Bug 361429

Summary:	Plasma 5 not usable on tablets: no virtual keyboard option to log in or unlock screen locker
Product:	[Plasma] plasmashell	Reporter:	Hannes Schniepp <whynot>
Component:	general	Assignee:	David Edmundson <kde>
Status:	RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Severity:	normal	CC:	bhush94, cfeck, einmaladresse_2, justin.zobel, matthias.sweertvaegher, mlt, plasma-bugs, whynot
Priority:	NOR
Version:	master
Target Milestone:	1.0
Platform:	unspecified
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Hannes Schniepp 2016-04-05 21:06:05 UTC

As far as I can tell, there is no virtual keyboard implemented for SDDM, which is the recommended display manager of Plasma 5. Same for the plasma 5 screen locker. This makes the entire plasma 5 completely unusable for anyone who wants to do serious business on a tablet. After a lot of googling, I haven't found any signs that this is being worked on.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install any KDE/plasma 5 distribution on a tablet.
2. Boot and wait until display manager shows.
3. It is impossible to log in, since no virtual keyboard is implemented to put in login credentials.

Actual Results:
No virtual (onscreen) keyboard shows up for the SDDM greeter by default, nor is this functionality installable later via systemsettings or other means. Same for the screen locker, which has currently no option to install a virtual (onscreen) keyboard.

Expected Results:
The SDDM greeter should either have the default functionality to invoke an onscreen keyboard, or it should be possible to install or enable such functionality. Same for the screen locker. The screen locker looks identical to the SDDM greeter, but under the hood there are likely different mechanisms/components creating the same optical results. (I know that in KDE4 these were implemented by KDM/LightDM and kscreenlocker.)

In KDE4, it took me quite a bit of hacking to get this implemented by fiddling around with the KDM scripts to invoke kvkbd, and with the kscreenlocker to invoke "onboard" (slightly more convenient to use than kvkbd).

Many distros will soon end support for KDE4 (i.e. Kubuntu), so if I want to keep operating my device safely and patched, I will have to migrate to plasma 5. The latter does currently not work with my device, so I would have to switch to something like Unity, but I would prefer to stay on KDE.

Comment 1 Hannes Schniepp 2016-04-05 21:08:21 UTC

This is related to this older bug filed for kdm:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=200732

However, kdm is not part of most linux-based plasma 5 installations any longer; therefore, a new bug was filed.

Comment 2 Hannes Schniepp 2016-04-05 21:10:25 UTC

It is also related to this bug:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=181554

However, 181554 only addresses the screen locker component and not the SDDM component of the problem.

Comment 3 wuselwu 2016-04-06 17:52:45 UTC

I would consider this bug not only login screen relevant, but for plasma as a whole, which currently is no option for tablet users because of completely lacking native virtual keyboard. Available options are very Gnome centric and don't really integrate in Plasma. Or am I missing some option?

Comment 4 mlt 2017-02-11 12:21:19 UTC

This is an issue for me as well - there is clearly a part solution with the qtvirtual keyboard, which sort of works in plasma.  This needs to be integrated with SDDM and plasma properly and then plasma on tablets would be useable.

Comment 5 Justin Zobel 2020-11-08 09:55:08 UTC

I've just tested this on KDE Neon Users Edition.

Both the lock screen and SDDM have virtual keyboard support.

Screen locker the keyboard worked
SDDM the keyboard did not work. I clicked into the password field but it wouldn't enter any key presses.

Can you please test and confirm if this issue is still occurring or if this bug report can be marked as resolved, thanks.

As for the SDDM that will need to be reported on their bug tracker.

Comment 6 Bug Janitor Service 2020-11-23 04:33:56 UTC

Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as
possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug
tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with
no change in 30 days the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

If you have already provided the requested information, please
mark the bug as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is
ready to be confirmed.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!

Comment 7 Bug Janitor Service 2020-12-08 04:34:20 UTC

This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least
30 days. The bug is now closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME
due to lack of needed information.

For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the
wiki located here:
https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!