## hpr3302 :: Input Methods on Ubuntu

 First I go to the Language Support window. Either search (press Super/Windows, then type) for
"Language Support" and go there directly, or search for "Region & Language", go there, then click
"Manage Installed Languages".
There I click Install / Remove Languages ..., check the Chinese I want, then click Apply.
Then I add the packages for the input methods I want, either using the command line (apt install)
or the Ubuntu Software application:

Chinese Quick: ibus-table-quick-classic
Chinese Pinyin: ibus-libpinyin
Chinese (Cantonese) Jyutping: ibus-table-jyutping

Bonus input method:

Unicode emoji: ibus-typing-booster

Now for each user that wants an input method, I search for and go to Region & Language. At the
bottom of the Input Sources section I click the plus button. The different input methods are found
by clicking down into different sublists. Click the right choice, then Add:

Chinese Quick: Chinese -> Chinese (QuickClassic)
Chinese Pinyin: ⋮ -> Other -> Chinese (Intelligent Pinyin)
Chinese (Cantonese) Jyutping: Chinese -> Chinese (Jyutping)
Unicode emoji: ⋮ -> Other -> Other (Typing Booster)
EurKEY: English (United States) -> EurKEY (US based layout with European letters)

The EurKEY layout is part of the standard English language support in Ubuntu.
Finally, to enable unicode color emoji as completion suggestions, switch to the Typing Booster mode
by pressing Super/Windows+Space repeatedly until you see the rocket in your notification area. Click
the rocket -> Unicode symbols and emoji predictions -> On.
I owe you a followup episode once I figure out how to make this work for Guix applications running
inside Ubuntu.

This episode was based on a Fediverse thread:https://libranet.de/display/0b6b25a8-6760-517c-52c9-654926232346
References for your further study:

IBus is an input method protocol for the
GNU/Linux desktop. Other protocols supported are XIM,
SCIM,
fcitx and uim. You
have to choose one of these to use for all your input methods, but the most common input methods
exist at least for IBus and the first three of the rest, so this is not as much a limitation as
it sounds like.
Quick is a simplification of the
Cangjie input method. Cangjie assigns
radicals, character components, to 24 keys on the alphabetic keyboard, and you combine these into
a character. In Quick you combine two and then choose a completion from a list.
Pinyin is a romanization, a Latin alphabetic spelling,
for Standard Chinese (Mandarin).
Jyutping is one of
many
romanizations
for
Cantonese. 
Guix is a GNU/Linux OS and also a package manager that can be installed
and coexist with the GNU/Linux OS you already have, allowing you to mix and match programs from
both sources. See also hpr2198 and
hpr2308.

