Comment #5 : Bug #1826742 : Bugs : Onboard
bugs.launchpad.net
As a workaround you can use https://github.com/Supreeeme/extest to make Onboard work. Compile it as a 64 bit library and launch onboard with env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libextest.so onboard If you want to use it with KDE you can add X-KDE-Wayland-VirtualKeyboard=true to its desktop-file. I used kwin rules to get rid of window decorations and have it always on top without stealing focus. If someone knows how to make all other windows smaller when it's active that would be great. Only prob...

This is too great not to share. Wayland devs hate this trick! I’ll copy what I did from the bug report.

As a workaround you can use https://github.com/Supreeeme/extest to make Onboard work. Compile it as a 64 bit library and launch onboard with

env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libextest.so onboard

If you want to use it with KDE you can add

X-KDE-Wayland-VirtualKeyboard=true

to its desktop-file.

I used kwin rules to get rid of window decorations and have it always on top without stealing focus. If someone knows how to make all other windows smaller when it’s active that would be great.

Only problem remaining is that sometimes the keys get stuck on touch input. At least on my Steam Deck on OpenSUSE.

Edit: Just noticed that it doesn’t work on KDE’s lock screen. Hopefully I can find a workaround for that as well.

Edit 2: Was easier than I thought. Just select Maliit as a virtual keyboard and start Onboard manually. If you tap with your finger in a text field Maliit will come up. When you click in a text field Onboard will open. But Maliit also works on the lock screen.

  • SemperverusEnglish
    1•29 days ago

    Maliit has explicit wayland support and has a kcm

    • Björn TantauOP
      2•29 days ago

      The problems with Maliit are that it lacks special keys like Ctrl, Alt, Tab, Esq, F1-F12, etc. And you cannot invoke it by yourself to type in XWayland applications or others which don’t pull up the keyboard by themselves.

      The Gnome keyboard seems to be better in that regard but I couldn’t even find its name to pull it up outside of Gnome.

        • Björn TantauOP
          1•28 days ago

          How?

          I mean, I got a different solution by now, but would be nice to know for the future.

          • @[email protected]English
            1•27 days ago

            When you have a Xwayland app focused, the Plasma panel will have an upward facing arrow in the system tray. If you tap it, the virtual keyboard will pop up

            • Björn TantauOP
              1•27 days ago

              Not on Plasma Desktop. Maybe on Mobile. But I was not able to find out how to get it to Desktop.

                • Björn TantauOP
                  1•27 days ago

                  What distribution? No such thing for me with Plasma 6 on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

                  • @[email protected]English
                    2•26 days ago

                    Fedora. Though I just tested it again and the input method icon is now hidden by default, and does not automatically show up when appropriate :|

                    You can make it always be shown in the system tray configuration, but this should really work out of the box…

      • SemperverusEnglish
        -3•29 days ago

        Cool. They didnt ask for a fully-featured keyboard, they asked for a wayland-compatible onscreen keyboard.

        • Björn TantauOP
          0•28 days ago

          In that case please state which Wayland support it has. That’s the beauty of standards, there are so many to choose from. And in the case of Wayland keyboards you have to know which one the keyboard and which the compositor supports, making it extra easy for the user.