Input Methods... how do they work?

SilentBarracuda · 2024-10-16 02:08:20

Hi,

I'm a total noob in the Linux space, safe for the few times I have used Linux at work. I recently made Arch my daily driver and so far it's been smoother and surprisingly easier than I expected.

Thanks to all who banged their head against the keyboard so we could be here.

However, I have a small question regarding input methods.
When Installing Arch, before I installed SDDM or Plasma, I noticed the console, out of the box is enabled to insert unicode characters exactly in the same way I used to on Windows (e.g., ALT+64 = @ ) However once I'm in the desktop environment (I use plasma) Those codes are gone and it seems a different input method is used. As changing to another tty and engaging with the console there gets me that functionality.

I know in plasma you could do something similar CTRL + SHIFT + u + 40 = @, but the unicodes I have burned in my brain over the years it's easier for me to recall the decimal code, than adding one more key to the sequence and entering the codes in HEX.

It's not like I'm loosing much, but regardless. Where are both input methods defined and how could I, theoretically, grab this functionality from the TTY and use it on plasma (I guess by putting it on /usr/share/X11/xkb/ but I have no idea)

mpan · 2024-10-16 03:12:38

Hello, welcome to the forum.

The native Linux console, as handled by the TTY driver, doesn’t have an input method editor. The behavior you described is just built-in, hardcoded feature. This is completely different from what a display server does.

In the latter case it’s a separate feature. It’s a piece of software that uses a higher level protocol, like XIM⁽¹⁾ or toolkits’ own protocols, to provide text input. IBus is an example of a program like that.

What kind of input is supported depends entirely on the input method editor used and how it is configured.
____
⁽¹⁾ Xorg also had a built-in XIM server.

SilentBarracuda · 2024-10-16 04:17:24

mpan wrote:

Hello, welcome to the forum.
The native Linux console, as handled by the TTY driver, doesn’t have an input method editor. The behavior you described is just built-in, hardcoded feature. This is completely different from what a display server does.

Interesting, makes total sense. I guess I could edit xkb to achieve a similar functionality of what I want. My only problem is that I use an American Keyboard configured as Latin American because I know the distribution from memory. Only problem of doing that is that I'm missing one key "< >" I guess doing my own input configuration, is overkill and I could achieve the same result using the compose key.

Will look into it, Thanks!

mpan · 2024-10-16 04:34:35

If you’re not using that single character often, I would say that compose is indeed a reasonable solution.

I use it all the time, even while just typing. That’s how proper apostrophes and quotation marks appear in my text.

seth · 2024-10-16 06:21:28

input redirection, you're gonna need the glyphs a lot

@SilentBarracuda, your main problem is that there's no key between "shift" and "z" or is it a problem to properly configure that key?
There're plenty of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY layouts…

Arch Linux

#1 2024-10-16 02:08:20

Input Methods... how do they work?

#2 2024-10-16 03:12:38

Re: Input Methods... how do they work?

#3 2024-10-16 04:17:24

Re: Input Methods... how do they work?

#4 2024-10-16 04:34:35

Re: Input Methods... how do they work?

#5 2024-10-16 06:21:28

Re: Input Methods... how do they work?

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