[SOLVED] Is it possible to switch between English & Cyrillic in Xterm?

neilward · 2009-03-15 04:30:54

Question:
Is it possible to display Cyrillic in Xterm on a system typically set up for en_US.utf8? If so is it possible to switch between English and Cyrillic when using Xterm?

Reason for asking:
The work I do with my computer requires that I be able to switch between multiple languages. I am migrating away from word-processors in favor of plain text and LaTex. However, when I switch to Russian Cyrillic, Xterm only displays rectangles.

Possibly helpful information:
The way I switch from US to RU is as follows:
(in ~/.fluxbox/menu)

[submenu] (Keyboards)
        [exec] (US)     {setxkbmap us}
        [exec] (RU)     {setxkbmap ru -variant phonetic}

This method works for Abiword, and if I switch between US and RU before opening Gnome-Terminal, it will display Cyrillic as well, but I wonder if the same is possible with Xterm.
I have tried the following in Xdefaults, to no avail:

xterm*font:               -monotype-andale\ mono-medium-r-normal-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-uni

Also, if it helps, I am using Fluxbox.
EDIT: I suppose it's obvious that I'm using Fluxbox by the whole ~/.fluxbox/menu section above...

Last edited by neilward (2009-03-15 18:23:37)

Dheart · 2009-03-15 06:17:59

I think xterm doesn't support unicode (hence no cyrillic) - try other terminal like rxvt-unicode (I'm using it, and it has cyrillic support) and sakura (also tested, to have cyrillic support).

neilward · 2009-03-15 18:23:04

Thank you Dheart.
I don't like to use URXVT because it crashes my entire X11 display when switching keyboards (everything goes black and I can't revive it without rebooting). I did however download Sakura and Termit, both work well.
Then I thought: I swear that I read somewhere that Xterm could be used in unicode, so I went back to Google and found this page:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Un … html#ss2.4
Under the section: Unicode Xterm are instructions. The link http://www.clark.net/pub/dickey/xterm/xterm.tar.gz was not responding, so I couldn't follow the directions explicitly.
So I searched for ucs-fonts in Arch, to no avail. Then I tried just ucs in the AUR and found freefont (http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=3673). After installing it I then changed Xdefaults to this:

xterm*faceName: FreeMono:pixelsize=14

and commented out the line: xterm*font:

Not only does it work, but it can switch between Latin characters and Cyrillic without needing to be restarted!
So, your phrase, "I think xterm doesn't support unicode," was just what I needed to make me rethink my search terms.
Thanks,
I hope this post helps others.

EDIT: I just discovered that commenting out the "xterm*faceName:" & "xterm*font" sections also works. It looks like the default font (monospace perhaps?) for xterm would have worked just fine; I had changed it to Terminus (I had also tried several others) which didn't work.

EDIT: This is the last time I will edit this before I let it rest (sorry for bumping it). The following configuration is swell (for my needs, as described in this post):

! xterm ----------------------------------------------------------------------

xterm*geometry:           80x25
xterm*faceName:           DejaVu Sans Mono:antialias=true:pixelsize=14
xterm*dynamicColors:      true
xterm*utf8:               2
xterm*eightBitInput:      true
xterm*saveLines:          2000
xterm*scrollTtyKeypress:  true
xterm*scrollTtyOutput:    true
xterm*scrollBar:          false
xterm*rightScrollBar:     true
xterm*loginShell:         true
xterm*jumpScroll:         true
xterm*multiScroll:        true
xterm*toolBar:            true

Last edited by neilward (2009-03-15 19:36:13)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-15 04:30:54

[SOLVED] Is it possible to switch between English & Cyrillic in Xterm?

#2 2009-03-15 06:17:59

Re: [SOLVED] Is it possible to switch between English & Cyrillic in Xterm?

#3 2009-03-15 18:23:04

Re: [SOLVED] Is it possible to switch between English & Cyrillic in Xterm?

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