On screen Keyboard with uTouch

Question

I want to buy a Mecer LUCID Slate tablet and install unity on the tablet. Thus no keyboard.

1. Clicking on a text entry field will this bring up a on screen keyboard?

2. Does uTouch support a on screen keyboard out of the box or do you have to install a package to have this capability?

Solution 1

Currently Unity does not come with an onscreen keyboard of that sort. You can use onboard (open it from dash) to type using the mouse/touchpad, though it won't be a wonderfully smooth experience. Unfortunately there is no "Ubuntu Tablet Edition", so until (if) that happens, you will have to resort to "hacks" or "workarounds" to get such functionality.

Onboard screenshot:

Solution 2

In my opinion florence virtual keyboard seems like the best onscreen keyboard currently available for linux.

Download it from sourceforge.net and compile or install with a deb (older version )

Comments

[A Student at a University]

Dash isn't a standard package... How else can one open it on a keyboard-free system?

[Jason Southwell]

what are you referring to?

[Geppettvs D'Constanzo]

Ok, so far this is working pretty fine out of the box in an HP Slate 2 in Ubuntu 14.04.2. I yet have an issue on how to switch OS in a dual boot touch screen system with no physical keyboard. Thank you very much!