Nabi is a Korean word that means butterfly.
Nabi (the program) is an easy to use Korean X input method. It allows you to enter phonetic Korean characters (hangul) and pictographic Korean characters (hanja.)
Nabi offers the following features:
- Supports multiple Korean keyboard layouts:
- 2beol
- 3beol final
- 3beol 390
- Supports multiple English keyboard layouts:
- QWERTY
- Dvorak
- Supports system tray usage via informative notification area icons
- Works on 64bit machines
- Debian:
apt-get install nabi
- FreeBSD:
cd /usr/ports/korean/nabi
make install clean - NetBSD:
cd /path/to/pkgsrc/inputmethod/nabi
make install - Source code:
http://kldp.net/frs/?group_id=275
- CVS: anonymous cvs is supported
follow these instructions:
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.nabi.kldp.net:/cvsroot/nabi login
(there is no password, just press enter)
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.nabi.kldp.net:/cvsroot/nabi co nabi
- from rpms:
$ rpm -Uvh [nabi rpm package name, ie nabi-0.14-1.i386.rpm]
- from source:
$ ./configure
$ make
$ make install (for this step, you need to have root permission)
- from CVS:
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure --prefix=${WHERE YOU WANT}
$ make
$ make install
To use Nabi to write hangul, you have to set your locale to one of these:
- en_US.UTF-8
- ko_KR.eucKR
- ko_KR.UTF-8
You can change your locale by setting the LANG shell environment variable:
export LANG=ko_KR.UTF-8 (for bash)
-- or --setenv LANG ko_KR.UTF-8 (for tcsh)
Unfortunately, if your system library does not support ko_KR.eucKR or any UTF-8 locale, you will not be able to use Nabi. Check to see if your system library supports these locales if you are experiencing problems.
Try setting LC_CTYPE to ko_KR.eucKR, ko_KR.UTF-8, en_US.UTF-8
You also have to set XMODIFIERS shell environment variable:
export XMODIFIERS="@im=nabi"
This will enable Nabi.
- RedHat - this should work with many Redhat system variants
You have to add the following lines to $HOME/.i18n. If you don't have an .i18n file, create a text file as...
$HOME/.i18n
...and then add these lines to it:
export LANG=ko_KR.UTF-8 (or en_US.UTF-8 )
export XMODIFIERS="@im=nabi"
export XIM_PROGRAM=/usr/bin/nabi
Note that the "/usr/bin/nabi" in the previous line assumes that Nabi was installed in /usr/bin. If it was installed elsewhere, you need to change the XIM_PROGRAM export to match where the program is actually located.
- Others
You need to add this to X init scripts such as $HOME/.xinitrc or .xsession:
export LANG=ko_KR.UTF-8 (or en_US.UTF-8)
nabi &
export XMODIFIERS="@im=nabi"
If you just want to set up the program for one time use, follow these steps:
- run a terminal emulator like xterm, gnome-terminal, konsole;
- type these commands:
$ export LC_TYPE=en_US.UTF-8
$ nabi &
$ export XMODIFIERS="@im=nabi"
- Run your application, and you should be able to use Nabi.
- run a terminal emulator like xterm, gnome-terminal, konsole;
If you want to see the Nabi notification icons in your panel, you need to run a systray program.
- GNOME
Add an applet Notification Area which is in panel applet menu. - KDE
Nabi will show its icon on the KDE system tray automatically. - Others
Check your desktop system's manual about the system tray, or notification area.
- Changing between hangul/hanja mode, and English mode
Right-click on the Nabi window and a menu will be displayed. The Nabi window is a small movable window, initially located at top left corner of the desktop. See below:
If you use a system tray, left-click the Nabi icon on system tray to display a menu. See these examples:
This is the menu:
You can select the keyboard you use on this menu.
- Changing input mode between hangul/hanja and English.
Click any text entry you want to input and press shift+space. Then you can enter Korean letters.
- Hanja
First, enter any hangul character, then while the character is still active (before you press space or start another hangul character) press 'F9'. You should then be presented with a candidate list of Hanja characters for that specific hangul combination.
Note that if there is no candidate for that hangul combination, nothing will happen.
ex) On hangul mode, press gks and F9 (on 2beolsik)
...then you will see a window like this:
You can move the hanja selection bar by pressing the up and down arrows to move vertically through the list one character at a time, and by pressing the left and right arrow keys to move through the list a page at a time. To select a particular hanja character, move to it, then the enter key and the selected hanja will be inserted at the cursor position.
If you prefer, you can press the number displayed beside the hanja character and it will be inserted at once without you having to move the selection bar and press enter as described previously.
- Symbols.
This is almost same as hanja entry, but you only have to enter hangul consonants.
ex) On hangul mode, press a and F9. You are presented with a list of symbols.
- With GTK+2 applications
You have to set GTK_IM_MODULE to xim, or nabi will not be used. You'll be using another input method, or no input method. - If you cannot change input mode to hangul, or cannot input hangul, work through the following steps to determine what the problem is:
Run a terminal program...
$ unset LC_ALL
...now, run your application the press shift-space.
$ export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
$ nabi &
$ export XMODIFIERS="@im=nabi"
$ export GTK_IM_MODULE=xim
$ export QT_IM_MODULE=xim
If you can change the X input mode and enter hangul once you have performed the above steps, there is no problem with Nabi itself, or your system's capabilities. Instead, your configuration is incorrect and you need to go see what part of it is set up wrong. Compare the steps above with the various settings in your configuration to determine where the problem lies. You may have to restart your X server in order for it to recognize some changed settings; try that if all else seems correct.
Nabi works by assembling Korean hangul syllables using consonant and vowel fragments tha are assigned to various keys on your computer's keyboard. All hangul syllables contain, at a minimum, a consonant and a vowel. So first you enter the key for the first (or only) consonant, then the vowel key. If there is a third consonant, or a multiple consonant (like kk) then you enter them at the logical point in the syllable construction. For compound vowels, enter the first consonant or consonant pair, then the first vowel, then the second vowel and optionally the second consonant or consonant pair. To complete entry of a character, press the spacebar (or, if there is no way the syllable could contain the next hangul character you enter, new syllable creation will begin automatically.)
You can tell that Nabi is still assembling your syllable because the syllable will remain highlighted on the display. As long as the syllable is highlighted, you can use the backspace key to undo portions of the syllable, and you can use the F9 key to obtain a list of hanja possibilities for that syllable.
Often, you will need to make sure that a Korean font is available to the word processor or editor you are using; The underlying process that Nabi uses is to locate the specific hangul or hanja character in a unicode font and insert that font code in your document. If the font is not available, you will not see hangul or hanja characters; instead, your results will be undefined. For example, using Open Office Writer, if you select Baekmuk Batang as your font, you will be able to enter hangul and hanja.
http://nabi.kldp.net/ - Nabi homepage
http://kldp.net/projects/nabi/ - Nabi project page
http://wiki.kldp.org/wiki.php/nabi - Nabi wiki page (korean)