Problems with multiple languages

ogogon

Colleagues, I believe that the situation with the multilingual interface is not worked out very well.
There are always users for whom it is important to have support for several qualitatively different fonts. For example, English and Hebrew, English and Cyrillic, English and Japanese.

Unfortunately, when installing the system, the installer allows you to select only one language. (If there are actually several, then nowhere is it explained how.)

And already at the stage of describing the user-administrator, his login cannot be entered in English, only in the selected language. (And if I want it in English, not Hebrew?)

The login form also does not want to enter the password in Latin letters. Only in the localization language. It gives the right to choose another language, but does not remember the choice. Do I need to enter this every time I log in? How can I remember this?

After logging in, the problem persists. I had to disable the use of locale from the system, add English and an icon with the language. How do I add a hotkey combination to switch?

I believe that if the installer had provided for a multilingual situation - input of all languages and automatic creation of an icon for each language and a switch, then many problems for beginning foreign-language users would disappear.

Ogogon.

vimanuelt

ogogon I can empathize as I needed to manually download and install English Shavian character fonts manually for my language environment.

I think the best way to manage this is to submit a feature request. It would be in GhostBSD's interest is have an IME installed by default to manage i18n concerns.

ghostbsd/issuesissues/new?assignees=&labels=feature&template=feature_request.yaml

It is worth noting that the increase in the number of requisite packages needed to improve i18n support will likely increase the minimum amount of RAM to 8 GiB which would upset many users.

ogogon

vimanuelt Following your advice, I created two issues on the git.

I don't think there is any need to load all existing i18n packages into memory. I've been using multiple locales on my computers all my life, but I've never heard of it taking up that much RAM.

How can I set a hotkey to switch locales for this system?

vimanuelt

ogogon The challenge is finding the minimal font set for a good experience, which grows significantly with added language support. We're already at our size limit, and adding the required packages exceeds our 4 GiB RAM cap. I’d support making 8 GiB RAM the new minimum, but Eric and others may strongly oppose raising the limit. I believe the change is inevitable, it's just a matter of time. Perhaps now is the time.

ogogon

vimanuelt If the user needs a second locale language for life and work - he will agree with the need to increase resources. Or he will choose another distribution - Ubuntu, Mint... There the installation goes without the described adventures.

vimanuelt

I understand. Many situations require switching locales, and I often alternate between English and Japanese for daily tasks. If adding language support post-installation is cumbersome, you might prefer an OS with more seamless multilingual support. Apple's macOS, Ubuntu's Linux, and Mint Linux provide the feature you require. In your case, switching to another operating system makes sense.

FreeBSD and GhostBSD remain about 25 years behind other operating systems in this area, relying on manual configuration rather than intuitive setup tools. While improvements are ongoing, they still lack the polished, user-friendly experience found elsewhere. Hopefully, future developments will bridge this gap and make language setup more accessible.