

The locales cjk are installed.
I can lauch skim and it appears in the system tray. But then, nothing works.

I have installed Ubuntu on my laptop and there is no problem there with scim.

My beloved Chinese girlfriend has been waiting for many months for skim to work in order to switch from MS to Kubuntu.

I have read
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/InputMethods/SCIM/Setup
but I surely miss something. Being a newbie, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[askrieger]

Re: skim howto

I looked at the wiki page you referenced and I'm not sure what to tell you. If you can ask a specific question about what is confusing you, I'll be glad to answer it.

[jyp]

Re: skim howto

Thank you for responding; I try to solve this problem in Kubuntu since Breezy.

I prefer using KDE over Gnome but nevertheless, I installed Ubuntu on my laptop (Dell Inspiron 8200) using the alternate cd and the expert way because I like the text installer very much and wanted to be sure to install the asian locales (CJK). And there, the scim input method is available in gedit. It appears in the system tray and I can easily swith between EN and Chinese; I have to use a keyboard shortcut to get french though. So it is usable.

In Kubuntu, which is installed on my desktop computer, launching skim seems to go without problem; I see the icon in the system tray but that's the only thing that is happening; I tried to configure it as I did in Gnome, but it is still unusable. Clicking on it (right or left!) does not produce anything in Kate or in OpenOffice or Kword.

In fact, when I left-click on the icon in the system tray, there is a tiny white horizontal rectangle appearing over the icon (I suspected that this should have been the input window).

Any guideline would be appreciated.

[jyp]

Re: skim howto

Maybe it could be useful.

This is what I get when I start skim from the command line

jy64@kubu64:~$ skim
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 147
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 147
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
Launching a SCIM daemon with Socket FrontEnd...
Loading kconfig Config module ...
Creating backend ...
Loading socket FrontEnd module ...
Starting SCIM as daemon ...
Launching a SCIM process with x11...
Loading socket Config module ...
Creating backend ...
Loading x11 FrontEnd module ...
Starting SCIM as daemon ...
SCIM has been successfully launched.
skim: sighandler called
jy64@kubu64:~$

[askrieger]

Re: skim howto

The stuff about the X error is probably attributable to the fact that you haven't removed the three stanzas in your xorg.conf file that refer to the "wacom" tablet device. # comment them out (including the three lines in the "ServerLayout" stanza that refer to "stylus", "cursor", and "eraser"). The rest of the message seems to indicate that scim was launched successfully. It's ambiguous (to me) with respect to skim. Is it supposed to call a sighandler or has there been a problem? Therefore, I suspect that there is a configuration file somewhere connected with skim that hasn't been set properly, (I could be wrong).

To find the configuration file, I suggest looking in the directory ~/.kde/share/config for a file called "skimrc", and in the directory ~/.kde/share/apps for a directory named "skim". Those are the two most likely places for KDE to put a configuration file for a single user. You might also check /usr/share/apps/skim for a configuration file. I don't have the application installed so all I have in that directory is one paragraph of xml in a file called /usr/share/apps/skim/mainwindowui.rc ! You may be encouraged to learn that the main skim toolbar is supposed to have a button called "configure".

The best way to do the searches in the above paragraph is from the command line with the two commands

sudo updatedb  <-- Enter your password when asked
locate skim

[jyp]

Re: skim howto

Thanks for replying.

I kept searching and finally (maybe I should have started there) in the Kubuntu Archives for June and especially May, there is a long thread on scim (https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ku...y/subject.html). One guy succeeded to open skim in Composer (Kmail or Kontact). And for me too, there it was, usable like in Ubuntu. But no way to have it working in Kate or Kword or Office. As they said, that's low!

There is someone in these thread who succeeded in making it work in Kate but he does not tell how and, being so newbie, I don't really know how to restart the same thread (it dates back to May).

Anyhow, thanks a lot and I keep trying. It is pretty inconvenient to use Kmail's Composer to type Chinese!

[askrieger]

Re: skim howto

You can send a personal message to the person who succeeded in getting Skim running with Kate and ask him how he did it.

[askrieger]

Re: skim howto

I'm sorry about my previous message regarding the scim configuration files. I obviously didn't have my head screwed on straight today. I found the scim configuration files exactly where they should be to be useful to any user. They ar in /etc/scim. I still haven't found the skim files, but they're not likely to be in some place equally obvious. I apologize again.

[km.chico]

Re: skim howto

I just figured out how to make scim, skim, and anthy work, so I want to share the information. My default language is English and I added Japanese so that I can type in.


This is how I did:

1. Install Japanese from "Language Support"
2. Create a file called 75custom-scim_init in /etc/X11/Xsession.d

Paste the following into it:
export XMODIFIERS="@im=SCIM"
export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim"
export XIM_PROGRAM="scim -d"

3. Do $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
4. Edit the /etc/environment file. Mine looks like the following now:

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:
/usr/games"
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LANGUAGE="en_US:en_GB:en"
LC_CTYPE="ja_JP.UTF-8" # I added this line

5. Launch skim:
skim -d -f

Then open the configure dialog (click the configure action), go to Global Settings->General SCIM and change these settings as followings:
Panel Program: scim-panel-kde
Config Module: kconfig

6. restart

Then everything just works fine!
I'm using Opera now, and I can type 日本語!!
I hope this information will help.

btw, I referred http://www.scim-im.org/wiki/document...ubuntu_kubuntu

[Joebear80]

Japanese CJK IME input for Kubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 Total Beginner's Guide

I'm ANGRY, yes I am.
I don't see how the headlines about "Ubuntu/ Kubuntu being just as powerful as windows" can ever be true.
I made Japanese IME work for free 1998 on windows 95! But it still did not take any command line work.
WHY, OH WHY is it so difficult
Every time a new release of Kubuntu comes out, new methods of making CJK input work changes,
so that means it is virtually impossible to keep up!
To make my Kubuntu do all the things I want it to do (including CJK IME) I would estimately have to type 2000 lines of commands!
Who can defend that?
For god's sake people, get unified in your programming methodology so that the bits and pieces of this otherwise
utopical OS will EVER fit together!

- The angry beginner user of Ubuntu/Kubuntu.

Anyway - Here is the solution and total guide for the beginner user of
7.04 Kubuntu Feisty Fawn after adding to the above author's solution.
(the "Language support" icon is not present anymore in 7.04)

1. Install Japanese and any other of the languages you want to be able
to type in by going to System>adept manager" type in your password
and then search for "language support". Click on the language(s) you want to install
and press "Request install" on all of them. Then press "Apply changes".

2. Create a file called 75custom-scim_init in /etc/X11/Xsession.d
- How? Right click on the desktop, press "create new">"Text file..."
Enter textfile name 75custom-scim_init and press OK.
Click on the file 75custom-scim_init on your desktop.
Paste the following into it:
export XMODIFIERS="@im=SCIM"
export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim"
export XIM_PROGRAM="scim -d"
Remove any dots that are automatically added.
Press save.

Go to System>Konsole and type in
sudo mv /home/INSERT YOUR USERNAME HERE/Desktop/75custom-scim_init /etc/X11/Xsession.d
That will move the file into the right place. You can't do this in graphical Kubuntu,
because you don't have the permission to write to that folder.
Be careful to use correct upper/ lower case letters.
In the same window paste in
sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales　　　　
and press enter (please note that CTRL＋C CTRL＋V does not always work,
use the mouse right click menu to copy and paste)
create a file called environment instead of 75custom-scim_init on your desktop just like you created the previous file.
open it and paste:
PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:
/usr/games"
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LANGUAGE="en_US:en_GB:en"
LC_CTYPE="ja_JP.UTF-8"
Remove any dots added automatically and save the file.

4. Edit the /etc/environment file.
Since you usually don't have permission to change or even overwrite this file,
you have to do the following:
In Konsole, type sudo -s
you will now have access to overwrite system files (only in text mode, not in graphical)
Now move the environment file you created from the desktop by typing
sudo mv /home/INSERT YOUR USERNAME HERE/Desktop/environment /etc/environment

5. Launch skim:
Go to Utilities>Skim
Do the following selections in Skim:
Panel Program: scim-panel-kde
Config Module: kconfig

Also, to easier see if your Japanese/Chinese/Korean/ other language input is
"ON" Choose in skim:Panel>Main toobar> Always show.

6. restart

Now it should work.
Please suggest if I did any typing errors or missed anything.
This worked for me, but I've only used Kubuntu for 20 HOURS so far!,
and I just had to figure it out - so my head hurts after being at it for hours!

As I said - WHY, Oh,WHY does it have to be this frekki'n difficult?!

And WHY does Kubuntu 7.04 come as it seems fully equipped with an
out of the box instantly working IME system, when it in reality does NOT
work at all, but takes HOURS of typing commands and red hot anger
Anyone??

And PLEASE, Linux fanatics - Write solutions detailed so that beginners do NOt run into
stuff like denied writing permissions and what not.
We don't know what to do if we type in a command it it doesn't work.

[lanchongzi]

Re: skim howto

Gutsy?

does it work?

[Snowhog]

Re: skim howto

Yes. With caveats. Does it work '100% of the time' on 'all/any system?' No. but then, neither does M$.

[Steve_S.]

Re: skim howto

Geesh. The last time I installed XP, I had to run 20hrs worth of downloading and installing updates, just to get XP stable enough to start installing software. When I installed Dapper, Updates ran for 20minutes, and I had a working OS, complete WITH software.... Yeah, a couple things didn't work right, but even with the time figuring out what was wrong and fixing them, it's still better, to me, than what I had to go through with windows.