GSTranslator2

GSTranslator is a simple translator integrated with Gnome Shell. It uses Google Translate technology.

Video

Short presentation video: youtu.be/wOMi71Vwvwg

Screenshots

Dependencies

1. Gnome 3.4
2. Python 2.7
3. Dbus
4. python-dbus (for Python 2.7)

Installation

Gnome Shell extension:

1. Copy directory gstranslator2@thof.github.com to ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/
2. As root, copy schema file gstranslator2@thof.github.com/org.gnome.shell.extensions.gstranslator2.gschema.xml to /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/
3. Compile schemas (as root): glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/
4. Restart shell and enable extension

GSTranslator2 service:

1. You can copy gstranslator2_service.py to /usr/local/bin and make it executable chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gstranslator2_service.py

Running

1. Enable extension
2. Adjust settings (preferences icon)
3. Run GSTranslator2 service gstranslator2_service.py

Translation menu

By default this menu appear when you press <Super>d or click on "T" button. You can switch between languages using <Control>Left/<Control>Right keys. To get standard translation use Enter key or <Shift>Enter for expanded translation.

Known issues

• service may hang for 5-10 seconds on one of the first words. Somehow urllib2.urlopen freezes for several seconds, but it does not report any error or warning. After that it responses immediately on the following words. Weird...

How it works?

Gnome Shell extension communicates with GSTranslator service using DBus. It sends requests for translations. There are two types of requests: translate text from clipboard, translate text from menu entry. In response service written in Python, returns label with translation.