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IBM 5250 Ideographic (DBCS) Language Support Requirements and Setup

Input methods are used to input characters that are not found on the keyboard. Languages that require more characters than the keyboard contains must use an Input Method Editor (IME) to compose characters. The X Input Method protocol was developed to allow the X Input Method Editors (XIME) to compose and send characters to X applications. Ideographic languages, formerly referred to as Double Byte Character Set (DBCS) languages, will require an IME that is XIM compliant when using ibm5250 to connect to ideographic locale i5/OS sessions. For more technical information on IME, XIM or XIME, see the Links section at the end of this document.

Requirements

IBM 5250 requires the following for ideographic language (DBCS) support

• LANG environment variable is set to the proper locale.
• Input Method editor (IME) that is X Input Method (XIM) compliant, installed and configured for the ideographic language (DBCS) language.
• Monospaced fonts with the proper Single Byte and Double Byte encodings for the language.
• IBM5250*inputMethod resource is correct for the X Input Method Editor (XIME).
• The environment variable XMODIFIERS is set for the XIME.
• The IME is started before launching ibm5250.
  

Default XIME Setting/Values and Required Fonts

The default IBM5250 XIME values are
IBM5250*inputmethod: XIME
XMODIFIERS=@im= XIME

 The following monospaced font sets are required:

For 8x16 and 16x16 FontSet
-*-*-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-c-80-(see encodings below)     Single Byte
-*-*-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-c-160-(see encodings below)   Double Byte
For 12x24 and 24x24 FontSet
-*-*-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-c-120-(see encodings below)   Single Byte
-*-*-medium-r-normal--*-*-*-*-c-240-(see encodings below)   Double Byte

To display the available fonts, type:

  NOTE:
IBM 5250 has only been tested using the default XIM compliant IME's listed below.

Follow the instructions for installation and setup provided by the distribution or XIME project.

You will need the following 2 values provided by the XIME project documentation:

• The resource value IBM5250*inputMethod: value1
• The environment variable XMODIFIERS=@im=value2

Note:  Sometimes value1 = value2.

To use a different XIME, you must:

1. Change the IBM5250*inputmethod: resource.
   As root edit /opt/ibm/iSeriesAccess/mri/xx/ NS3270Tx.rc (Click on xx for values)
   and change the default value to value1.
   
      IBM5250*inputmethod: value1
   
2. Change or set the environment variables LANG and XMODIFIERS
   (See NOTE below if you want the values set all the time.)
   

   From an X terminal (xterm, kterm etc)
      export LANG=xx_XX
      export XMODIFIERS=@im=value2

3. Start the IME (follow the XIME project documentation and see NOTE below)
   From an X terminal (xterm, kterm etc)
      <path to XIM>/Alternative_XIM

NOTE:
Check/edit your user files (~/.xinitrc, ~/.bashrc and ~/.profile) and global files (/etc/X11/xinitrc, /etc/barshrc, and /etc/profile), some distributions will source ~/.xim  or ~/.i18n to set the LANG and XMODIFIERS environment variables and also start the XIME.

Example: Change XIME for Japanese to use my_IME

If the documentation for my_IME project provided the following information
XMODIFIERS=@im=MY_IME
*inputMethod: my_IME
IME executable name is /newpath/my_ime

The steps would be:

1. Switch to root (su -l),  edit the /opt/ibm/iSeriesAccess/mri/ja/NS3270Tx.rc
      change this line
   IBM5250*inputmethod: kinput2
   to this
   IBM5250*inputmethod: my_IME
2. To test, from an X terminal as a regular (non-root) user
      export LANG=ja_JP         (Set LANG if not already setup)
      export XMODIFIERS=@im=MY_IME     (Set XMODIERS= new XIME)
3. Start the IME and emulator
      /newpath/my_ime &          (Launch the IME GUI)
   ibm5250 JAPANESE_HOST          (Launch 5250 emulator)
   

Troubleshooting

1. Check the XIME project or your distributions XIME documentation first.
2. Test the XIME with another X application that is XIM aware or compliant. 
3. Verify the required fonts are installed.
4. Verify that IBM5250*inputmethod resourse, LANG and XMODIFIERS are correct.
5. Verify the IME is started before launching ibm5250.