Tinkering with Rime Input Methods: Weasel and Fcitx5-Android - 华岁云小屋
Tinkering with Rime Input Methods: Weasel and Fcitx5-Android
·(edited)· / , , · reads0
AI TranslationSimplified ChineseEnglish
Tinkering with Rime Input Methods: Weasel and Fcitx5-Android
Why I started
The main reason was the built-in Sogou input method on my Meizu phone. In Chrome, it would often fail to type into certain forms, duplicate input, and couldn’t work with my password manager (I’m currently mainly using Monica, which brings together Bitwarden and KeePass and supports passkeys, though it still has plenty of bugs). I’d really put up with it for way too long!!! I also tried Gboard, but it always felt a bit off and I never really got used to it. Over the past few days I searched for input method recommendations and clipboard syncing, came across Fcitx5-Android, gave it a try and found it pretty good. Then I found a fork that can be configured for clipboard syncing, so down the rabbit hole I went...
Final setup
Windows: Weasel + Frost Pinyin + Chinese Wikipedia dictionary Android: Fcitx5-Android + Rime + Frost Pinyin + Chinese Wikipedia dictionary
Prerequisite setup: Frost Pinyin
Because Rime’s configuration is shared between Windows and Android, I’ll put this part first. Later, when configuring Windows and Android, you can just copy and paste it directly.
Go to Releases and download the latest rime-frost-schemas.zip or download the entire repository, then extract it to any folder📁 that’s convenient for you so it’s easy to customize. The example below uses the 📁rime-frost-master folder:
Add more custom dictionaries I personally added the Chinese Wikipedia dictionary
Download the latest zhwiki-*.dict.yaml This is the dictionary file used by Rime; optionally, you can also get web-slang-*.dict.yaml
You can rename it to zhwiki.dict.yaml by removing the timestamp from the filename, which makes future updates and replacements easier;
Put all the downloaded dictionary files into the 📁rime-frost-maste folder.
Open rime_frost.dict.yaml and add the custom dictionary
Add the dictionary here at the end. This should have something to do with ordering; it seems dictionaries are matched according to their order (not totally sure—if you know, feel free to explain in the comments). Make sure to open the dictionary file and confirm name: zhwiki ; if you add other dictionary files, it’s best to check them as well.
Android Fcitx5-Android input method
Installing and basic setup for Fcitx5-Android and the Rime plugin
Use fxliang’s fork. The most important thing is that it supports clipboard syncing. The original version also has a clipboard sync plugin you can use.
Download and install fxliang’s fork
Download the fx version (package name: org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx, so it can coexist with the official version or other forks for easy testing), as well as the Rime plugin. This Rime plugin is adapted for the fx version, though of course it can also be used with the original version.
Add Rime
Go to input method settings ➡️ tap Add Zhongzhouyun in the bottom right (the Rime plugin you just installed), then tap the ⚙️ on the right to enter the Rime plugin settings. You can tap Redeploy, then open the user data directory. This is where dictionaries, configuration files, and similar files are stored.
Warning
Note: The data directory is under Android/data, so accessing it and copying files into this folder directly on your phone may take a bit of know-how. If you have a computer, use it—it’s way easier.
Rime + Frost Pinyin
Because you need to access: Android/data/org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx/files/data/rimeI’ll only cover computer-assisted operation here. Some Android file managers can do it too, but they’re not as convenient as plugging the phone into a computer (
Connect the phone to the computer with a cable Open此电脑\MEIZU 22\内部共享存储空间\Android\data\org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx\files\data\rime
Remember to change the path to your own. Since you’re using a computer, finding this path should be much easier ( Copy all the contents of the prerequisite setup mentioned earlier, the 📁rime-frost-maste folder, and paste them into 此电脑\MEIZU 22\内部共享存储空间\Android\data\org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx\files\data\rime
Configure Rime + Frost Pinyin Open Fcitx5 on your phone,输入法设置➡️中州韵⚙️, then tap 立即重新部署. This is a relatively large package, so give it a little time. After redeployment finishes, go to:方案选择 Uncheck the ones you don’t need and select 白霜拼音 or choose whatever you need. Open any text field to bring up the input method, select Frost Pinyin, and adjust any other settings you want, such as default English punctuation, emoji suggestions, and so on.
At this point, Frost Pinyin is configured successfully, and the custom dictionaries mentioned in the prerequisite setup—such as the Chinese Wikipedia dictionary—have been loaded. There’s really not much that’s difficult here. Common schemes like Rime Ice, Wanxiang Pinyin, and Frost Pinyin are mostly very easy to set up: download, copy, paste.
Download and install fxliang’s fork There isn’t much to say here—just follow the prompts and install it~ WIN+Space to switch to Weasel,
Right-click the tray icon用户文件夹to open the configuration 📁 folder. This is where dictionaries, themes, and other configuration files are stored.
Weasel + Frost Pinyin
Frost Pinyin configuration
As before, copy all the contents of the prerequisite setup mentioned earlier, the 📁rime-frost-maste folder, and paste them into用户文件夹 Right-click the tray icon重新部署 and wait for deployment to finish; when it’s done, right-click the tray icon again输入法设定 and select 白霜拼音 ; or choose whichever configuration you need. Windows is actually much simpler to configure, and the operations are more convenient too.
Customizing Weasel’s appearance
Right-click the tray icon and open用户文件夹 find weasel.custom.yaml. This is the custom configuration file. You can look online for theme configs shared by experts, or ask AI. Here’s a theme file I asked AI to make: I feel it’s too white, so later I’ll refer to configs from the pros and ask AI to tweak the color scheme~
Android: Fcitx5-Android has a built-in clipboard sync service. Besides SyncClipboard, there are other server options too;
Windows: Weasel: for now, I can only install the SyncClipboard client. I haven’t found a better way yet...
I used to rely on KDE Connect for LAN clipboard sync, but once I was off the local network it stopped being useful, and it disconnected easily too.
Wrap-up
If you want something that better fits your own typing habits, you’ve got to tinker. There’s still plenty to play with in this setup, like multi-device sync and more theming, but I’ll leave it here for now. It already feels pretty comfy, time to kick back 🤪🤪🤪.
Why I started
The main reason was the built-in Sogou input method on my Meizu phone. In Chrome, it would often fail to type into certain forms, duplicate input, and couldn’t work with my password manager (I’m currently mainly using Monica, which brings together Bitwarden and KeePass and supports passkeys, though it still has plenty of bugs). I’d really put up with it for way too long!!!
I also tried Gboard, but it always felt a bit off and I never really got used to it. Over the past few days I searched for input method recommendations and clipboard syncing, came across Fcitx5-Android, gave it a try and found it pretty good. Then I found a fork that can be configured for clipboard syncing, so down the rabbit hole I went...
Final setup
Windows: Weasel + Frost Pinyin + Chinese Wikipedia dictionary
Android: Fcitx5-Android + Rime + Frost Pinyin + Chinese Wikipedia dictionary
Prerequisite setup: Frost Pinyin
Because Rime’s configuration is shared between Windows and Android, I’ll put this part first. Later, when configuring Windows and Android, you can just copy and paste it directly.
Go to Releases and download the latest rime-frost-schemas.zip or download the entire repository, then extract it to any folder📁 that’s convenient for you so it’s easy to customize.
The example below uses the 📁rime-frost-master folder:
I personally added the Chinese Wikipedia dictionary
Download the latest zhwiki-*.dict.yaml This is the dictionary file used by Rime; optionally, you can also get web-slang-*.dict.yaml
You can rename it to zhwiki.dict.yaml by removing the timestamp from the filename, which makes future updates and replacements easier;
Put all the downloaded dictionary files into the 📁rime-frost-maste folder.
Open rime_frost.dict.yaml and add the custom dictionary
Add the dictionary here at the end. This should have something to do with ordering; it seems dictionaries are matched according to their order (not totally sure—if you know, feel free to explain in the comments).
Make sure to open the dictionary file and confirm name: zhwiki ; if you add other dictionary files, it’s best to check them as well.
Android Fcitx5-Android input method
Installing and basic setup for Fcitx5-Android and the Rime plugin
Use fxliang’s fork. The most important thing is that it supports clipboard syncing. The original version also has a clipboard sync plugin you can use.
Download the fx version (package name: org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx, so it can coexist with the official version or other forks for easy testing), as well as the Rime plugin. This Rime plugin is adapted for the fx version, though of course it can also be used with the original version.
Go to input method settings ➡️ tap Add Zhongzhouyun in the bottom right (the Rime plugin you just installed), then tap the ⚙️ on the right to enter the Rime plugin settings. You can tap Redeploy, then open the user data directory. This is where dictionaries, configuration files, and similar files are stored.
Note: The data directory is under Android/data, so accessing it and copying files into this folder directly on your phone may take a bit of know-how. If you have a computer, use it—it’s way easier.
Rime + Frost Pinyin
Because you need to access: Android/data/org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx/files/data/rimeI’ll only cover computer-assisted operation here. Some Android file managers can do it too, but they’re not as convenient as plugging the phone into a computer (
Open此电脑\MEIZU 22\内部共享存储空间\Android\data\org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx\files\data\rime
Remember to change the path to your own. Since you’re using a computer, finding this path should be much easier (
Copy all the contents of the prerequisite setup mentioned earlier, the 📁rime-frost-maste folder, and paste them into
此电脑\MEIZU 22\内部共享存储空间\Android\data\org.fcitx.fcitx5.android.fx\files\data\rime
Open Fcitx5 on your phone,输入法设置➡️中州韵⚙️, then tap 立即重新部署. This is a relatively large package, so give it a little time.
After redeployment finishes, go to:方案选择 Uncheck the ones you don’t need and select 白霜拼音 or choose whatever you need.
Open any text field to bring up the input method, select Frost Pinyin, and adjust any other settings you want, such as default English punctuation, emoji suggestions, and so on.
At this point, Frost Pinyin is configured successfully, and the custom dictionaries mentioned in the prerequisite setup—such as the Chinese Wikipedia dictionary—have been loaded. There’s really not much that’s difficult here. Common schemes like Rime Ice, Wanxiang Pinyin, and Frost Pinyin are mostly very easy to set up: download, copy, paste.
Windows Weasel input method
Installing and basic setup for Weasel
Again, use fxliang’s fork.
There isn’t much to say here—just follow the prompts and install it~
WIN+Space to switch to Weasel,
Right-click the tray icon用户文件夹to open the configuration 📁 folder. This is where dictionaries, themes, and other configuration files are stored.
Weasel + Frost Pinyin
As before, copy all the contents of the prerequisite setup mentioned earlier, the 📁rime-frost-maste folder, and paste them into用户文件夹
Right-click the tray icon重新部署 and wait for deployment to finish; when it’s done, right-click the tray icon again输入法设定 and select 白霜拼音 ; or choose whichever configuration you need.
Windows is actually much simpler to configure, and the operations are more convenient too.
Right-click the tray icon and open用户文件夹 find weasel.custom.yaml. This is the custom configuration file. You can look online for theme configs shared by experts, or ask AI.
Here’s a theme file I asked AI to make: I feel it’s too white, so later I’ll refer to configs from the pros and ask AI to tweak the color scheme~
Clipboard sync
My setup: deploy SyncClipboard on a VPS
Android: Fcitx5-Android has a built-in clipboard sync service. Besides SyncClipboard, there are other server options too;
Windows: Weasel: for now, I can only install the SyncClipboard client. I haven’t found a better way yet...
I used to rely on KDE Connect for LAN clipboard sync, but once I was off the local network it stopped being useful, and it disconnected easily too.
Wrap-up
If you want something that better fits your own typing habits, you’ve got to tinker. There’s still plenty to play with in this setup, like multi-device sync and more theming, but I’ll leave it here for now. It already feels pretty comfy, time to kick back 🤪🤪🤪.