google chinese handwriting ime

Google Chinese Handwriting IME

A Chinese IME that works by exploiting Google Translate using Electron. This application aims to solve my friend's Chinese input problem when using Linux desktop. Therefore, this application is for Linux desktops only.

MacOS-style laptop touchpad input support is recently added.

Why?

• Google input tool works only inside Chrom{e, ium}
• My friend said that all Chinese handwriting IMEs in Linux suck, and I promised to my friend that I will make this for him
• I could do a better touchpad support that benefits laptop users.

Installation

1. Ensure xdotool, python3, gconf and latest node and yarn installed.

• For touchpad support, evtest and xorg-xinput are also required.
• Ensure that you are using X instead of Wayland.

2. $ git clone https://github.com/Saren-Arterius/google-chinese-handwriting-ime.git && cd google-chinese-handwriting-ime
3. $ yarn
4. # pip3 install pyperclip or equivalent package from your distro.
5. # usermod -a -G input $(whoami)

Config for touchpad

1. Open config.js with your text editor
2. Run $ evtest, select your touchpad. Now touch your touchpad and move your finger to right bottom, observe the maximum ABS_X and ABS_Y value between the flashing messages.

• Change touchpad_support.touchpad_coords.max.x and touchpad_support.touchpad_coords.max.y to the values you observed.
• Repeat for minimum ABS_X and ABS_Y and apply to touchpad_support.touchpad_coords.min.x touchpad_support.touchpad_coords.min.y for the left top corner.

3. If the cursor went outside of the drawing area when writing, or if there is too much padding, adjust the config above and find the best values.
4. If your touchpad is not autodetected, run $ xinput list and $ evtest to find corresponding device IDs for your touchpad. Optionally you may add a new entry into device_blacklist to avoid interference.

Running

1. $ cd google-chinese-handwriting-ime
2. $ yarn start

Screenshot

See it in action

• High quality full version mp4: https://drop.wtako.net/file/ddb9bb29707182454ba46ce9be11a8c84c4f870d.mp4
• Handshot mp4: https://drop.wtako.net/file/6046c0e60369e3f3a1ebc40e5e4dbf752317b742.mp4

Known problems

• No wayland support!
• xdotool type reliability and performance
  • Slow performance on GNOME
  • Some text input maybe missing
• use_clipboard could work better for GNOME and more reliable, but it may not work on some applications
  • The use of clipboard hack may make the text input unresponsive if you copied an image to clipboard
  • If the image inside clipboard is no longer needed, copy some text to clean the clipboard before text input
• For KDE Plasma, need to set "Focus Stealing Prevention" to "none"

Tested on

• XPS 9360
  • Arch Linux
  • KDE Plasma 5.14 / GNOME 3.30
• Fujishu SH572
  • Arch Linux
  • KDE Plasma 5.14

Terms

This application is licensed under Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal which is basically a "do whatever you want" license. Google Translate itself is covered by Google Terms of Service and Provacy Policies.