[Debian] Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

I am having the weirdest problems with the virtual keyboards when using them with window managers running on display 1 (using Xephyr). In this case, I'm using LXDE, but IceWM wasn't much better.

I use matchbox-keyboard in hildon (display 0) all the time without issue.

However, in LXDE, the matchbox-keyboard types fine until I hit a modifier key, and then the first key after that makes the keyboard just disappear. The xvkbd is even flakier.

It gets weirder, however. When I run matchbox-keyboard from a terminal, to see what errors I get, the keyboard doesn't crash; now I can't get capital letters anymore. When I run xvkbd from a terminal, I get this error:

The problems are much worse in new Debian installs; once Gnome is installed, the keyboards are much less flakey. There must be some library that is installed with Gnome that helps here...

It's pretty depressing. I don't want to release my final Easy Debian image until I feel more satisfied with the virtual keyboard performance...

How's the Deblet hildon-input-method coming, Stskeeps?

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Works fine - but only in matchbox wm :P Packages are on fatalsaint's apt repos

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Can you replace openbox with matchbox in LXDE without too much fallout?

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Think the app list starts complaining but besides that, no (johnx mentioned something about that)

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

No on-screen keyboard seems to work as it should. The best solution -- usability wise, anyway -- I found is using xvkbd but starting it in Maemo. It doesn't hide well (covers every scroll bar), and also if you quite it, you have to go back into Maemo to start it again. That is probably not a great solution for including in your Easy-Debian package (because it is not integrated into Debian), but at least it works...

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Oh... MY! Using Stskeeps' instructions and packages, the Hildon stylus keyboard WORKS in any Debian GTK app running in OS2008. For some reason, the space bar on the keyboard is dead, but...

GTK-only means it works for Leafpad but not for OpenOffice, etc. Also, it seems that AbiWord and the GTK-based browsers don't invoke HIM consistently. When you click in a text field in a web page or on the document in Abiword nothing happens, but they invoke the stylus kbd when you click in the address bar or search dialog.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/...e7b1a486_o.png

I still haven't tried it in LXDE yet.

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

That would be related to the troubles with HIM in native abiword, I'd guess.


Oh, and does entering spaces with gestures (drag right) work?

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

What's the browsers' excuse? Perhaps its because the interface (including the address bar) is GTK, but the actual web page is rendered with gecko/webkit?

Where do I drag right?

Oh and I can't get H.I.M. to work in the secondary WM (running in :1). It kills the virtual keyboard in maemo (display :0) and doesn't seem to work in the secondary WM. I guess it doesn't allow two copies of the daemon to run (one per display).

I tried substituting matchbox-window-manager for openbox-lxde, but that was a disaster too. MWM is missing a lot of features in openbox, and the H.I.M. still doesn't work.

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

On any key; more info.

(And I'm guessing you're right about the browsers.)

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Ok, Benson, if I can gesture a space on any key, then no.

I just wish there was a non-flakey virtual keyboard. It is kinda depressing that such a central component is so problematic.

I can only find matchbox-keyboard, xvkbd, and (the currently untested) gok (Gnome onscreen keyboard). Any others out there? Does xkbd work better, and if so, can fatalsaint compile it and put it in his repo? Is this a problem with something below the keyboard, something wrong with the implementation of X in Xephyr?

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

I'll look into it.

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Gesture update: All the gestures work on the h-i-m keyboard except space.

It's almost like space has been disabled somehow... If you look at my screenshot above, the spacebar is grayed-out, like it is disabled. And the gesture doesn't work either. Stskeeps, does the spacebar work in your deblet version? Perhaps this is a problem with the example keyboard interfacing with the running OS2008 daemon...

I guess I can't include this in my Easy Debian. It's a shame; it would be very cool.

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Aha! A clue! From here:

The suggested fix looks like the addition of the following codes to our .Xmodmap file:

EDIT:
I saved this file as /home/user/.Xmodmap-keymap and added "xmodmap /home/user/.Xmodmap-keymap" as the first line of my Debian /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart file, and hey presto, matchbox-keyboard works flawlessly.

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

Good.. cuz xkbd worked like crap. I grabbed an ubuntu source 0.8.5.. it was the only source I could find... and trying to compile it there was problems in the Makefile regarding a "numsonly" binary... so I had to modify the Makefile and removed those just to get it to compile and install.. (which probably stopped some functionality.. like a 10-key or something)

after that it ran.. and appeared to work fine except various letters and keys aren't mapped correctly and instead print "o" and then repeat over and over again. There was a few warnings about the xmodmap not being in the correct format so I venture that it installs it's own xmodmap that needs to be modified.. but I'll stop working with it if H-I-M already works. Xkbd is a nightmare.

Re: Debian Virtual Keyboard Woes
 

You are a bloody genius man an I love you!