I’m not a real programmer but I’m willing to help by taking non-programming related tasks. Even the boring and repetitive ones.
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I’ve been using linux mobiles (3 different devices) for the past 2 years, initially with plasma mobile, now with plasma desktop, sharing the entire setup with my desktop, so I’ll definitely check this out and see how it is compared to maliit. From the looks of it it’s great!
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This is awesome! Such great news this is happening!
I use a 2-in-1 laptop, so my workflow is about using the osk when the laptop is in “tablet mode”, i.e. without having to use the physical keyboard. The main things I would like it to do for my workflow are:
- Print characters correctly in all applications. Mallitt does not work properly in electron apps, in particular the number row prints the shift characters not the numbers (so pressing ‘2’ prints ‘@’, ‘3’ prints ‘#’ etc.), likewise not all the punctuation keys print the right punctuation characters. So probably the biggest thing for me is that the keyboard simply work reliably in all apps.
- Possibility of a full keyboard layout, so all modifier keys available to trigger shortcuts. I also use vim keybindings whenever possible, so Esc key is vital, and the option to remap it to CapsLock would be really great!
- Reliably recognizing text input fields when tapped (again this is a major failing of mallit) in all apps and the option for the keyboard to automatically disappear when tapping a non-text fields.
- Resizable height and width would be nice to have. Mallit takes up so much room in landscape orientation that it makes whatever app you are using kind of useless. Option for split keyboard and floating keyboard would also be nice to have.
- User configurable layouts would also be a nice to have.
Honestly I would like the osk keyboard to work pretty much the way they work on a tablet, except to have the extra power of modifier keys to take advantage of the fact that I am using a full fledged desktop instead of android.
Installed, but doesn’t show up, should it be visible in Keyboard Settings? Can i delete the build folder after installation? i also added that line KWIN_IM_SHOW_ALWAYS=1 but i see nothing, only the installed packages.
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I use a convertible laptop.
I often use the touch screen instead of the mouse, because I think it’s easier in some cases - with the physical keyboard still present. In that case, I don’t need any OSK. I actually disabled it completely, since it doesn’t check if a pysical keyboard is available.
When I’m in tablet mode and need to type a longer text, I’ll happily flip my physical keyboard out for typing. I would only need the OSK for short texts or keyboard shortcuts like ctrl-c. For this case, I’d like to have an icon for the OSK in the task bar, so I can manually open it when needed (and close it again with the same icon please). The icon should only show while there’s no physical keyboard available.
The tray does have an icon called Input Method (has either a keyboard or downward arrow displayed and a green dot to show if it’s active), that disables and enables it, works with both maliit and plasma keyboard. It does not bring it up, that needs an extra tap
a bit late to this and i haven’t scrolled through everything but for my partner and i implementing something fully mouse friendly would be great. honestly its about the only good thing i can think of that i miss from win11 was the virtual keyboard on the bottom if turned on that you could just use your mouse to type with. as 2 individuals who use their pc on a 55in tv myself with a weird bedside standing desk setup and my partner at the couch having the ability to not always reach for the keyboard would be great. i’ve never gotten maliit to work for us since last i was aware it was touch only and thats just not an option for us
This looks amazing. A bit late to the post, but here are some features that I would like to see with its intended use.
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Press and Hold to access special versions of the letter commonly used in different languages. So, if you long press “d”, you get a menu with different types, one of them being “đ”. This helps with having only english keyboard, but still being able to access your languages specific characters. This is how mobile keyboards work.
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This is probably a lot of work, but Voice Input. My friend is a quadriplegic and operates his entire computers using a quadStick (mouth operated stick) and he heavily relies on voice input for some specific character inputs, especially when playing games. This is one of the reasons he cant switch to Linux as the OSKs are just not on-par.
Maybe one of these is already implemented, but if not it would be really sick to see it implemented.
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Hello everyone!
Thank you for having participated in the thread, while I haven’t responded to much to the post, just know that the developers (me included) are reading through and taking input!
I recently released a first beta of Plasma Keyboard (v0.1.0), which is arriving in some distributions (ex. Arch, Fedora). This is still missing some highly demanded features (namely, keyboard emulation “mode” for certain buttons), but works as a drop-in replacement for maliit-keyboard.
To use it after installing, select the keyboard in the “Virtual Keyboard” settings module. There is also a settings module called “On-Screen Keyboard to configure languages and toggle features.
Feedback is welcome!
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Hello community,
using manjaro on my 2in1 lenovo x390, and switched to the “test” branch, just for having the most recent (distribution-wise) KDE “virtual keyboard”. I’m on wayland. I bought the x390 (second hand) with the aim to use it as linux tablet (websurfing/streaming).
Taking into account that the x390 is used as a tablet, hence with cycles of use-sleep-use and always folded my feedback is:
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tab meta super ctrl alt and other special keys (arrows, pgup, pgdown) and keys combinations are needed (a lot) to have a “usable” experience
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I do not know if that would be addressed by a virtual keyboard, but having gestures for example swipe-left (or right or down) to go back/forward/refresh web pages.
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even better, to implement a “concept”, like for mobile phones, to interact with the UI. Like “tap” to wake up the screen, double tap may be for right click and so on.
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the key on the right of spacebar should have more chars/symbols. For example to write a URL with “-” on the name, you must go in the alternate keyboard (with numbers and special characters) press “-” the back to letter keyboard and so on
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the current implementation is a bit “clumsy” sometimes, meaning: sometimes I can’t have appear/disappear properly from text fields. Or when I wake up from sleep, no keyboard on the locked screen
Hope this helps!
I hate that I have to press shift every time I want to UNcapitalize something. By default you have to press ONCE to enable capslock. Pressing twice also is capslock (but there shouldn’t be two of them, just twice is enough). This is unconventional. There’s no shortcut to customize the keyboard. There are no CTRL or ALT buttons which for me are essential (e.g. commands), there’s no number row, instead you have to press a button to shift to a different screen for numbers alongside symbols. There’s an audience that likes to have customization for these features. Also, there is no way to change the rows and columns for the position of your buttons or their sizes, so if you’re used to different patterns you have to get used to it even if they’re too big or too small depending on your screen. Using a GUI for tweaking around can be more intuitive and time-saving rather than using the terminal for these fundamental features. Optionally, there can be a way to change the theme and colors of the keyboard instead of depending on your system’s personalization… resulting in having the same color(s) instead of having them separate from one another. Some people may also want other features, but it can be easily solved if you just add one shortcut for customizing the keyboard, then users are free to change the keyboard however they want. Personally I like it when the virtual keyboard is able to resemble the features of a full keyboard as close as possible; As of the time that I’m writing this, plasma keyboard doesn’t satisfy those requirements for me.
Could you tell us in the issue what is the use-case for the full sized keyboard?
Ok so imagine I gave you a tablet with no keyboard
You’d have to be able to operate a Linux desktop with sysadmin capabilities terminal etc with no physical buttons
Function keys, key repeat, nav cluster, everything has to be done with no physical keyboard installed
This is useful for people with quadriplegia and cerebral palsy or other types of severe paralysis in the hands and arms, where a physical keyboard is too difficult to operate
Thank you for your reply, could yo please comment on the issue I linked so we can discuss it further if needed?
Thanks for you reply,
This is already implemented, could you test and let us know if there is anything missing?
Could you ask your friend to give us some more feedback on the use-case of this? You can do it here or in the open issue in this link..
i would but i can’t register for an account and it says my forum account is invalid
Hmmm, just write it here then and I can add it to the ticket.
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On screen keyboards are useful for people that cannot operate a physical keyboard due to low mobility.
I am able to give patients a Linux desktop running gnome and gjs-osk on a 2 in 1 laptop with the keyboard removed or flipped backwards.
A full osk is needed because operating a full desktop will eventually require use of a terminal, function keys, nav cluster, etc. A full keyboard layout ensures users are able to press every button on their keyboard without the use of a physical keyboard.
Key repeat will be an important feature for low mobility as well for things like gaming and navigating through a text field.
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Added your feedback to the issue, thanks
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I think we have inconsistent wording (“on-screen keyboard” vs. “virtual keyboard”) as well as duplicate-looking menu items. From the user’s perspective, this is very confusing.
In the Plasma Mobile Settings application, there are two entries: Keyboard > On-Screen Keyboard and another simply called On-Screen Keyboard. At first glance they appear identical, but they actually contain slightly different options. Meanwhile, the page itself refers to “Test the virtual keyboard,” which adds to the confusion.
There’s also Keyboard > Virtual Keyboard, which is actually just a toggle for selecting which virtual keyboard to use.
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