Hi John, Yes, we are aware of your use-case. I made a proof of concept here: https://invent.kde.org/apol/plasma-morekeys
Testing and especially work is very much welcome. At this moment, my priority is plasma-keyboard and the input-method-v1 use-case. Best, Aleix On Tue, Dec 2, 2025 at 12:19 AM 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
