Re: [tlug] Running without Gnome/KDE/xfce/whatever. (was: Ubuntu 16.04-LTS Japanese Text Input)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Daniel A. Ramaley writes:

 > what, exactly, each of the 2 things i use (UIM, Anthy) actually do and 

Cliff's notes version: UIM is the I18N (internationalization)
component of input, and provides the framework for input of various
scripts.  It mediates between the keyboard, the application, and the
input method which converts keystrokes into characters.  It provides a
single API (characters) to the application, while allowing you to plug
in not only different languages, but also various methods for any
given language.  Others that have been mentioned (if only as
components of envvars) include XIM, ibus, and fcitx.

Anthy is the L10N (localization) component of Japanese input, and it
does the conversion of keystrokes into characters.  It is the part
that has the dictionaries for keystrokes -> kana and kana -> kanji,
and "learns" your habitual usage of kanji in order to offer choices
more efficiently.  Others for Japanese that you've probably heard of
include Wnn (the goldest of oldies), Canna, ATOK, mozc, and Kotoeri
(Mac OS X only).  Wnn, Canna, and ATOK evolved at time before I18N
really existed as a concept, and had idiosyncratic APIs.

 > why i needed 2 things instead of just 1. I'll have to read up on
 > that again and refamiliarize myself with how IME software works on
 > Linux.

IME software works the same on all systems, it's just that I18N is
built in to Windows and Mac OS X.  It's more complicated on Linux/X11
because it's not obvious who "owns" the keyboard, while with Borg OSes
A and B "all devices yours now ours and forever".