Koine Greek in Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon

A Tech article with 15 comments posted 9 November 2007.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: This guide does not work as of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. Please see my new guide for directions on getting KMFL to work with iBus.

Here’s the simple process for installing Koine Greek input method support for Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon:

  1. Make sure you have scim installed
  2. Add this repository to your apt sources: deb http://packages.sil.org/ubuntu gutsy main
  3. sudo aptitude update
  4. sudo aptitude install scim-kmfl-imengine kmflcomp
  5. Download scim-greek-koine.tar.gz, which contains a KMFL engine file I got from somewhere else that I have modified to work.
  6. Extract the tarfile and compile the kmfl file by running kmflcomp GrkPolyComp.KMN
  7. Run scim-setup, click on the new “KMFL” option, click install, browse to the GrkPolyComp.kmfl file you just compiled.

It was a twisty road to get to this point, so if it doesn’t work for you, post in the comments and I’ll try to help you work it out.

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  • Aethralis

    Thank you very much, this worked out perfectly! Hope you don’t mind I’m posting this (with a link to you page of-course) to ubuntuforums, as it seems people have problems with getting SCIM and kmfl working together.

  • Aethralis

    Thank you very much, this worked out perfectly! Hope you don’t mind I’m posting this (with a link to you page of-course) to ubuntuforums, as it seems people have problems with getting SCIM and kmfl working together.

  • http://kmfl.sourceforge.net Doug Rintoul

    Just wanted to let you know that step 6 is not strictly necessary. kmfl will load uncompiled kmn files just fine so there is no need to compile the keyboard beforehand.

  • Jonathan

    Thanks. Great instruction. Two notes (by my own trial and error):
    1. Make sure and use the gutsy repository, not hardy. I tried hardy and it seems to be working… but nothing happens. My bad.

    2. Requires system restart, not just application restart.

  • Jonathan

    Thanks. Great instruction. Two notes (by my own trial and error):
    1. Make sure and use the gutsy repository, not hardy. I tried hardy and it seems to be working… but nothing happens. My bad.

    2. Requires system restart, not just application restart.

  • Pingback: Biblical Hebrew in Ubuntu Hardy Heron | Ted Carnahan

  • John

    Followed the instructions and all seemed to go smoothly, but still can’t type in Greek or Hebrew after rebooting. GRk keyboard option produces some strange Icelandic looking script ( ŋðŋđðŋđŋ µø) and Hebrew I can’t even find.

    As a novice I have not a clue what to do next – apart from reluctantly returning to Windows where I know how to get these things working. Would be grateful for any thoughts. Thanks

  • John

    Followed the instructions and all seemed to go smoothly, but still can’t type in Greek or Hebrew after rebooting. GRk keyboard option produces some strange Icelandic looking script ( ŋðŋđðŋđŋ µø) and Hebrew I can’t even find.

    As a novice I have not a clue what to do next – apart from reluctantly returning to Windows where I know how to get these things working. Would be grateful for any thoughts. Thanks

  • John

    Just to say that a prompt and helpful reply from Ted has got me sorted. I’m very grateful

  • John

    Just to say that a prompt and helpful reply from Ted has got me sorted. I’m very grateful

  • http://www.tedcarnahan.com/ Ted Carnahan

    I’m glad it worked out. Here’s the email I sent to him for posterity’s sake:

    Under FrontEnd-Global Setup, make sure your Keyboard Layout is something sane (I wonder if English/US vs. English/UK would make a difference?). Under IMEngine-Global Setup, you might want to disable everything except English/European and Greek (polytonic precomposed) Unicode to make sure there aren’t any problems there. If that doesn’t help, perhaps sending along a screenshot would be helpful.

  • http://www.tedcarnahan.com/ Ted Carnahan

    I’m glad it worked out. Here’s the email I sent to him for posterity’s sake:

    Under FrontEnd-Global Setup, make sure your Keyboard Layout is something sane (I wonder if English/US vs. English/UK would make a difference?). Under IMEngine-Global Setup, you might want to disable everything except English/European and Greek (polytonic precomposed) Unicode to make sure there aren’t any problems there. If that doesn’t help, perhaps sending along a screenshot would be helpful.

  • http://kmfl.sourceforge.net/ Doug Rintoul

    Just wanted to let you know that step 6 is not strictly necessary. kmfl will load uncompiled kmn files just fine so there is no need to compile the keyboard beforehand.

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