Practical experience in improving Windows development and usage experience in 2024 - RIME Input Method

Introduction

The previous article introduced the package manager for Windows, and this article continues with the input method.

In fact, the input method ecosystem on Windows is much richer than on Linux/Mac. However, many domestic input methods have issues such as stealing privacy, embedding ads, and installing unwanted software. With the open-source RIME input method available, why put up with that? 😃

Moreover, RIME is cross-platform, usable on both Linux and Android, providing a more unified input experience.

About RIME

Rime, whose full name is "Rime Input Method Engine," is not an input method itself. It is an abstract input algorithm framework refined from various common keyboard input methods, developed by Fuo Zheng.

Rime achieves support for almost all Chinese input through various input schemes, including but not limited to 【Pinyin】, 【Zhuyin】, 【Shuangpin】, 【Wubi】, 【Cangjie】, and allows for simple switching between 【Simplified and Traditional】.

Since Rime is essentially just a framework, it does not inherently know how to input text.

If we want to use Rime, we need to define some settings that tell Rime how to input. These settings are the input schemes.

Because I prefer not to deal with complex configuration and use a ready-to-use solution, this article only briefly introduces the installation and basic use of RIME. For a deeper understanding, please refer to the official website's documentation and reference materials, which are very detailed.

Installation

Official website: https://rime.im/

You can install directly from the official website.

Alternatively, you can use winget to install.

winget install --id=Rime.Weasel

Input Methods

This article recommends these two input methods, both of which are ready to use out of the box.

I use the second one, "Wubi Shuangpin" (Rime-ice).

• Four-leaf Clover Pinyin (Sìyècǎo Pīnyīn) - https://github.com/fkxxyz/rime-cloverpinyin
• Wubi Shuangpin (Wùsōng Pīnyīn) - https://github.com/iDvel/rime-ice

Plum - RIME Configuration Manager

RIME configuration manager, this tool is called 「東風破 plum」

Note: Due to the lack of many Unix toolchains on Windows, forcibly using it requires some setup and configuration effort, so it is not recommended to use this tool on Windows. If you don't want to go through the hassle, you can skip this section directly; the next section has a one-click installation script.

東風破 /plum/: Rime configuration manager and input schema repository - https://github.com/rime/plum

Direct download on Windows: https://github.com/rime/plum-windows-bootstrap/archive/master.zip

After extracting, run the rime-install-bootstrap.bat file.

Then it will automatically download the required files. After that, run rime-install.bat to complete the installation.

For details, refer to: https://github.com/rime/plum?tab=readme-ov-file#windows

Rime-Ice Input Method Installation Script

This is the "Wubi Pinyin" (雾凇拼音) input method scheme mentioned above. This script can not only be used for installation but also for convenient configuration modification.

Project URL: https://github.com/Mark24Code/rime-auto-deploy

I use this one, which is more convenient on Windows because many toolchains are not available on Windows, and using plum directly might be more troublesome.

Windows version documentation: https://github.com/Mark24Code/rime-auto-deploy/blob/main/WINDOWS_README.md

Ruby needs to be installed, and this is where the package manager comes in handy.

scoop install ruby

Then follow the documentation and the prompts on the command line.

After installing Ruby, you can execute the one-click deployment script.

ruby .\installer.rb

Again, follow the prompts. For the first installation, as described in the documentation, select Auto Mode.

Modify Configuration

The RIME configuration directory on Windows is located at $HOME\AppData\Roaming\Rime. There are numerous configuration files within it, making it unclear which one to modify.

This configuration script provides the ability to customize settings. Simply modify the corresponding files in the rime-auto-deploy\custom directory and then re-run the script, selecting Handle Mode.

Here are the files inside:

 custom
 ├─ weasel.custom.yaml
 ├─ squirrel.custom.yaml
 ├─ rime_ice.custom.yaml
 └─ default.custom.yaml

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Delete Custom Words

1. If you mistype, deleting it immediately will not save it to the dictionary. Rime only records new words into the dictionary when new word input occurs.
2. Select the already created word and use Shift + Delete to delete it.
3. On mbp (MacBook Pro) because the Delete key is removed, use Shift + Fn + Backspace keys to delete.

How to Disable Fuzzy Pinyin

The input method deployed by this script enables fuzzy pinyin by default. This might be convenient for users who can't distinguish between h/f and n/l, but I find it really uncomfortable to use!!

Disabling it is quite simple. Just edit the fuzzy pinyin definition section in the custom/rime_ice.custom.yaml file, then re-run the script to update the configuration.

Open this file, locate the fuzzy pinyin section, and comment out the following lines under the initials:

patch:
  # Spelling settings
  speller:
    algebra:
      ### Fuzzy sounds
      # Initials
      - derive/^([zcs])h/$1/          # z c s → zh ch sh
      - derive/^([zcs])([^h])/$1h$2/  # zh ch sh → z c s
      - derive/^l/n/  # n → l
      - derive/^n/l/  # l → n
      - derive/^f/h/  # …………
      - derive/^h/f/  # …………

Re-execute ruby installer.rb, enter Handle mode, select copy custom config, and you're done.

Then simply click RIME's "Redeploy" button as usual.

References

• Getting Started with Weasel Input Method on Windows - https://blog.bling.moe/post/2/
• Rime Input Method Guide - https://jiz4oh.com/2020/10/how-to-use-rime/
• For First-Time Rime Installers - https://github.com/halfmoonvic/Rime
• Rime Customization Guide - https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/91129641

Summary

The next article will continue to introduce aesthetic tweaks, modifications, and utility tools.