OKBoard

eber42's picture
Submitted by eber42 on Sun, 2023/02/05 - 14:36
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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: 

Category:

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

rodski9's picture

rodski9

Wed, 2021/09/08 - 09:21

Do you know if it will work at all on a XA2 plus? Should I try?

eber42's picture

eber42

Wed, 2021/09/08 - 19:38

Not at the moment. The only development device I own that I could use to implement larger keyboard support shows some strange performance issues I do not understand, so at the moment this is on hold.

OhneZ's picture

OhneZ

Wed, 2021/10/13 - 14:55

The same problems occur with Pinephone. very delayed input. some words are simply forgotten.

rob_k's picture

rob_k

Sun, 2021/08/15 - 12:55

Hi eber42, I am tempted to switch from XA2 to 10ii, but OKboard is not available on aarch64. Do you intend to create it?

eber42's picture

eber42

Mon, 2021/08/16 - 10:14

All future OKBoard releases will include an aarch64 build & xperia 10ii support. I'll issue the next one when SFOS 4.2 ships in order to add any related fix and limit the number of successive releases. In the meantime, if you need an unofficial testing RPM just email me.

 

kirbylife_'s picture

kirbylife_

Sun, 2021/06/06 - 04:27

Can you add please an option to do more smaller the keyboard? the original design seems a little high to me.

Thanks.

eber42's picture

eber42

Sun, 2021/06/06 - 16:26

I can not change keyboard size because I am using Sailfish keyboard files, so any modification becomes a nightmare when it has to be maintained over new Sailfish releases.

_David_'s picture

_David_

Sat, 2021/06/05 - 22:09

Even 0.6.26 worked on 4.1 here.  No Android problems found with either.

I'm living in France now and it would be nice to be able to switch to the French dictionary... with a separate user dictionary but not an AZERTY keyboard!.  Is that possible?

What's the structure of the user dictionary?  It would be nice to be able to enter a custom word from the Settings UI.

eber42's picture

eber42

Sun, 2021/06/06 - 16:26

Thanks for your feedback. Maybe I overreacted when I issued a new release for SFOS 4.1. Version 0.6.27 is safe anyway.

Using a different language for keyboard and dictionary is not implemented. It should be doable but raises some usability issues: e.g. how do to find characters with accents if you use a different keyboard ? I am adding it to the roadmap, but with low priority due to small request count.

The user dictionary is a plain text file (~/.local/share/okboard/<language>-user.txt), but you can just type a new word with the keys and after a few minutes you should be able to "swipe" it. It is not designed to handle a lot of words (maybe a few hundreds max).

Edit: oops, removed answer to other post

damoleon's picture

damoleon

Fri, 2021/05/21 - 14:01

EDIT: nevermind , I did a factory reset, couldn't wait

I have a black scrren  when I open a sms message e.g or try to search in a browser since I uninstalled Okboard ? I restored my phone to a previous date but the issue persists. How can I fix this ?

I tried to install it again and uninstall it but the issue persists

I'm on Kvarken 4.1.0 and installed okboard-full-0.6.26-1.armv7hl.rpm

eber42's picture

eber42

Mon, 2021/05/24 - 18:12

Just to be clear, only version 0.6.27 can run with SFOS 4.1.0

rob_k's picture

rob_k

Sun, 2021/05/16 - 08:51

Version 0.6.27 did not go well with SFOS 4.0 Koli, went back to v26. Numeric keyboard was shown together with the normal keyboard, really strange. Will try again on 4.1. Thanks!

eber42's picture

eber42

Mon, 2021/05/24 - 18:11

This should not have happened. But unfortunately I have got no more 4.0 device to test, and as it is common, untested software does not work as intended. What exact SFOS version are you using ?

Can other users report success or failure with SFOS 4.0 ?

If the issue is confirmed I will provide with a version with improved logging for troubleshooting

murfik's picture

murfik

Thu, 2021/05/13 - 16:06

What about support russian lang?

eber42's picture

eber42

Mon, 2021/05/24 - 18:29

 It is probably doable, but requires a lot of work, so it is clearly not in the short-term roadmap

PawelSpoon's picture

PawelSpoon

Sat, 2021/04/03 - 08:59

Thank you for your work! What would i need to change to get support for vollaphone ?

nealb's picture

nealb

Wed, 2021/03/03 - 18:44

Excellent work. Thank you.

martinbook85's picture

martinbook85

Tue, 2021/02/23 - 07:36

Is there any way that I can help in getting this app to larger screens? Like testing? I know that time is limited, so no rush. Would just love to have this feature on my phone.

vansid's picture

vansid

Mon, 2021/02/22 - 21:39

I initially had the black screen problem after upgrading from 3.4 to 4.0.1. Uninstalling and reinstalling fixed the issue.

_David_'s picture

_David_

Fri, 2021/02/19 - 02:54

I also have blackscreen when I'm supposed to be entering text. 
[0.6.26 on 4.0.1.48, XA2.  Whilst 0.6.25 was a "fresh" installation, I copied my data over from an installation going back a couple of years.]

eber42's picture

eber42

Fri, 2021/02/19 - 09:22

What happens if you uninstall OKBoard and then reinstall it again ?

PawelSpoon's picture

PawelSpoon

Tue, 2021/02/09 - 10:29

Works on 4.0 / xperia 10. Thanks !

aviarus's picture

aviarus

Thu, 2021/02/04 - 21:26

Seems to be incompatible with sfos 4 yet. Enabled it gives a black screen

eber42's picture

eber42

Fri, 2021/02/05 - 11:00

Thanks for the report. I'll try to find a fix before the end of early access. At the moment my phone does not show the upgrade yet (I know I can force install it if needed). I may also have some issues because all my test devices are Jolla1 phones that will not get the upgrade (as far as I understand)

campeon's picture

campeon

Fri, 2021/01/29 - 02:35

Hi. Thanks a lot for your work. It's great and amazing. I do have a question... I don't know why, but after every word, it does not include a space..... In android apps. Thanks

eber42's picture

eber42

Fri, 2021/02/05 - 11:02

This is a known issue. When using an Android app, the keyboard framework does not provide the value of the text surrounding the cursor. OKBoard uses this information to decide when to add spaces. I have never found  better solution. In the worst case it would require modification to the android emulation packages which is closed source.

martinbook85's picture

martinbook85

Tue, 2021/01/19 - 15:04

Really looking forward to this working on XA2 Ultra! One of the features I miss the most on Sailfish.

rover's picture

rover

Tue, 2020/12/29 - 13:02

Hi @eber42, any news on xa2 plus/ultra support? Still happy to help test if required.

eber42's picture

eber42

Fri, 2021/02/05 - 11:05

Hi, I do no own large enough devices to debug the app and generate test cases so I am a bit stuck at the moment. I was expecting to use a Pro 1 which is roughly the same size as the XA2 plus but okboard has performance issue that prevent normal usage and I have not had time to investigate these issues

linuxsquad's picture

linuxsquad

Tue, 2020/12/22 - 00:53

Hi, 

when using on WhatsApp installed on Sailfish OS, keyboard eventually freezes. Works fine with native Saildish apps. 

Thanks

OB

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