Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

I did search the forums and found no solution so I guess starting a new thread should be fine.

Here is the issue. I have installed these mscim packages from extras-devel:
- mscim
- mscim-modules-table
- mscim-n900-ppinputmethod (<= penpower)
- mscim-tables-symbol
- mscim-tables-zh-extras
- mscim-tables-additional

With these packages installed, the virtual keyboard no longer starts (Fn + Ctrl).
even with only mscim and penpower the problem remains.
Does anyone also run into this issue? Any fix? Thanks.

EDIT
sorry there are already a few old threads related to this issue.
still is there any fix for missing virtual keyboard?

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

I also use mscim, and couldnt get the virtual keyboard either.

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

HI I also have the issue, but I'm using triple languages for input:
ukeyboard package for Bulgarian phonetic keyboard layout and English keyboard standard layout + mscim and mscim pinyin but after installing VKB not working anymore, till now I did not find real solution for may case.

Switching betwееn the languages Eнglish/Bulgarian I use 'Sym/Ctr'+'Space' and switching form English to MSCIM 'Sym/Ctr'+'Shift', and from MSCIM to English - using on-screen MSCIM and choose English layout.
It's complicated but these is the only way of input in these tree languages.

Also MSCIM mscim-n900-ppinputmethod (<= penpower) is really good for handwriting recognition for Chinese and English.

I also notice a noticeable performance slowdown when MSCIM is installed.

The VKB comes back only if I
and after reboot.

I'm also eager to find the solution for this problem.

You can look here, and post the same question to developers of MSCIM.

Will keep an eye on this, if someone share some possible solution?

Greetings

Martin

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

MSCIM does not have a virtual keyboard. It replaces N900's native input altogether. It's not missing. It's expected. So other than some apps (such as Swappolube) hard coded to use the native input which enables VKB, you will not see the VKB on any other apps as it does not exist with MSCIM. (Opera Mobile is another example but this time, it has its own virtual keyboard and doesn't rely on the native VKB altogether)

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

Thanks mveplus for your pointer.
So the current situation is there is no fix for this except uninstalling/disabling mscim.
Now I can see that there are at least two ways to recover VKB:

Method 1 - Completely uninstall mscim
Method 2 - Disable mscim by stopping it without uninstalling
Doing so will stop mscim and get you back VKD as well as the CTRL+FN symbols input.
To restore mscim is very easy:
(no need to overwrite gtk.immodules again because this is what /etc/event.d/scim does exactly.)

Thanks to Jakiman for correcting my expression. I am not linux expert so I just assume VKD is "missing" in layman's term. :P

Perhaps one possible solution is stopping/restarting scim service on the fly without rebooting, despite the fact that scim launches in upstart (i.e. in /etc/event.d). Do I get it right?

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

I would accept that temporary solution if it was not involved Reboot!

What about to try makeing two scripts one for starting and one for stoping MSCIM without rebooting the N900 only restarting X enviroment on the fashion of 'optimize script' make quick restarting of Hildon? and unloading/loading the MSCIM on the fly?

Because rebooting takes time and energy from the battery- and is not convinient at all!

Just quick tought....

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

I haven't tested this method with mscim but I'm using maemocjk-scim, which is different to the mscim, but i am able to switch between virtual keyboard and chinese/japanese input at will using a queen beacon widget.

The maemocjk package places two files imdefault and imscim in
/opt/maemocjk/usr/bin

imdefault contains the code:
gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/osso/inputmethod/default-plugins/finger hildon_western_fkb
imscim contains the code:
gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/osso/inputmethod/default-plugins/finger hildon_im_scim

running imdefault will give me my virtual keyboard, running imscim will give me chinese input.

I haven't tested this with mscim however and the chances are slim by the looks of it.

the scim input is not as good as googlepinyin and there is no penpower, but for someone like me that only occasionally input chinese and MUST have English auto-capitalisation & completion, it's a good substitute.

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

I got error installing maemocjk-scim
http://paste.ubuntu.com/523756

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

I wonder if imsetting framework can help us to switch input methods without reboot.
http://code.google.com/p/imsettings/

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

Ok i think i fugured:
Create these:
And to swap run this:
After restarting app, you input on, should work

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

MSCIM tool is awesome, but this is what i use:

http://www.mandarintools.com/worddict.html

and than copy/paste the chinese character. done. no battery drain from using mscim (powertop says it wakes up my device like 24 times)

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

jukzh,

Did you manage to install maemocjk? I installed it via app manager since it is a metapackage. I think it conflicts with mscim so if you have that installed you must remove it.

The code you posted, that is working for mscim? Does auto capitalisation work too?

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

Jukzh's script does work for mscim! Thanks a million!

When 'ONBOARD' is enabled, then auto-capitalisation and auto-completion is working. Also, and this is very valuable, Fn-Ctrl (Sym) brings up the symbol keyboard. However, I could not access the 'normal' alphabet keyboard.

What the script does not do is remove/stop the SCIM processes when 'ONBOARD' is enabled. Stopping SCIM, when not required, would be good for battery life...

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

It sounds good. I really wanted the auto-caps and auto-completion and hence I went with scim. The scim's pinyin input is years behind mscim though. I might give it a go sometime and report back.

Can you explain what you mean by not able to access the 'normal' alphabet keyboard? do you mean the virtual keyboard?

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

Yes, rexii23, the virtual keyboard with letters 'QWERTY' etc. will not appear for me. However, it is possible to access the symbol keyboard.

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

Hi guys!
Jukzh's script's working for me also! You make may day men - Thanks!
Form me - Fn-Ctrl (Sym) symbol keyboard and 'normal' alphabet keyboard work! and Auto capitalization and dictionary for English words work also.
However I need to close the application (if it is x-terminal I need to close all instances) and reopen it again - then it work!

Also today I got new update of MSCIM - It looks like Evan JIANG is working really hard last week or so - Thanks man!

There is one more thing - is there a way to use this script without root privileges? Because it give error loading modules in gtk* files if try to start the imvk-swap.sh like user( it is in /opt/ and chmoded +x) but still we need full root access and run-standalone.sh does not help?

Greetings

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

I'm the maintainer of the MSCIM package.
Well, the last update is mainly for:
1. Make less changes to system. The /etc/event.d/scim is removed, and the hildon im is still kept in the gtk.immdoule file. But use export GTK_IM_MODULE=scim to set MSCIM as default input method
2. Support input in Qt application. For that, you need to install mscim-bridge-client-qt4. The MSCIM doesn't work really well under Qt apps, that you could only press Fn and other keys together to input the blue characters.

Notice: After update to latest package, you need reboot to make MSCIM work again. If possible, I suggest you apt-get purge mscim first, and reinstall mscim.

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

@mveplus,

to run the script via a widget with root privilages install sudser, and config the widget to run the command sudo sh /pathtoyourscript/imvk-swap.sh

I went ahead and tried this script. a few observations. The script would swap input method in some applications e.g x-term, notes but not others. e.g conversations.

If the n900 is booted with scim active, the process scim-panel-gtk is loaded permanently and running the script to invoke the vkb does not shut it down. which results in battery drain.

if the n900 is booted with the vkb active, the process scim-panel-gtk is NOT loaded at all, but somehow the script would still work to swap input method in applications such as notes, x-term. however, for conversations, pinyin does not work.

Can anyone figure a way to kill scim-panel-gtk? I know using scim, there is an option in the input panel that you can select to stop the scim process and in turn killing scim-panel-gtk, but mscim doesn't give that option.

Can anyone test if the same thing happens to them also? It doesn't seem as reliable which is a shame.

EDIT: had another reboot and now scim-panel-gtk is alway loaded. I'm out of ideas.

Re: Penpower, MSCIM and missing virtual keyboard?
 

(Cross-posting for other suffering MSCIM users)

I have just created a status menu switcher applet, which allows on-the-fly enabling/disabling of MSCIM (no rebooting).

This will save your battery life greatly, and also allows you to use the onscreen keyboard and symbol menu again!

It still has a few rough edges, but will probably be helpful to most people not requiring MSCIM to be active constantly.

Read this thread carefully, and then download the package if you wish to try it.

All usual warnings apply!! I will not be responsible if your device requires reflashing afterwards, etc.