OKBoard

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OKBoard (a.k.a. Magic Keyboard) is a gesture based keyboard that allow single stroke typing. Usage is explained in this video. English, French and Dutch are supported without the need for additional packages, other language resources are available in separate packages, e.g. for Swedish (okb-lang-sv). It currently works on Jolla phone, Xperia X / XA2 / 10 / 10 plus. Larger phones (such as XA2 plus/ultra & Fxtec Pro1) may be supported in a later release.

Do not use other third party keyboards at the same time (unless they are just simple layouts for new languages).

Source code: http://git.tuxfamily.org/okboard/okb-engine.git/ and http://git.tuxfamily.org/okboard/okb-keyboard.git/. Instructions for adding new languages are included in README.md files (latin alphabet only at the moment).

If you get an error message about missing dependencies (dbus-python, patch ...) when installing, just run "pkcon refresh" as root and try again. Also some issues may be solved by uninstalling and reinstalling.

OKBoard tends to break for each new Sailfish release, so if possible, wait for other users reports before upgrading to a new OS version.

Screenshots: 

Keywords:

Application versions: 
AttachmentSizeDate
File okboard-full-0.6.27-1.armv7hl.rpm10.5 MB13/05/2021 - 13:47
File okboard-full-0.6.34-1.aarch64.rpm10.51 MB29/09/2021 - 20:00
File okboard-full-0.6.34-1.armv7hl.rpm10.5 MB29/09/2021 - 20:00
File okboard-full-0.6.35-1.armv7hl.rpm10.5 MB18/09/2022 - 14:33
File okboard-full-0.6.35-1.aarch64.rpm10.51 MB18/09/2022 - 14:33
File okboard-full-0.6.37-1.aarch64.rpm10.51 MB05/02/2023 - 14:36
File okboard-full-0.6.37-1.armv7hl.rpm10.5 MB05/02/2023 - 14:36
Changelog: 

0.6.37 : Support for SFOS 4.5

0.6.35 : Disable Sailjail to allow admin app to start on SFOS 4.4

0.6.34: Fix for "Installation not complete" error

0.6.27: Support for SFOS 4.1

Comments

meegouser's picture

OKBoard doesn't seem to work with the new Sailfish 3.0.2.8 anymore:

https://together.jolla.com/question/201102/release-notes-302-oulanka/?an...

eber42's picture

I am currently abroad and have not access to development devices, so next release is probably one or two weeks away. And I did not anticipate Jolla would put this version out of EA so soon after breaking so many things :-)

ferlanero's picture

Will we see an Okboard update any time soon? I really miss it in Sailfish 3.0.2.8 :'(

eber42's picture

New version with support for SFOS 3.0.2 is out

meegouser's picture

Thanks for your work, once again!

meegouser's picture

Excellent!

I was surprised too that 3.0.2.8 was released for all without improvements, but at least for me OKBoard not working is the only "regression" I can see so far. ;-)

nerip's picture

Nice app, but doesn't work properly when i start swiping fron the edge, it is overidden by the system swipe to come back to home or event view. Could you do anything?

eber42's picture

I do not know how to prevent edge swipe, and i am not sure it would be a good idea to prevent a system wide gesture from working, as it would break user interface consistency. An easy workaround is to start your swiipes a bit farther from screen edges, it is really quick and easy to learn. The keyboard will adapt to this behavior so that accuracy is not reduced.

Sailfishman's picture

Doesn't work on xperia xa2 plus -> 6''

eber42's picture

I have added this to the project backlog. It will take some time as supporting new sizes / aspect ratios require access to real devices to understand how sfos user interface scales, to generate test cases and for real user testing.

cartron's picture

Very nice app, finally a swipe like keyboard for sailfish! Works perfectly on my Xperia X, both in English and French

rob_k's picture

Wonderful, you made my day! Really happy that it is silent again. Thanks!

murfik's picture

possible add russian?

247's picture

The keyboard is working very well but unfortunately is not working well on webviews like sailbook, preventing me from using regularly... Anyway it's surely one of the best keyboards out there

Olsen's picture

Yeah!! The typing sounds are gone! So after almost half a year I finally can use OKBoard again.   :-)

Thank you very much, Eric! Typing was soo slooow!

ferlanero's picture

Absolute thumbs up!! Great work! Thank you very much for your great work providing a high quality swipe-like keyboard for SailfishOS 3

ferlanero's picture

Since Sailfish version 3 the change of the active language has become unable. The only way you can change keyboard language is disabling Okboard, going into Configuration -> Text Input -> Change active keyboard and then enable Okboard again. Too many steps to this action. An update of this behaivour would be welcome. Thanks!

eber42's picture

A new version will be out soon with proper support for SFOS 3 and some bug fixes (hopefully including the widely reported sound issue). Stay tuned.

Edit: obviously, the new gesture to switch language will be disabled, because it conflicts with word swiping

Breeze's picture

And cant change language with the space bar.

marxistavegana's picture

With Sailfish3 new feature to swipe to change keyboard layout, need to work out a way to keep that feature with OKboard on.

skyjumper's picture

Hi, thanks for the update. I have the latest SFOS installed. When using, the keyboard inserts fullstops after words and adding a hyphen at end of words without my doing anything which is rather annoying...

Olsen's picture

I really love OKBoard. But since SFOS 2.2.0.29 it generates loud clicking sounds while typing / swiping, even when the phone is muted (ringer and media). This problem has been reported before. Same behavior on Jolla 1 (loud) and Xperia X (very loud). No change with SFOS 2.2.1.18. Removing and reinstalling OKBoard doesn't help.

I'd be very happy if this issue could be fixed since OKBoard is unusable for me at the moment.

PawelSpoon's picture

In my case it inserts spaces see here. All spaces are there

PawelSpoon's picture

Thanks for the fix ! Any chance to get rid if the info message? Clicking does not help on my phone. I mean it goes away, but the next.time irs back update: i had german and austrian language.pack installed. That caused the messge issue

ade's picture

from th release notes of 2.2.1 Nurmonjoki:

  • [nemo-qml-plugin-dbus] Remove deprecated 1.0 import.

As you are using version 1.0, it no longer works in 2.2.1 and blocks the keyboard with okboard installed. Using the import of 2.0 solves the issue.

eber42's picture

Thanks for the report. Change is already committed. I will release a new package this evening after testing on real devices.

Edit: it's up now, please report any issue.

teleshoes's picture

i would like to request a feature: an option to never insert spaces, and another option to never auto-capitalize a word. i was trying to clone the repos to see if i could add this without too much trouble myself, but repo is down apparently (Cannot obtain needed blob 6a313971a767e841a1f3ea7eb68f4f3be3bff42e)

eber42's picture

It seems there was some temporary issue with the repository. At the moment git clone works'

smatkovi's picture

how do you get publisher role here? i applied for it a few weeks ago, but the role isn't approved since then...

breiti_oi's picture

Is there a way to force the use of spacebar in android apps? In native apps everything is okay, but on whatsapp or telegram I have to set the spaces between the words by myself, which slow the input down.

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