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#1 2024-01-09 14:25:32

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

Hello, see the subject.

Trying to set up a Japanese Romaji keyboard that'll work similar to the MS IME keyboard seen on Windows.

Using KDE on X11 with an Nvidia GPU, anything can help!

Cheers!

Last edited by adr77 (2024-01-12 20:30:43)


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#2 2024-01-09 15:41:11

seth
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Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

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#3 2024-01-09 19:02:44

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

I tried using stuff here, it ended up taking away my possibility to change layouts at all, only English.


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#4 2024-01-09 21:14:55

seth
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Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

Please don't paraphrase, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855
What "stuff" did you misconfigure "how" and how can you not change layouts? And why would you? IMEs are not about the layout.

In simpler words, an IME is an application that allows us to use Latin characters in order to type non-Latin characters.

Does https://wiki.archlinux.jp/index.php/インプットメソッド help you?

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#5 2024-01-11 11:04:49

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

Please don't paraphrase, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855
What "stuff" did you misconfigure "how" and how can you not change layouts? And why would you? IMEs are not about the layout.

In simpler words, an IME is an application that allows us to use Latin characters in order to type non-Latin characters.

Does https://wiki.archlinux.jp/index.php/インプットメソッド help you?

Here's what I've done (sorry for the long wait):

  • tried following the wiki

  • tried following this tried this YT video tutorial from 2 years ago

  • posted on Reddit to no avail

  • tried following the wiki again

  • came here

See, the problem is that I can really stupid when it comes to following stuff in the terminal, especially if it also crosses over to the desktop.

I just don't know what to do.

The Japanese wiki link you sent me doesn't help, since I can't read Japanese that well at the moment (studying with Duolingo, only about 3 months in)


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#6 2024-01-11 14:18:20

seth
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Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

tried following the wiki

Is not really an answer.
What packages did you install, what files did you edit how and what commands did you run?
Also you didn't explain "how can you not change layouts"

setxkbmap -print -query

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#7 2024-01-11 16:43:46

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

tried following the wiki

Is not really an answer.
What packages did you install, what files did you edit how and what commands did you run?
Also you didn't explain "how can you not change layouts"

setxkbmap -print -query

By following the wiki, I meant trying to follow the steps on the fcitx5 wiki page, and i don't know how to set up environment variables.

I also have the Hebrew and Russian keyboard layouts, as I also speak those languages.

printout of

setxkbmap -print -query

gives this:

xkb_keymap {
        xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };
        xkb_types     { include "complete"      };
        xkb_compat    { include "complete"      };
        xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us+ru:2+il:3+jp(mac):4+inet(evdev)+group(win_space_toggle):1+group(win_space_toggle):2+group(win_space_toggle):3+group(win_space_toggle):4" };
        xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc104)"     };
};
rules:      evdev
model:      pc104
layout:     us,ru,il,jp
variant:    ,,,mac
options:    grp:win_space_toggle

Also, it appears the language switcher is back, just that the Japanese keyboard it currently holds is the Macintosh Kana keyboard, and I need a Romaji keyboard similar to that of what Microsoft gives for Windows.


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#8 2024-01-11 17:07:25

seth
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Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

That is not an IME.
The mac variant is the regular kana, but disables the Eisu_toggle, Romaji is QWERTY - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_input_keys - and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fcitx5 links you https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Environment_variables and ctrl+space should™ activate the IME in most clients.

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#9 2024-01-11 18:20:33

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

That is not an IME.
The mac variant is the regular kana, but disables the Eisu_toggle, Romaji is QWERTY - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_input_keys - and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fcitx5 links you https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Environment_variables and ctrl+space should™ activate the IME in most clients.

ctrl+space does nothing, super/meta+space switches the language on the KDE language switcher.

I don't really what i'm doing at this point, I had installed the fcitx5-im group plus the fcitx5-kkc package for Japanese input.

I tried following the tutorial I sent earlier today, but it lead me to empty files that now exist (e.g. .xprofile )

If you could help me out with this, and what I should do in more of a layman's term, I would be so happy.


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#10 2024-01-11 20:44:27

seth
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Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

1. don't follow random tutorials, they'll probably make hard assumptions on the setup that do not necessarily fit
2. remove the "jp" layout again
3. Post the outputs of

printenv; ps aux | grep fcitx

to illustrate the status quo
4. I'm pretty sure SDDM will source ~/.xprofile, so exporting the environment variables there might actually do (but this also indicates that the way you start KDE is rather relevant itr)
On a de factor single-user system it's however fine to export them in /etc/profile.d

I'm not gonna watch some youtube tutorial but if you worry it left you with some cruft, you may want to undo the steps there, but nb. that some of them might have beeen idempotent and disbaling what you didn't enable itfp could break things.

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#11 2024-01-11 21:07:42

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

1. don't follow random tutorials, they'll probably make hard assumptions on the setup that do not necessarily fit
2. remove the "jp" layout again
3. Post the outputs of

printenv; ps aux | grep fcitx

to illustrate the status quo
4. I'm pretty sure SDDM will source ~/.xprofile, so exporting the environment variables there might actually do (but this also indicates that the way you start KDE is rather relevant itr)
On a de factor single-user system it's however fine to export them in /etc/profile.d

I'm not gonna watch some youtube tutorial but if you worry it left you with some cruft, you may want to undo the steps there, but nb. that some of them might have beeen idempotent and disbaling what you didn't enable itfp could break things.

Alright, so this is what I did:

  • removed the Japanese layout from both KDE system settings and fcitx5 settings

  • removed the .xprofile file which was at my home folder

  • ran your command (output at bottom)

command output:

SHELL=/bin/bash
SESSION_MANAGER=local/monolith:@/tmp/.ICE-unix/860,unix/monolith:/tmp/.ICE-unix/860
WINDOWID=52428810
COLORTERM=truecolor
XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=/home/adr40/.config/kdedefaults:/etc/xdg
XDG_SESSION_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session1
LANGUAGE=
SHELL_SESSION_ID=6a7d9122bc404f6d9a4881c0e8d2e9c9
MEMORY_PRESSURE_WRITE=c29tZSAyMDAwMDAgMjAwMDAwMAA=
DESKTOP_SESSION=plasma
GTK_RC_FILES=/etc/gtk/gtkrc:/home/adr40/.gtkrc:/home/adr40/.config/gtkrc
XCURSOR_SIZE=24
GTK_MODULES=canberra-gtk-module
XDG_SEAT=seat0
PWD=/home/adr40
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=KDE
LOGNAME=adr77
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
SYSTEMD_EXEC_PID=900
XAUTHORITY=/tmp/xauth_skKplV
MOTD_SHOWN=pam
GTK2_RC_FILES=/etc/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:/home/adr40/.gtkrc-2.0:/home/adr40/.config/gtkrc-2.0
HOME=/home/adr40
LANG=en_IL.UTF-8
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE
KONSOLE_DBUS_SERVICE=:1.58
MEMORY_PRESSURE_WATCH=/sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/plasma-plasmashell.service/memory.pressure
KONSOLE_DBUS_SESSION=/Sessions/1
PROFILEHOME=
XDG_SEAT_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
INVOCATION_ID=2f79ec8b642042e4b72f5c40da08ff47
KONSOLE_VERSION=230804
MANAGERPID=778
KDE_SESSION_UID=1000
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
TERM=xterm-256color
USER=adr77
COLORFGBG=15;0
KDE_SESSION_VERSION=5
PAM_KWALLET5_LOGIN=/run/user/1000/kwallet5.socket
DISPLAY=:0
SHLVL=1
XDG_VTNR=2
XDG_SESSION_ID=2
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000
DEBUGINFOD_URLS=https://debuginfod.archlinux.org
QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0
JOURNAL_STREAM=8:15646
XCURSOR_THEME=breeze_cursors
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/home/adr40/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/share
KDE_FULL_SESSION=true
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
KDE_APPLICATIONS_AS_SCOPE=1
MAIL=/var/spool/mail/adr77
KONSOLE_DBUS_WINDOW=/Windows/1
_=/usr/bin/printenv
adr77       1077  0.0  0.0 197372 32336 ?        Ssl  23:00   0:00 /usr/bin/fcitx5
adr77       1944  0.0  0.0   6560  2416 pts/1    S+   23:06   0:00 grep --color=auto fcitx

This computer is only with a single user, me.


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#12 2024-01-11 21:14:24

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

fcitx is running, but the environment variables not set.
Looks like you're using SDDM, so feel free to ***export*** them using ~/.xprofile
Check printenv after a re-login whether it worked and if not, revisit the wiki on environment variables and how to ***export*** them.
If it still doesn't work, post the ~/.xprofile you created.

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#13 2024-01-11 21:32:02

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

fcitx is running, but the environment variables not set.
Looks like you're using SDDM, so feel free to ***export*** them using ~/.xprofile
Check printenv after a re-login whether it worked and if not, revisit the wiki on environment variables and how to ***export*** them.
If it still doesn't work, post the ~/.xprofile you created.

my ~/.xprofile file was just the variables set in the Fcitx5 wiki page, which is:

GTK_IM_MODULE=fcitx
QT_IM_MODULE=fcitx
XMODIFIERS=@im=fcitx

about exporting, i do get that the

export

command needs to be used, just that I can't seem to understand how to do said exporting and where to (i'm a real newbie when it comes to modifying the backend, closest thing I did was a bspwm rice from 2021, and that was all copy-paste from a friend who did the rice. Currently, the ~/.xprofile file doesn't exist, as I had deleted it earlier.


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#14 2024-01-11 21:34:11

seth
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Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

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#15 2024-01-11 21:43:05

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

so, this is what I did:

  • created the ~/.xprofile file again, this time adding export to the start of each line, followed by a space then the variables.

  • logged out of KDE, then logged in again

  • tried changing to a different language using either ctrl+space and super/meta+space, to which nothing happened.

It appears we're back in square one.

I don't have any idea if I've done something right or wrong, and I would appreciate the feedback.


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#16 2024-01-11 21:46:09

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

Is your change reflected in printenv?
Is fcitx5 still running?
In what context (active window) did you press ctrl+space?
What's the output of "setxkbmap -print -query" now?

fcitx5-diagnose | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

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#17 2024-01-11 21:56:11

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

Is your change reflected in printenv?
Is fcitx5 still running?
In what context (active window) did you press ctrl+space?
What's the output of "setxkbmap -print -query" now?

fcitx5-diagnose | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

fcitx5 is still running (I have it set to autostart at login by KDE)
I have tried in the desktop context and in Firefox, both ctrl+space and super/meta+space
The output of "fcitx5-diagnose | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st" is actually a link, which you can see here, unless you can't, then let me know.

output of "setxkbmap -print -query":

xkb_keymap {
        xkb_keycodes  { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };
        xkb_types     { include "complete"      };
        xkb_compat    { include "complete"      };
        xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us+inet(evdev)+group(win_space_toggle)"     };
        xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc104)"     };
};
rules:      evdev
model:      pc104
layout:     us
options:    grp:win_space_toggle

"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#18 2024-01-11 22:07:23

seth
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Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

Diagnosis looks unsuspicious, try the behavior in eg. kwrite.

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#19 2024-01-11 22:12:37

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

Diagnosis looks unsuspicious, try the behavior in eg. kwrite.

Still the same thing. Maybe I should remove the

grp:win_space_toggle

option and try again?


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#20 2024-01-11 22:17:21

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

You currently have only one layout left anyway, so you can remove that.
But also check fcitx5 config (there should be a page in systemsettings) and see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fcitx5 … KDE_Plasma

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#21 2024-01-11 22:27:53

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

You currently have only one layout left anyway, so you can remove that.
But also check fcitx5 config (there should be a page in systemsettings) and see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fcitx5 … KDE_Plasma

I should have 3 layouts, but alright.

I should also mention that I am on an Nvidia GPU, the instructions seem to be aimed at KDE with Wayland. I am also missing the Virtual Keyboard option under System Settings > Input Devices.


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#22 2024-01-11 22:40:36

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

I should have 3 layouts

layout:     us

I am also missing the Virtual Keyboard option under System Settings > Input Devices.

Sorry I don't use KDE myself and misinterpreted the wiki. Use https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fcitx5 … ation_tool

Did you switch to dbus-broker?
Please post your complete system journal for the boot:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

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#23 2024-01-11 22:53:07

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

I should have 3 layouts

layout:     us

I am also missing the Virtual Keyboard option under System Settings > Input Devices.

Sorry I don't use KDE myself and misinterpreted the wiki. Use https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fcitx5 … ation_tool

Did you switch to dbus-broker?
Please post your complete system journal for the boot:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

Oh great, my other 2 layouts went missing, I should also have the he and the ru layouts.

and how do I switch to dbus-broker? I have no idea what's that.

I also have the config tool installed as well, it's embedded into the KDE System Settings app.

system journal link

Last edited by adr77 (2024-01-11 22:54:11)


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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#24 2024-01-11 23:04:13

seth
Member
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 58,717

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

https://archlinux.org/news/making-dbus- … us-daemon/ but you're currently not using that.

Jan 11 23:41:53 monolith systemsettings[5350]: file:///usr/share/kpackage/kcms/kcm_fcitx5/contents/ui/main.qml:35:9: QML SwipeListItem: Binding loop detected for property "width"
kcmshell5 fcitx5

There seems no problem in the journal, you do understand what fcitx5 is/looks like?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ … n_Kate.png
https://fcitx-im.org/wiki/Configtool_%28Fcitx_5%29

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#25 2024-01-11 23:10:37

adr77
Member
From: Israel
Registered: 2023-10-28
Posts: 164

Re: Setting up Japanese Romaji keyboard [SOLVED]

seth wrote:

https://archlinux.org/news/making-dbus- … us-daemon/ but you're currently not using that.

Jan 11 23:41:53 monolith systemsettings[5350]: file:///usr/share/kpackage/kcms/kcm_fcitx5/contents/ui/main.qml:35:9: QML SwipeListItem: Binding loop detected for property "width"
kcmshell5 fcitx5

There seems no problem in the journal, you do understand what fcitx5 is/looks like?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ … n_Kate.png
https://fcitx-im.org/wiki/Configtool_%28Fcitx_5%29

It doesn't look like what you sent in the picture, and I have the "Input Method" option under System Settings, which also bares the icon of Fcitx5.

Also, everything seems to be set to "off", and I have no idea how to make that on, the global options do refer to the Hangul Hanja key, which I don't have, I have a standard 104-key keyboard with the QWERTY layout with the addition of Hebrew and Russian keys on top of the QWERTY layout.

I checked to see if fcitx5 is running via btop, any other ways to check that?


"A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit." -Isabelle, Animal Crossing: New Leaf
meet the rig and the surprise:
monolith: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | ASUS TUF RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR4 | DIY
olympus: Intel Core i5-8350U | Intel HD Graphics 620 | 16GB DDR4 | ThinkPad T480s

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