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Problem entering some letters with keyboard in Ubuntu

Asked by Anatoly Gorokhoff

Hi, people! I have come up with a problem working in Ubuntu. I hope you can help me.

The problem is, when I enter a text in the Latvian language, the special letters (ā,č,ģ, etc) do not input. E.g. I press apostrophe-a, but no symbol appears next to the cursor.

The keyboard layout is correct (Latvian with apostrophe).

The Latvian language pack is installed.

In Skype there is no problem.

My system is Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. The system language is Russian.

So, people, if you have an answer, or if you need more information, you are welcome to respond to this post! I will give you more details, if you wish.

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Ubuntu yelp Edit question
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Anatoly Gorokhoff
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Ajesh.Avaronnan (avajesh) said : 		#1

After installing language pack, install and configure SCIM and make sure it is running. you will see a keyboard icon on your panel if it is running. then you can type complex characters.

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Anatoly Gorokhoff (anatolijs-gorohovs) said : 		#2

Thank you for the answer, Ajesh! I have installed SCIM and tried it.

I have found a solution to my problem without using SCIM.

To enter Latin characters with macrons, cedillas, etc, you should enable a Compose key.

1) Go to: System --> Preferences --> Keyboard.
2) Select the Layouts tab
3) Click the Layout Options button
4) Under the option "Compose key position", select any key you prefer. I selected Right Win.
5) Now, to type ā, press Right Win, -, a;
   to type š, press Right Win, <, s;
   to type ķ, press Right Win, comma, k.

Now I might as well disable the Latvian keyboard layout. I can enter Latvian text using a standard English USA layout. And not only in Latvian, but also in French, German, Spanish, etc

I suppose the problem is caused by a bug, which makes it impossible to enter letters using the normal keyboard layout.