Howto: Install a Japanese Language Environment in Mepis

-Disclaimer-

Because of the varying nature of Linux and Systems in general, I can't guarantee the steps outlined here will work for you. When I tried to setup Japanese Language in Linux I found a real lack of Documentation. So, I am documenting steps I have taken to create an environment for myself.

-Intro-

In a perfect world you would just be able to directly input any language into your system with a keyboard. However, with some languages particularly Northeast Asian Languages there are thousands of different characters or letters. Obviously direct input is not feasible for these languages.

The first key in successfully setting up a JLE in Mepis is understanding the components required to make it work, which components will work with each other. After proper setup all I18n aware programs will be able to display and input in Japanese. Generally 4 types of components are required to make this work. An Input Server, an Input Module (front-end), Japanese fonts, and I18n/l10n files.

-Input Servers- This is a service that is started each time you boot your computer.

There are a few choices here in the Debian tree

Canna-(tried and true) This is the input server used by most Linux Distro's and the one we will be setting up here. It works very similar to IME used by MS Windows in that the user types in the pronunciation of a Japanese word in Roman Letters, the server then analyzes the grammer and returns a list of possible matches which the user selects the correct character from. This step is repeated for each word typed.

FreeWNN-Functionally equivalent to Canna my quess is most users wouldn't know the difference. FreeWNN is a fork from a commercial server called WNN4 which was open-sourced. A commercial version of WNN still exists.

Skkserv-Very radically different from Canna/FreeWNN in that it doesn't analyse the grammer of each word, but attempts to do direct conversion while typing, The input style is very similar to writting in Japanese and is therefore very quick once one gets used to using it. It is slightly more difficult to get setup and running than Canna.

Commercial-There also exists a few popular commercial conversion systems ATOKX,Wnn6, and VJE Delta. Their accuracy tends to be much better than Canna or FreeWNN [every once in a while when using Canna/FreeWnn you will still come across a character that is not in the servers dictionary and it will appear on the screen as a square or mumbled garbage (like a non-japanese supported computer sees when viewing a Japanese web page) which can be irritating. These commercial systems usually sport their own frontend which tends to be more intuitive, sleeker, and professional looking than the free ones. If you plan to use Linux as your main OS in Japanese it may be worthwhile to look into one of these.

-Input Module (IM)- An input module is the front-end inside to Desktop environment that accepts inputs and send them to the servers. However an important note; certain IM's are designed to work with certain servers, they cannot be arbitrarily mixed and matched Not all of these are in the Debian tree and may have to be compiled from tarball.

. Kinput2 (canna/freewnn)- very basic module, no graphical front-end, typing Shift/Space together allows Japanese input pressing it again turns it off. Works with most X apps.
. Skkinput (skkserv)- similar to Kinput2 but for SKK Server
. Im-ja/im-canna (canna)- Graphical input modules based on GTK2 and therefore not feasible for use in Mepis
. iiimf-skk/iiimf-canna (canna/skkserv) graphical X based input module

- The Actual Setup- For our JLE we will use the basic tools provided in the Debian tree

1. Open the Mepis System Center and unser the Package Management Tab ensure Use Internet is selected. Open Kpackage and from the menu bar select Special/Apt:Debian/Update

2. Find (you can use the find package icon on the left side) and mark by clicking the red dot next to the package names the packages:
canna, canna-shion, kinput2-canna, kterm, kinput2-common, language-env, user-ja, vflib2, watanabe-vfont, xfonts-intl-japanese, xfonts-a12k12, ttf-kochi-gothic, ttf-kochi-mincho, kde-i18n-ja, koffice-i18n-ja, and openoffice.org-l10n-ja after marking them all click install marked.

This will draw in a few other packages as well which is normal. After downloading you will be asked if you want to start the canna server (y) and if you want to access the cannaserver from a remote client [depends on your system (n) for standalones)

3. In the K Menu under System/Other/Environment select Japanese Environment if you have setup everything properly thus far you will be asked a bunch of questions in Japanese! This program pretty much detects by itself what you have running and what you don't and you can just answer with the defaults by pressing enter.

4. Open the Mepis System Center and under Install Localizations and install the ja localization for all six apps. Under System Tweaks set Locale to ja_JP.EUC-JP

5. Open the KDE Control Center If you have a Japanese keyboard (if not skip this step) from the Peripherals tab select Display select the keyboard model JP 106-key and Layout Japanese and click Forward then Quit and save your changes.

6. In the KDE Control Center select the tab Regional&Accessibility, Country/Region&Language Cick Add Language and Select Japanese. From Administration tab select Login Manager, click Admin. Mode button and enter root password, change the locale to Japanese (ja)

Reboot your computer and your Mepis should now be in Japanese