Asus Eee PC, IME for simplified Chinese

[Tinov]

Hi,

Can anyone advise if the Linux version of Asus Eee PC is any good at entering simplified Chinese into text docs, presentation docs (powerpoint-like docs), etc?

Futhermore, is there any software available for the linux version that allows the user to enter Pinyin (as Pinyinput does on Windows systems)?

Thanks

Tinov.

[Battosai]

I think you will have no problem inputting Chinese

look here

[AxelManbow]

Eee's distro of Xandros, called SCIM, is an IME that supports Pinyin and Wubi input methods for Simplified Chinese and a variety of others for Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and other global languages (though the default install for English language Xandros is with mainly Chinese language support).

[griz326]

I'm still looking for a tool as good as Wenlin for the eeePC, but haven't found one yet.

[Jackdk]

Well... why look for something "as good"... Wenlin does run on the Asus Eee PC. It can run natively in Windows XP, and it can run in Linux using the Wine emulator.

Stardict is perhaps an alternative to some functions in Wenlin and other dictionaries. It is free, runs on Windows and Linux, and there are more than 1000 dictionaries available for download. Google is your friend. Some search functions in Wenlin are very unique, however, such as the 'component-search'-function (e.g. list all characters containing 口 together with 女). I haven't seen that in any other programs.

Google's Pinyin input tool uses a bigger font than the MS IME and it's display field (where you can see what you are typing) is normally very close to the cursor position on the screen. This means your eyes won't have to flicker up and down on the screen, and reading the bigger characters can be easier. It's free and can be downloaded from http://tools.google.com/pinyin/.

[ipsi()]

SCIM's ok, but I find that it's not as good as even MS's IME to be honest. As Imron said in the PinyinInput thread, there's no Linux version of that (would be a huge pain to convert, mostly reading the documentation, I imagine. Assuming there is any documentation, and you're not reduced to reading SCIM's source-code).

Also, if you were a little confused: the Eee PC runs Xandros, which is a distribution of Linux, which can have installed a bit of software called SCIM, which handles the input of various foreign languages. Not all applications play nice, however. Scribus doesn't, for example. It will happily display Chinese, but you can't input it directly...

Also, I found that it was a pain to configure the various fonts on Ubuntu to get a nice-looking Chinese one as the default. Not sure what it's like on the Eee.

Google's is nice, but it won't run on Linux (or if it does, I don't see it...)

Finally, just to be pedantic, WINE is a recursive acronym for WINE Is Not an Emulator. Not sure how else to describe it in terms that most people could understand, but it's technically not an emulator.

[Jackdk]

The Eee also runs Xandros. It's a PC, so it will run whatever you are able to install on it. It is available with Xandros as well as XP preinstalled.

The Eee 900 has been released recently and I would strongly recommend getting that one instead of the 701. The 900-model has a bigger screen and currently up to 20 GB flash drive (SSD) if you choose the Linux-edition (which will also happily run XP).

[Battosai]

In addition to SCIM, there is also FCTIX

(they have conflicting libraries so you can only install one)

[supastar]

I will teach English in Asia so I thought it might be possible to talk to a Chinese person via a PC with simultaneous online translation. So I bought an Asus EEE PC from Hong Kong as the keyboard is dual English/Chinese. All the paperwork is in Chinese.

I want to configure the machine so that it can input English or Chinese text. How do I do that?

A contact in China has told me that she uses the pinyin method for typing but, having seen the Asus keyboard, she tells me it is for the 'five stroke method of typing'??? What is that and is she correct?

I use Google for all my Chinese to English, and vice versa, translations but I understand that Google isn't recognised by Linux.

Any help would be much appreciated. I am a total Linux newbie.

[Battosai]

supastar,

to input Chinese you don't need a special keyboard, any keyboard will do,

for example to type "hello" , just type "nihao" and it will display 你好

this menas that in addition to the 5 stroke method (for which you will need to know the stroke order of chinese characters) you can input Chinese with pinyin

The most common Linux input method is called SCIM it offers different types of input including pinyin (which they call 智能拼音) and 5-stroke(WUBI as well as others.

You will need to make sure you have SCIM installed , and that 智能拼音is installed,

chances are it is already installed pressing ctrl+space should bring it up, if it doesn't work try uninstalling " scim-tables-zh" and re-installed i

I use Google for all my Chinese to English, and vice versa, translations but I understand that Google isn't recognised by Linux

you are mistaken, not only is Google recognised by Linux but Google run their entire website on Linux servers.

[supastar]

Thank you, gentlemen, for all your assistance. It's been a great help. I had the Xandros SCIM already installed and I found an icon near the clock that gives me a choice of input. The PC will accept Smart Pinyin and Wubi in Simplied Chinese and Cangjie 5 and Chewing in Traditional Chinese. And it works with Google Translate OK. But I obviously need an internet connection. Has anyone used decent translation software that works?

[Tinov]

Hi folks,

Thanks for all your replies, it seems that on the Linux version of an EeePC it is possible to enter Chinese reasonably easily without installing any other software.

But what about entering Pinyin text into a document, as can be done with Pinyinput on Windows? Does anyone know if Fun Input Toy (http://fit.coollittlethings.com/) will work on a Linux EeePC?

Thank you

Tinov.

[Battosai]

according to your own link Fun Input Toy works on Linux

scroll down to the middle where it says "致Linux开发者社区：新输入法Fitx开发需要大家帮忙"

and follow the instructions

basically you need to add the Fun Input Toy to SCIM