# Chinese Pinyin Package for typing Chinese



## happy-yoga (Jan 18, 2021)

Does anyone know which pinyin package works with FreeBSD 12.2? I searched the forum for "pinyin" and saw some discussions regarding fcitx. Is fcitx the best option? How do I install it completely? I am using GhostBSD but I also plan to install FreeBSD 12.2 and use GNOME at some point.


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## scottro (Jan 18, 2021)

My little bit of knowledge is in Japanese, not Chinese, but maybe this will help. There is also ibus for Asian language which some people prefer. If you're using GhostBSD and  Gnome, ibus may be the better choice. I know that a few Linux distributions that prefer Gnome use ibus by default.  

I began using fcitx because ibus started becoming a nuisance for me around FreeBSD-9 or 10.  But, I don't use Gnome. It became a nuisance because I had to start running a little script to change from Japanese to English, rather than just hitting a key combination.

 You *might* be able to find more information on fcitx in Chinese--I remember when I was doing web searches on it, most of what I found was in Chinese.

I'm not sure if any of this is useful, but for Japanese, at least, fcitx is pretty easy to use, but I have no experience of ibus with Gnome.  Either one will work I think, I'm just not sure which is more work with Gnome. For what it's worth, I have a page on Japanese in Linux and some BSDs, the Ubuntu section has some stuff about using fcitx with Gnome. https://srobb.net/jpninpt.html


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## Raffeale (Jan 21, 2021)

i use fcitx to input chinese
install zh-fcitx-sunpinyin and zh-sunpinyi

put these info your ~/.xinitrc

```
setenv LC_CTYPE "zh_CN.UTF-8"
setenv GTK_IM_MODULE "fcitx"
setenv GTK3_IM_MODULE "fcitx"
setenv QT_IM_MODULE "fcitx"
setenv QT4_IM_MODULE "fcitx"
setenv xmodifiers "@im=fcitx"
setenv LC_ALL "zh_CN.UTF-8"
```
 and run  fcitx &


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## free-and-bsd (Jan 21, 2021)

There is also GCIN input method that supports Chinese, Japanese etc, including pinyin. Though pinyin is not its main goal, but still.


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## happy-yoga (Jan 22, 2021)

Does anyone know of GCIN and Fcitx connect your input to the cloud? I want to remain anonymous when I type, or at least minimize how much of what I type gets tracked in a cloud database somewhere.


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## scottro (Jan 22, 2021)

If I understand your question, typing with fcitx should be the same as typing anything in a browser, terminal, or whatever. It doesn't require an Internet connection to work.


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## free-and-bsd (Jan 23, 2021)

happy-yoga said:


> Does anyone know of GCIN and Fcitx connect your input to the cloud? I want to remain anonymous when I type, or at least minimize how much of what I type gets tracked in a cloud database somewhere.


I wasn't aware any of those input methods used the cloud at all.


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## log (Nov 7, 2021)

Check this out:
 FreeBSD安装SCIM中文输入法(csh/tcsh)


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## creatxr (Jan 6, 2022)

```
pkg install -y zh-CJKUnifonts
pkg install -y fcitx5 fcitx5-configtool fcitx5-gtk zh-fcitx5-rime zh-rime-wubi
```

it seems that it missing something environment variable. but after i install "zh-ibus-rime" then remove it. it works.

i didn't find what's it setted, in the file "your home"/.xinitrc doesn't have



Raffeale said:


> setenv LC_CTYPE "zh_CN.UTF-8" setenv GTK_IM_MODULE "fcitx" setenv GTK3_IM_MODULE "fcitx" setenv QT_IM_MODULE "fcitx" setenv QT4_IM_MODULE "fcitx" setenv xmodifiers "@im=fcitx" setenv LC_ALL "zh_CN.UTF-8"


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 7, 2022)

creatxr said:


> … environment variable. …



<https://www.freshports.org/textproc/fcitx5/#message>, I guess.


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