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Return to Keyboard Debate.

Retrieved from "http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Keyboard_Debate"
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NOTE: This is an emotionally laden topic. Please stick to facts and Neutral Point of View.


NOTE: This is work in progress. Please help by linking to appropriate messages and wiki pages.


Summary of the problem

Om 2008.8 uses Qtopia for its phone stack. Qtopia has a build-in keyboard primarily designed to compose SMS in English. This keyboard is very impractical to use with a terminal or enter an URL.

More details...

List of all keyboard bugs in the defect tracking system.

List of available keyboards

The Qtopia keyboard build-in Om 2008.8. See also the [documentation at Trolltech]

The matchbox keyboard.

The illume virtual keyboard a.k.a. Raster's keyboard.

The vkbd system.

List of keyboard-related Howtos

How to use the Qtopia keyboard shipped with Om 2008.8 ?

How to have a toggle button to make the keyboard appear/disappear ?

How to change the keyboards layout ?

How to change the dictionnary used by the predictive keyboards ?

How to turn off Qtopia keyboard ? According to Comment on ticket 1864: You can put "export QTOPIA_NO_VIRTUAL_KEYBOARD=1" into /etc/X11/Xsession.d/89Qtopia and qpe will not instantiate a virtual keyboard and illume's keyboard should be shown. Another option involves patching and recompiling qpe.

Your short-term options

Even if things might look bad, you shouldn't assume that they are
  • Live with it, let go (for a while) the desire to use the terminal locally, login remotely via ssh when you need.
  • Get an external keyboard, USB or Bluetooth, light and foldable if you want.
  • Switch to 2007.2, FSO or Debian.
  • Recompile Qtopia and provide a package.

PS: Complaining that management does not listen to the users needs is not a productive option.

Perspectives for long-term resolution

On August 27th 2008, Openmoko inc. announced its intention to focus on the low-level layers. Future "base system" distribution may not include any phone stack at all.