pyrox.dev
1<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
2 xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
3 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
4 version="5.0"
5 xml:id="module-services-input-methods">
6
7<title>Input Methods</title>
8
9<para>Input methods are an operating system component that allows any data, such
10 as keyboard strokes or mouse movements, to be received as input. In this way
11 users can enter characters and symbols not found on their input devices. Using
12 an input method is obligatory for any language that has more graphemes than
13 there are keys on the keyboard.</para>
14
15<para>The following input methods are available in NixOS:</para>
16
17<itemizedlist>
18 <listitem><para>IBus: The intelligent input bus.</para></listitem>
19 <listitem><para>Fcitx: A customizable lightweight input
20 method.</para></listitem>
21 <listitem><para>Nabi: A Korean input method based on XIM.</para></listitem>
22 <listitem><para>Uim: The universal input method, is a library with a XIM
23 bridge.</para></listitem>
24</itemizedlist>
25
26<section><title>IBus</title>
27
28<para>IBus is an Intelligent Input Bus. It provides full featured and user
29 friendly input method user interface.</para>
30
31<para>The following snippet can be used to configure IBus:</para>
32
33<programlisting>
34i18n.inputMethod = {
35 enabled = "ibus";
36 ibus.engines = with pkgs.ibus-engines; [ anthy hangul mozc ];
37};
38</programlisting>
39
40<para><literal>i18n.inputMethod.ibus.engines</literal> is optional and can be
41 used to add extra IBus engines.</para>
42
43<para>Available extra IBus engines are:</para>
44
45<itemizedlist>
46 <listitem><para>Anthy (<literal>ibus-engines.anthy</literal>): Anthy is a
47 system for Japanese input method. It converts Hiragana text to Kana Kanji
48 mixed text.</para></listitem>
49 <listitem><para>Hangul (<literal>ibus-engines.hangul</literal>): Korean input
50 method.</para></listitem>
51 <listitem><para>m17n (<literal>ibus-engines.m17n</literal>): m17n is an input
52 method that uses input methods and corresponding icons in the m17n
53 database.</para></listitem>
54 <listitem><para>mozc (<literal>ibus-engines.mozc</literal>): A Japanese input
55 method from Google.</para></listitem>
56 <listitem><para>Table (<literal>ibus-engines.table</literal>): An input method
57 that load tables of input methods.</para></listitem>
58 <listitem><para>table-others (<literal>ibus-engines.table-others</literal>):
59 Various table-based input methods. To use this, and any other table-based
60 input methods, it must appear in the list of engines along with
61 <literal>table</literal>. For example:
62<programlisting>
63ibus.engines = with pkgs.ibus-engines; [ table table-others ];
64</programlisting>
65 </para></listitem>
66</itemizedlist>
67
68<para>To use any input method, the package must be added in the configuration,
69 as shown above, and also (after running <literal>nixos-rebuild</literal>) the
70 input method must be added from IBus' preference dialog.</para>
71</section>
72
73<section><title>Fcitx</title>
74
75<para>Fcitx is an input method framework with extension support. It has three
76 built-in Input Method Engine, Pinyin, QuWei and Table-based input
77 methods.</para>
78<para>The following snippet can be used to configure Fcitx:</para>
79
80<programlisting>
81i18n.inputMethod = {
82 enabled = "fcitx";
83 fcitx.engines = with pkgs.fcitx-engines; [ mozc hangul m17n ];
84};
85</programlisting>
86
87<para><literal>i18n.inputMethod.fcitx.engines</literal> is optional and can be
88 used to add extra Fcitx engines.</para>
89
90<para>Available extra Fcitx engines are:</para>
91
92<itemizedlist>
93 <listitem><para>Anthy (<literal>fcitx-engines.anthy</literal>): Anthy is a
94 system for Japanese input method. It converts Hiragana text to Kana Kanji
95 mixed text.</para></listitem>
96 <listitem><para>Chewing (<literal>fcitx-engines.chewing</literal>): Chewing is
97 an intelligent Zhuyin input method. It is one of the most popular input
98 methods among Traditional Chinese Unix users.</para></listitem>
99 <listitem><para>Hangul (<literal>fcitx-engines.hangul</literal>): Korean input
100 method.</para></listitem>
101 <listitem><para>Unikey (<literal>fcitx-engines.unikey</literal>): Vietnamese input
102 method.</para></listitem>
103 <listitem><para>m17n (<literal>fcitx-engines.m17n</literal>): m17n is an input
104 method that uses input methods and corresponding icons in the m17n
105 database.</para></listitem>
106 <listitem><para>mozc (<literal>fcitx-engines.mozc</literal>): A Japanese input
107 method from Google.</para></listitem>
108 <listitem><para>table-others (<literal>fcitx-engines.table-others</literal>):
109 Various table-based input methods.</para></listitem>
110</itemizedlist>
111</section>
112
113<section><title>Nabi</title>
114
115<para>Nabi is an easy to use Korean X input method. It allows you to enter
116 phonetic Korean characters (hangul) and pictographic Korean characters
117 (hanja).</para>
118<para>The following snippet can be used to configure Nabi:</para>
119
120<programlisting>
121i18n.inputMethod = {
122 enabled = "nabi";
123};
124</programlisting>
125</section>
126
127<section><title>Uim</title>
128
129<para>Uim (short for "universal input method") is a multilingual input method
130 framework. Applications can use it through so-called bridges.</para>
131<para>The following snippet can be used to configure uim:</para>
132
133<programlisting>
134i18n.inputMethod = {
135 enabled = "uim";
136};
137</programlisting>
138
139<para>Note: The <literal>i18n.inputMethod.uim.toolbar</literal> option can be
140 used to choose uim toolbar.</para>
141
142</section>
143</chapter>