Ive been using SCIM for Chinese input on my linux system. However sometimes it interferes with other programs, like opening up firefox. Any ideas on an alternative IME for Linux. I am using SUSE 10.0.
if you use kde, try skim which does a better job at integrating scim to the desktop. scim should not interfere with anything if well configured.
what are your input languages?
Ill give that a try in kde. Will it work as well in gnome? I will use both the traditional chinese (bopomofo) and the simplified (hanyu pinyin) input methods. I would like to use hanyu pinyin to type traditional characters, as I do in windows. Thanks for your help.
btw, please describe what you call “interfere”. you know that scim wont work in certain programs?
who uses gnome? 
you migh end up installing lots dependencies trying to get it to work, probably not worth the hassles if you dont use kde.
i have it working perfectly here. so, yes, it should work for you too. just as in windows, you can choose between trad. / simpl. characters on floating bar. it looks and works pretty much the same.
Ok think i got it going in both Gnome (I am quite fond of Gnome) and KDE. However, it doesnt seem to work in Open Office. Also, I’m a bit confused on how to use the input pinyin and get traditional characters. It has the pinyin option for simplified however. Thats pretty straightforward. Am I missing something?
In my previous post, scim was interfering with opening some apps on my friends Ubuntu system, specifically the Synaptics Package Manager. Once i took scim off of the system I was able to correctly run Synatpics. It works fine for my SuSE distro though.
Thanks for the help.
if you see squares instead of characters, you have to select the right fonts in Oo settings. the best is to import fonts from windows (if you have chinese windows on your hd). mandrake can do that. other linux fonts rpm’s work well anyway. also, you have to set ‘locale’ for the document. you can set chinese as second default language.
when i select this pinyin to 智能拼音, i can see the icon for trad./simpl. characters.
if you encounter more problems, i suggest the official scim site who has a nice wiki.
If I recall correctly, then you need to grab the “Arphic” Chinese fonts and set one for use in OO. I actually like those fonts better than the Windows Chinese fonts.