On 2 December 2025 9:48:39 am ACDT, John Ramsden <[email protected]> wrote: >Hi, > >I require an on-screen keyboard with full functionality similar to what is >provided by onboard. Unfortunately these types of on-screen keyboards are not >found on Wayland, and plasma will be dropping X11 support in 6.8. I understand >there is work being done to provide a virtual keyboard >(https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-keyboard) for Wayland. > >Unfortunately for my use case I need something that works not only in text >fields but globally, similar to the functionality you would get from a >hardware keyboard. I need to be able to issue inputs into terminals, along >with modifier keys etc. As far as I can tell (and please correct me if I'm >wrong) but this is not the intention of the virtual keyboards that are being >provided by plasma for Wayland. > >The integrations to provide virtual keyboards appear to be using >input-method-v1, which allows you to target text inputs. What I'm looking for >is something that is globally available and allows me to interact with my >computer as if I'm using a hardware keyboard. I want to be able to issue >inputs without restrictions (for example trigger global shortcuts) as if I'm a >regular keyboard user. > >I've been looking into some options for doing what I am looking to do, and I >was seeking some input from plasma developers to make sure what I'm attempting >to do is actually going down the supported route. I don't want to build >something that is actively considered misuse of wayland, or is looked at as a >security concern. > >I see a few options: > >* Pretend to be a hardware keyboard via an emulated device such as using >uinput - is this looked down upon since it essentially goes around Wayland? >Would plasma considered blocking something like emulated devices in the future? >* Ideally use something like zwp_virtual_keyboard_v1 but this does not seem to >be supported by plasma. Is there any intention to support something like this >in the future? >* Use XDG RemoteDesktop Portal - would this be seen as misuse of the API? > >Ultimately my use case is I want a keyboard that sits on my desktop and allows >me to input anything a regular hardware keyboard would be able to input. > >-- > John Ramsden
Plasma Virtual Keyboard allows input into terminal emulators like Konsole. Modifier keys I'm not sure on as I'm not at my PC but it is something that Qmlkonsole supports so it should in theory be possible to add this to PVK.
