Linux and Chinese

xiaophil
October 27, 2009, 03:03 PM posted in General Discussion

I'm considering installing Linux on my work computer as an experiment more or less.  I'm curious, can anyone out there tell me if I am going to be frustrated trying to type Chinese, finding decent dictionaries and so on?  I have some patience to figure out computer gliches, but it is finite.

Thanks in advance!

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andrew_c
October 27, 2009, 03:17 PM

It works great.  you can use SCIM to type Chinese (trivial to install), or the newer IBus (pretty straightforward to install).  About dictionaries, I personally use MDBG, nciku, and the CPod glossary anyway...  I also recently wrote software which works like MDBG reader, in that it gives interactive translations across the desktop, for applications using AT-SPI (this is well-supported in GNOME, Java, and Mozilla applications, not so for Qt/KDE applications)  I have yet to make a user-friendly release though https://code.launchpad.net/deskglot  I eventually plan to create easy-to-install packages for Ubuntu.  I've been largely satisfied with learning Chinese while using Ubuntu, and I'd be glad to help you with any issues you have.

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bababardwan
November 03, 2009, 08:24 PM

I have Simply Mepis version of Linux on a 20G partition of my laptop that has vista on the larger partition.Is this stuff gonna work on that? If not,is it easy to uninstall Mepis and reinstall Ubuntu? I'm a bit rusty on that stuff now.

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andrew_c
October 27, 2009, 05:18 PM

I'll hopefully be able to dedicate an upcoming Saturday to getting it released...  Although I have to admit, my motivation is lacking since I have it up and running on my own computers, and I'm a bit intimidated by the package creation process.  Feel free to nag me, otherwise it might never get out the door :)

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xiaophil
October 27, 2009, 11:22 PM

andrew and buddha (can I drop the 'think'?) , thanks a lot!

I (hopefully) have a quick question.  I use PPPoE ADSL to get online.  I tried out Ubuntu before and had to use a command line to initiate it.  Is there a way around this?  I don't care, but as I am not the only one using it, I'll be sure to hear complaints.

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andrew_c
October 28, 2009, 12:24 AM

According to this as long as you use version 9.04 or higher it should be much easier than it used to be.  Rather than guessing, I would suggest just booting with the CD, and seeing if it's automatically detected and working.

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xiaophil
October 28, 2009, 01:40 AM

Okay, thanks.  I'll have to check it out later as this computer is about as old as a C64 and cannot open the link.

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WillBuckingham
October 27, 2009, 04:58 PM

Andrew, deskglot sounds tremendously exciting (particularly as I'm a GNOME desktop kind of person). I look forward to the eventual beta!

I'd agree that working in Chinese on Linux is very easy. IBus (now the default IME in Ubuntu Karmic) is excellent, and very elegant in comparison with the somewhat twitchy SCIM. And many tools like Anki, Stardict and (the sadly no-longer developed) ZDT run well in Linux.

I dual boot my machine with Linux and XP, but as the days turn to weeks turn to months, I use XP less and less. And when I do, I find it a frustrating experience...

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ty44092003
October 28, 2009, 02:35 AM

im a chinese,i can teach u chinese,

 

my email is laogao14god@gmail.com

 

my QQ is 1265947230,plz contract me

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ty44092003
October 28, 2009, 03:08 AM

my email is laogao14god@gmail.com

 

my QQ is 1265947230,plz contract me

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WillBuckingham
October 28, 2009, 08:12 AM

I didn't realise how imminent the release was, Andrew. Have a good Saturday - I look forward to it! xiaophil, do feel free to drop the "think" (or for that matter, the "buddha", or the "inkb" so I'm just "thuddha"), but if you call me buddha, you risk me getting ideas above my station...

Speaking of Linux and Buddhas, have you heard of Yellow Hat Linux?

 

 

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xiaophil
November 03, 2009, 04:02 AM

andrew c, thinkbuddha and of course changye

I hope you see this.  Thanks for your experiences, encouragement and info.  I installed Ubuntu, and so far so good.  There are a few things that I will miss about Windows, but so far I am amazed by the boot up time, as well as a few other features.

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changye
October 28, 2009, 01:45 AM

红旗 Linux (Red Flag Linux).........有中国特色的 Linux

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Flag_Linux