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Comment by lewantmontreal | Hacker News Reader

For what I understand in order to use CJK languages on Linux you currently have to install not a keyboard layout but a separate input device which makes getting started quite difficult. I wonder if the pop-os devs have anything up their sleeve for that.

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Not sure what the experience is like when just using the GUI on a normal distro. But on my arch setup I just installed fcitx5, fcitx5-mozc, set up the environment variables to actually use fcitx, and make it autostart, and I had japanese input working just fine.

I am guessing that most normal people desktop distros like popos just have something like fcitx set up. In which case you'd just have to install the plugin, or, I wouldn't be surprised if it comes preinstalled on some of them.

or am I not interpreting your comment correctly here?

Yes, sounds right. When trying out Fedora I installed the fcitx5 tools, added some env vars and virtual keyboard settings and rebooted. Then I had CJK working on a virtual keyboard device.

It’s just very different from MacOS and Windows where you just add a keyboard layout and you’re done, that’s why I was curious. Admittedly I love the amount of customisation options on fcitx.

What about input method editors? Don't you need to install those on windows and macOS as well (unless you are happy with the method provided by OS)? Or are the third party input method editors less popular now? (I don't use any of the languages requiring them so I don't know how widely are they used at the moment).

IDK about Chinese or Japanese though, at least for Korean, there is no need of separate input device at all.

Why would you need a separate input device?

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