Hello,

I have an old desktop (specs in signature). I brand-new to Puppy because it is the only Linux small enough that will boot (and run a decent desktop) on both this machine and an old Dell laptop (which is my ultimate destination, now crawling along with XP SP2 (can't even run SP3).

I have posted this question on a Japanese site, but realized that wasn't the best place (didn't get a reply specific to my distro, Puppy). Unfortunately, I can't create an account at the Puppy forums because their CAPCHA is difficult to read and can't get through the process before it will block me for too many login attempts though I'm only trying to create an account.

So, okay, to the point: What IME is the easiest to install and run on Puppy?

I don't see a Pet package for scim/uim or ibus. (Though I'd like to avoid ibus if possible, anyway...it gave problems on another laptop.) I researched my distros carefully, and was under the impression I could use the "Ubuntu repositories" with Puppy. However, it turns out that's not the case...unless you rebuild Puppy with Ubuntu? (And I can't install Ubuntu here.) I am willing to try any IME I can get installed on Puppy.

I don't see any IME in the Puppy repositories, but then, I don't know the names of that many, so I'm ignorant in this matter.

Also, the docs for adding a repository on Puppy are confusing, to say the least. Or maybe it's because I can't add an Ubuntu repository...I'm not even sure!

If anyone can recommend an IME on standard Puppy...and point me to more clear/correct documentation (if needed)...it would be much appreciated.

Yo!

This is your setup? You can go beyond Puppy, if you want. I have been running Xubuntu, Fedora 14 LXDE and even Debian 5 on something far-far less than this.

However, Puppy allows you to set up/install right from the desktop itself.

To enter Japanese Hiragana, I use gucharmap. Look at this page : http://live.gnome.org/Gucharmap , though I'm convinced it is in any repo...
I just arrow-key-and-enter tru the characters, copy and paste and ... it works!

こにちわ (hello)

Thor

You can search the Puppy forum without logging in: I found a reference to scim available from someones website, but no longer maintained. Puppy is a very Australian/American distro.

The machine described in your signature will run almost anything, and you don't say how much memory the other one has, but you could try
256MB Xubuntu, Salix
128MB Dream
64MB Vector Light
CPU speed is not crucial. I have a laptop running at 600MHz which came (second-hand) with Ubuntu, then ran Fedora, and now has Salix.

Hello, and thanks to you both!

I couldn't find anything useful by searching "input"...I didn't search a specific package because I didn't know what else may be out there. I also found "scim" after finding the Puppy Wiki (Wikka???) and following some links on it.

I have a question for you (not answered on the Wikka): if you install by downloading a PET package and left-clicking (a package not in the repositories), it will automatically install (according to the Wikka)...however, will it do dependency-checking? And if so, and the dependencies are not in one's Puppy repositories, what happens?

Thanks. I will remember that about the CPU speed, and your suggestions. Unfortunately, the laptop (where I would love to install Linux if I know I can get Japanese input) does not have the RAM of this desktop I'm on now. In fact, it has 256 MB, but only 128 MB (one stick) is being recognized after I tried expanding the memory, then putting the old one back! I hope I can get that fixed, then I can max it out at 512 MB!

The biggest problem, though, is graphics. I can't get most Linux booted (or it boots but I can't see it), even with kernel parameters "modeset.i915=0" (if I made a typo here, it's totally off the top of my head). DSL (Damn Small Linux) ran properly, but I hate the desktop used. Puppy is another one that won't boot, but if I get familiar with Puppy and can find a proper video driver, I should be able to make a puplet and fix that, right? I can't see any reason the standard Puppy (or a close spin-off) shouldn't work with the Dell laptop's hardware.



Thanks for the recommendation. I couldn't find it in the repos I found so far...though I see now at the "Wikka" I can build from source and just hope it works. Also, while Googling for gucahrmap, I found a Japanese-English bilingual Puppy Linux called "Quickset Puppy Linux":

http://shino.pos.to/linux/downloads.html

The cool thing is, running off a CD, and with the record-speed startup I get from Puppy, I would even feel comfortable using it in Japanese sometimes, and only re-booting to English if I have to! I haven't even installed the standard Puppy yet, just saving docs and stuff to the Linux filesystem already here under Absolute Linux. I can keep all my docs together from both/3 Linuxes and back them up now and then while testing Puppy/Quickset.

"Pupplets" wa totemo ii desu, ne?
Arigatou gozaimasu! Mata ne.

Mata ne* to you to! Hope to see you soon! Welcome to the Tribe!

(* "see you" in Japanese)

It's a long time since I used pet packages, but I think they were OK on dependency checking.

You might like to look at a Japanese distro. Fugulta, Plamo, and Berry sound as if they might fit on your laptop.