Version: 4.5 (using KDE 4.5.0) OS: Linux KDE needs an unified method for handwriting recognition on tablet computers. So far I've been trying to experiment with Cellwrite, but it's far from a useful option. The current method on Vista is actually quite good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF0n2IvdCpI Even if the docking problems would be fixed with Cellwrite, it's still cumbersome. There is no good way to write sentences, and to rewrite and remove words in between. Also tools for controlling text after entering it into another application (as Cellwrite does) are lacking. My suggestion is: - Fork the Cellwrite code and enable docking it permanently or popping up at cursor position with a configurable hotkey - Allow removing whole words from sentences with single tap - Enable adjustable delay after which written text is sent to the active window. Also introduce direct buttons for e.g. delete and backspace for quick correcting of the already entered text - Integrate the app with the spellchecking capabilities in KDE (e.g KOffice) I think KDE Tablet interface could benefit from a snappy unintrusive handwriting interface especially now that the amount of devices capable running of KDE but lacking in keyboard is increasing. Reproducible: Didn't try
Moved to Plasma, because it is very likely this needs to be integrated with the current plasma keyboard. Added myself as the assignee not because I have working code, but because I am probably the only KDE core developer that has a tablet PC with a Wacom pen (feel free to prove me wrong ;) If someone wants to start the project, I can help mentoring it. Eventually I might start it myself, too, but that's far future seeing my current to do list. Cellwriter unfortunately is unusable on KDE 4 because of bug 234926.
Any chance of someone picking this up for 4.8?
With cellwriter 1.3.5 the blocker bug is resolved finally. Would there be any possibility to get a pop-up writing area for example added as a panel now that KDE has taken a clear step towards supporting tablet devices?
I extracted the CellWriter code and can now use its recognition engine from inside a Qt application. Still have to check how it can be integrated into the plasma-keyboard.
This sounds fantastic! I'm ready to do beta testing when you have the plasma version up at github/have rpms/sources.
Could not find the plasma-keyboard, it looks like Plasma now uses Maliit as the keyboard.
Plasma Active is already using Maliit. Maliit's architecture allows for plugins that can handle handwriting recognition, yet I am unaware of any good open-source implementation that could do that? Bonus points if it uses Qt already.
Michael, I extracted the code from CellWriter, and made a Qt API for it. Works fine so far, if you could give me some pointers how to integrate it with Maliit, I would appreciate that. Alternatively, if you are working with Maliit source already, you could try that yourself, given that I cannot start this before May, if at all. Source is here: http://skulpture.maxiom.de/playground/kritzel.tar.xz
How difficult would be the integration with Maliit? What about proposing this as a Google Summer of Code project? http://community.kde.org/GSoC/2013/Ideas
Yeah, might be a good idea for GSoC as this would be a relatively isolated task. Am not sure I'd make a good mentor, however.
I played a bit with cellwriter now, very cool UI. Not sure I'd copy it 1:1 for Maliit.
Hello! This feature request was filed for KDE Plasma 4, which reached end-of-support status in August 2015. KDE Plasma 5's desktop shell has been almost completely rewritten for better performance and usability, so it is likely that this feature request is already implemented in Plasma 5, or is no longer applicable. Accordingly, we hope you understand why we must close this feature request. If the requested feature is still desired but not implemented in KDE Plasma 5.12 or later, please feel free to open a new ticket in the "plasmashell" product after reading https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Bug_Reporting If you would like to get involved in KDE's bug triaging effort so that future mass bug closes like this are less likely, please read https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved#Bug_Triaging Thanks for your understanding! Nate Graham
There is a GPL3 recognizer at https://github.com/phatware/WritePad-Handwriting-Recognition-Engine This would need to be integrated into QtVirtualKeyboard now that Maliit is obsolete.
Actually last I heard, KWin and Plasma Mobile's developers are looking to go back to Maliit. Perhaps that could be added as a plugin?
It could be added as a plugin to maliit, it could be added as a separate application (which is probably easier to implement). Something that would be useful would be implementing a standalone Qt Virtual Keyboard (which supports handwriting, https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/handwriting.html) that implements the input-method-v1 protocol (which is the one that maliit implements. It would allow us to leverage the tool without having to depend explicitly on it. If anyone wants to work on it and initial guidance is needed, I'll be happy to assist.