Yangchun Baixue - Chinese Input Server
Has anyone had any experience with this chinese input server (homepage: http://dyp.banruo.net/) Although not released under the GPL it is freely available for personal use from: [XIM SERVER] http://dyp.banruo.net/download/tgz/kinput2c-3.0.1.tgz [CHINESE PINYIN CHARACTER CONVERTER] http://dyp.banruo.net/download/tgz/yang-2.0f.tgz I've been using an English desktop with xcin. However I find xcin so slow and paignful to use (maybe I've got it setup wrongly but shuang pinyin doesn't seem to work - but that's another issue) that I have been looking around for an alternative chinese input system. From what I have seen so far of the Yangchun Baixue (YCBX) is it is very nice - far more powerful than XCIN. However it isn't working very well - it is very erratic and doesn' work as advertised. This is probably a configuration problem and any light that anyone can shed on the problem would be much appreciated. Installation is a simple matter of becoming root and: # cat yang-2.0f.tgz | ( cd /; tar xvzf - ) # cat kinput2c-3.0.1.tgz | ( cd /; tar xvzf - ) Everything is copied into a sensible place. The only problem seem to be the init scripts, I haven't had time to go through them properly and for the moment am starting the server (yangd) by hand. For configuration they recommend: setting LC_ALL=zh_CN.gb2312 and # echo 'kinput2c &' >> /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/xinput # echo 'export XMODIFIERS=@im=kinput2c' >> /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/xinput As SuSE doesn't have an xinput file I decided to make changes to my .profile (so that I can keep the environment English) adding: export LC_CTYPE=zh_CN.GB2312 And then to my .xim file I changed the lines that refer to xcin to: export XMODIFIERS="@im=kinput2c" LANG=$tmplang LC_ALL=$tmplang kinput2c & In OOo I am able to select Chinese input by presing ctrl+space. A box pops up which should have Chinese characters in it but instead has spaces. However you can still type a Chinese sentence in pinyin. When you have finished your sentence hit space and YCBX makes an intelligent guess at selecting characters which you can go through and modify. Kmail works but I don't get the pop up box nor do I get the box to make selections in. KOffice is much the same. If anyone has had any success with this or can recommend another input server I'd very much appreciate some pointers. Thanks in advance, Jethro
This does not directly address your question, but I've been looking around for a better Chinese input system for a while as well, and after compiling Chinput (Turbolinux's solution, an old version is available at http://www.opencjk.org/~yumj/project-chinput.html <http://www.opencjk.org/%7Eyumj/project-chinput.html>), I ran into a similar problem - everything worked, except the popup window did not show Chinese characters. I tried to change the font settings in /usr/lib/ZWinPro/Chinput.ad, but to no avail. Since I didn't want to spend too much time messing around with no success guaranteed, I settled for xcin. I think the tiny input window (over-the-spot style) confused me a bit, since I only recently found out that the second Pinyin input method suits my needs much better than the ordinary one. You can select it under Big 5 encoding by pressing shift ctrl (after one another, not at once) three times when you have previously selected the usual Pinyin input style (it is located beetween the Zhuyin (?) and Cantonese (?) input methods). At least, it allows you to write entire phrases and does quite good guessing, but you'll still have to write di2 instead of de to get ? and zhao2 instead of zhe to get ? (xcin doesn't seem to support multiple readings for one character). But once I got used to this, I found it quite fast, although it would be nice to have an IME as good as Microsoft's (one of the very few areas Windows still has a real advantage, imho). Sorry for not being able to help with Yangchun Baixue. Jan
Jan, Thanks for the comments. I had been thinking about trying Chinput but you've saved me the wasted time. I am going to pursue the Yangchun baixue and if (I mean when of course) I get it running properly I'll let you know. When it worked it really was good - it compares favourably to MS IME. And you're quite right this is one of the things that MS has got right. Although it should be remembered that it took them a long time and a lot of money to do it. I remember trying to write Chinese under windows 95 when it just came out, ahh. And don't even talk about printing please. BTW what is your interest in Chinese, how did you come to learn it? Regards, Jethro
When it worked it really was good - it compares favourably to MS IME. And you're quite right this is one of the things that MS has got right.
You might also consider learning real character input systems such as Wubi or Cangjie. Phonetic input is basically inappropriate to Chinese. For linux "world domination" it is of course essential to have it, but for anyone who is more concerned with Chinese than with improving the free computing platform, it might be better to spend a few days on learning one of the two named systems.
Hatmut is absolutely right, when it comes to professional users of Chinese input. Everyone uses character based input, and does not bother about Pinyin. But I would still like a more comfortable Pinyin input, which I used to have in NJStar, with choice between single character with tone or without tone, as well as multiple characters, with or without tone. I will not get the learning curve for Wubi or Cangjie, and more important: Pinyin forces me to remember pronounciation and tone correctly, otherwise I keep forgetting those! Thomas PILCH Hartmut wrote:
When it worked it really was good - it compares favourably to MS IME. And you're quite right this is one of the things that MS has got right.
You might also consider learning real character input systems such as Wubi or Cangjie. Phonetic input is basically inappropriate to Chinese. For linux "world domination" it is of course essential to have it, but for anyone who is more concerned with Chinese than with improving the free computing platform, it might be better to spend a few days on learning one of the two named systems.
Thomas, Hatmut, Ha-ha. :) Yes I agree it would make more sense to learn a more elegant imput system. But considering that most Chinese people who use computers don't bother to learn a complex input method I think I would have a riot on my hands if I said to my employees: "Right, you are now all switching to Linux and 'cos Linux hasn't got a simple pinyin IME, so you have to learn a complex , but more elegant, IME." I don't think this would work. The move of everyone else in my office off of Windows to Linux is something that I am working slowly on and this is still one of the major stumbling blocks. The simple solution is probably not to attempt to switch them to SuSE but to a localised version which the YCBX supports. Thanks for the suggestions. Jethro
participants (4)
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Jan Hefti -
Jethro Cramp -
PILCH Hartmut -
Thomas Piekenbrock