ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Alexander Burger <abu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello list,

can anybody provide information about how to write a virtual keyboard
for Ubuntu Touch? Where can I start?

I'd like to know how to
   1. receive touch events (up to five simultaneously, it is a chorded
      keyboard)
   2. post key events into the system event queue
   3. install the resulting keyboard in the system
No graphics or visual output required.

Background: I'm using such a chorded keyboard since several years as the
primary input device on my notebooks. It is a modified keyboard driver
(drivers/input/evdev.c) hooked onto the '0', '7', '8', '9' and '+' keys
of the numeric keypad. It is very relaxing to use, leaving the other
hand free for the mouse, coffee mug, or the telephone. All keys on a
standard keyboard are generated from chords or arpeggio combinations of
these five keys, including letters, punctuation, digits, control,
navigation and function keys (F1 through F20). It is never necessary (or
even meaningful) to look at the keyboard. The drawback is, of course,
that the chords must be learned and trained.

I want to use such a keyboard also on my Ubuntu phone. It would be
extremely helpful, regarding the limited screen space, and the clumsy
text entry with existing virtual keyboards. It won't cover any part of
the screen. Each finger of the hand is assigned a region on the screen,
allowing to conveniently spread the hand diagonally across the display.

So, again, what is the right place to start? Are there any examples of
similar or related things? Should I write a kernel driver (I would say
no), or can this be done in user space?

Many thanks!
♪♫ Alex
-- 
   Alexander Burger
   BM-2DAA8xQt7Sd8y6FKQoKcC15bJCHYF8Ubss
   https://twitter.com/Regenaxer
   abu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx