0. Document Version

• June 6, 2004: first version
  
• October 07, 2004: adapted for new versions of SCIM, error correction
  

1. Summary

• This page describes Amharic Input under KDE by using SCIM (Smart Common Input Method). You will be able to switch on-the-fly between Amharic and English (or whatever native input you have on your keyboard) in your applications.
  
• Since SCIM is a XIM-server, it provides input methods at X-level. That means all programs supporting XIM will offer Amharic input, e.g. OpenOffice and qt3-based programs (KDE). A slight modification will also extend the SCIM-input to gtk-based programs, like Mozilla, without running Gnome.
• The input method is complient  with the Shift-SERA method. (For the different Fidel input methods see http://www.geez.org/IM/.)
• This solution has been tested under SuSE 9.1.

2. Installation

1. Download and install SCIM
   Current RPMs and source packages can be found under http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/ScimDownload. Different distributors (e.g. SuSE) already provide SCIM, but in older versions. SuSE users should uninstall all previous SCIM packages (don't update) and install scim-1.0.1-1suse.i586.rpm and scim-tables-additional-0.4.3-1.i586.rpm. The use of the KDE frontend SKIM is also recommended and can be installed with the appropriate package. (NOTE: Currently that package seems broken, installing from source is needed.) For installation from source, build scim-1.0.1.tar.gz, scim-tables-0.4.3.tar.gz and (if desired) skim-1.0.1.tar.bz2.
   
   
2. Setup X to use SCIM
   In your global xim configuration file (/etc/X11/xim, you need to be root) enter these lines at the appropriate place in order to start SCIM with each X-session (alternatively you can also put it in ~/.xim):
   

   export XMODIFIERS="@im=SCIM"
   scim -f socket -ns socket -d
   scim -f x11 -s socket -c socket -d
   
   

   (This rather complicated start of the SCIM daemon has to do with using SCIM for gtk-based programs) SuSE 9.1 users: you can just get my modified version of /etc/X11/xim here and replace your existing version with it.
   
   
3. Set up SCIM for your locale
   Tell SCIM to provide your standard locale (e.g. de_DE.UTF-8) by appending it to /SupportedUnicodeLocales in /etc/scim/config:
   

   /SupportedUnicodeLocales = en_EN.UTF-8, de_DE.UTF-8
   

   If SCIM isn't configured to support your locale, you won't be able to activate it under X.
   
   
4. Adjust the input style for qt3 widgets
   Run qtconfig as a user. Under Interface select your favorite XIM Input Style. My favorite for Amharic is OnTheSpot, which means your characters will change directly in your application as you type. The other styles create some sort of a hint window and submit the character to the application after the whole key sequence is processed. (NOTE: There seems to be a problem with OnTheSpot input when using the SKIM frontend, therefore it might be advisable to leave the input method at OverTheSpot.)
   
   
5. Activate SCIM for gtk widgets
   Without this SCIM won't work under gtk-based programs, like everybody's favorite browser Mozilla. Of course Gnome comes with it's own input method for Amharic, but under KDE the GTK input methods are often not available in GTK programs. So make sure your gtk.immodules (usually in /etc/opt/gnome/gtk.2.0/) has the following lines in it:
   

   "/opt/gnome/lib/gtk-2.0/immodules/im-scim.so"
   "scim" "SCIM Input Method" "scim" "/opt/gnome/share/locale" "*"
   

   Check if the first line provides the right location for im-scim.so (provided by scim-gtk-immodule package). Also make sure that your locale (e.g. "de") is not already assigned somewhere else to another input method.
   
   
6. Restart X and try it out!
   Restart your X server and you should see a little keyboard icon in your icon tray. Run any KDE program. Ctrl-space activates the SCIM input and you should be able to select the Amharic input method.
   
   
7. (Optional:) Set up SKIM
   If everything works well, you can also set up the KDE frontend SKIM for nicer integration. Cf. http://scim.sourceforge.net/skim/doc/user/en/ for instructions on how to do that. Note that you will not need to start the scim daemon anymore in your xim configuration file, so you will need to remove the two lines starting scim from /etc/C11/xim.
   

3. Troubleshouting

• Make sure SCIM is running and you see the little keyboard icon in your tray bar. Alternatively you can also run SCIM in the shell (konsole) by typing the three commands provided above.
  
• If you can't activate SCIM:
• Check that SCIM provides your locale (cf. point 3). You can find out your locale by typing "locale|grep LC_CTYPE" in a console window.
  
• If you can't type select the Amharic input method
  
• Make sure the Amharic input is installed. Check the setup window or make sure there is a file Amharic.bin in your SCIM tables directory (usually /usr/share/scim/tables/).
  
• Send me your questions, comments, feedback.
  

4. Developers

• You can change the input style and adapt it to your own preferences by modifying the source file Amharic.txt.in accordingly, which is provided as part of the scim-tables-0.4.3.tar.gz tarball. The syntax is pretty self explanatory.
• The source file always has to be saved with UTF-8 encoding.
• To install modified table create the binary file with the following command:
  

  scim-make-table Amharic.txt.in -b -o Amharic.bin

• Install new binary table by copying it to SCIM tables (usually /usr/share/scim/tables/) directory.

Feedback

• Please your comments, questions, corrections.