1. a) My experience (I mean past few days) with SCIM installation tells me setting the 'locale' to fr_FR or ta_IN (in my case) is not necessary in the first place.
b) Setting the 'locale' becomes mandatory if you wish to 'display' the User Interface in your own language - that is after you translate ~/.jwmrc and ~/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin and ?may be other files(I am just exploring this at present...)
2. a) Hence, for the present, the objective is to make a successful 'local language input' using SCIM and not translating the UI.
b) The first precondition for a successful input is to install a unicode font of your language in your system. This is installed at /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ttf folder. This action makes the font available universally for all the applications.
3. I have tested SCIM successfully with many puplet versions of 3.01 now (Timxxine, Pupee, Standard 3.01). The steps are fairly clear:
i) Install m17n-lib dot pet first.
ii) m17n-db dot pet goes next.
iii) SCIM dot pet installation follows this.
iv) SCIM-m17n dot pet (this is nothing but a bridge) is installed after this.
v) SCIM Tables dot pet comes finally.
vi) Place the table-imengine-setup.so file at /usr/local/lib/scim-1.0/1.4.0/SetupUI.
vii) Place the script
at /etc/gtk-2/immodules"/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/immodules/im-scim.so"
"scim" "SCIM Input Method" "" "" ""
viii) Finally:
Just place the following script at ~/.xinitrc - after the PUPSTATE line:
ix) reboot.GTK_IM_MODULE=scim
export GTK_IM_MODULE
x) No need for pressing "ctrl + space" to invoke SCIM; because with the above scripts in place, SCIM gets invoked whenever a GTK application starts.
xi) When a GTK application starts - SCIM is invoked. or else you can invoke it by typing scim -d in the terminal. It gets launched successfully.
xi) Now install the language tables in the SCIM panel found in the X Tray. To do this: Right click scim keyboard icon found in the tray - SCIM Setup - IM Engine - Generic Table - Table Management - Install ... Install the tables from /usr/local/share/scim/tables/
x) Close. Open the GTK application. SCIM Keyboard popsup a tray from where you can choose the language and table of your choice.
xi) After this - just type in your language.
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Now coming down to your installation:
1) There are 2 routes.
a) SCIM ,SCIM-Bridge & SCIM Tables Route (Irihapeti way),
b) m17n-lib, m17n-db, SCIM, SCIM-m17n, SCIM Tables Route (the path I had followed)
2) Either you stick to a, or b. Never mix both. You have mixed both.
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The Problems with my way:
- I have read in Debian Forums (?Min Hua) that SCIM-Bridge way is more versatile of the two. It is said that SCIM-Bridge is written in C and hence it is capable of handling more apps. For example, my installation is fine with Abiword, Geany, Leafpad, GIMP, Inkscape - BUT not in Open Office. I am not able to use SCIM with Oo.
- However, I have seen in "BOSS Linux" (an Indian Debian Derivative) SCIM compiled with just SCIM-Brige and the Tables, inputting in Oo very well. SCIM-m17n is said to be written in C++ and it is claimed to be the reason for such a constraint.
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So, please follow my way first step by step. Boost your confidence first by practically inputting French or any of your desired language.
Then take Irihapeti's path. Make Oo succumb to Puppy.
Then share with me the SCIM-Bridge Dot Pet you have compiled (as I have failed in this) with me and tell me how I should proceed to tackle Oo.
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Then, let's rejoice!!
Love
Ramesh