Changing input language when connected to an external monitor

[Sebastian Pettke]

Hello Byeongmin,

I tried it now on my pinephone running manjaro. fcitx input eventually worked but there is one major problem: it doesn't work well together with maliit (which provides the virtual keyboard).
The virtual keyboard KCM that Aleix suggested shows both fcitx and maliit options, but independent of the selection there fcitx seems to be always active.
So now even if no physical keyboard is attached, the virtual keyboard doesn't show up because fcitx still wants to manage the input.

If you get toggling between fcitx and maliit to work, things should be fine, otherwise the situation is rather difficult.


Regarding fcitx itself:

>From the application list, the fcitx configuration tool wouldn't start properly as well.

However when calling 'fcitx5-configtool' from the terminal, it launched successfully.

If you want to start it with a GUI, you could install the desktop plasma settings application 'systemsettings'. There you will find it under 'Regional Settings'->'Input Method'. One drawback is that if you now long press on elements of the action drawer, it will not take you to the mobile settings app, but to the desktop one, which is not very usable on the phone.

Stay healthy as well!
Sebastian

> On 05/16/2022 1:07 PM KO BYEONGMIN <kobyeongmin at korea.ac.kr> wrote:
> 
>  
> Hello Sebastian,
> 
> thank you very much for your suggestions. :) Unfortunately I tried 
> `fcitx` already but could not
> get it to work as clicking `fcitx configuration` from the application 
> list did not open the usual
> configuration window, providing me no methods properly setting up the 
> input method.
> 
> This was disappointing, as `fcitx` is what I use on my KDE Plasma 
> Desktop to make Korean alphabets
> available for input.
> 
> Nonetheless I thank you for your time and effort to share your potential 
> solution to this
> important (at least to me and other Korean speakers) problem!
> 
> Stay healthy!
> 
> Byeongmin
> 
> On 16/05/2022 04:32, Sebastian Pettke wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > maybe fcitx5 is a suitable alternative for using different input methods on the desktop.
> >
> > Setting it up may require some extra steps, for reference see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fcitx5
> >
> > I think you would want to install 'fcitx5', 'fcitx5-configtool', 'fcitx5-hangul' (for Korean input), 'fcitx5-qt' (for integration with Qt applications) and 'fcitx5' (for integration with GTK applications).
> >
> > Then you can configure it by starting fcitx5-configtool and also set up keyboard shortcuts for switching the input method there.
> >
> > Please note that I have no experience with installing and using fcitx5 with plasma mobile or with Korean input. The above instructions are only my assumptions of what could work and might be wrong.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Sebastian
> >
> >> On 05/13/2022 7:07 PM Devin <devin at kde.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>   
> >> Hi Byeongmin,
> >>
> >> We currently do not have the keyboard settings module enabled right
> >> now unfortunately, it needs to be moved out of the plasma-desktop
> >> repository and ported to a mobile format.
> >>
> >> Someone filed a similar issue recently:
> >> https://invent.kde.org/teams/plasma-mobile/issues/-/issues/145
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Devin
> >>
> >> On Fri, May 13, 2022 at 8:24 AM KO BYEONGMIN <kobyeongmin at korea.ac.kr> wrote:
> >>> Dear Plasma Mobile enthusiasts,
> >>>
> >>> is there anyway, be it through GUI or a terminal, that I can change input
> >>> language from English to Korean and vice versa when my phone is connected
> >>> to an external monitor?
> >>>
> >>> To be more precise, I am running Plasma Mobile 5.24.5 on my Pinephone (Arch
> >>> Linux ARM), from which the input language can be easily changed via its
> >>> on-screen keyboard when the languages of choice are added to the list
> >>> available
> >>> on SYSTEM SETTINGS > ON-SCREEN KEYBOARD > CONFIGURE LANGUAGES.
> >>>
> >>> However, when I connect the phone to an external monitor via the
> >>> 'Convergence'
> >>> USB-C dock, the on-screen keyboards are automatically disabled and leaves me
> >>> no way of typing languages other than English.
> >>>
> >>> My search for finding appropriate keyboard shortcuts or solutions from the
> >>> software repository was to no avail. Is it really impossible to change
> >>> the input
> >>> language when the phone's connected to an external monitor?
> >>>
> >>> Thank you for reading.
> >>>
> >>> Stay healthy!
> >>>
> >>> Byeongmin
> >>>
> >>> ---
> >>>
> >>> written from my Pinephone
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Plasma-mobile mailing list
> >>> Plasma-mobile at kde.org
> >>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/plasma-mobile
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Plasma-mobile mailing list
> >> Plasma-mobile at kde.org
> >> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/plasma-mobile