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This article focuses on "how to use the on-screen keyboard in the Linux system". Interested friends may wish to have a look. The method introduced in this paper is simple, fast and practical. Let's let the editor learn how to use the on-screen keyboard in the Linux system.

The on-screen keyboard can be used as an alternative to physical keyboard input. At some point, the on-screen keyboard is very much needed. For example, your keyboard happens to be broken; you have too many machines and do not have enough keyboards; your machine does not have an extra interface to connect to the keyboard; you are disabled and have difficulty typing; or you are building a touchscreen-based information service station.

The on-screen keyboard can also be used as a means of protection against physical keyloggers, which quietly record keys to obtain sensitive information such as passwords. Some online banking pages actually force you to use on-screen keyboards to enhance the security of your transactions.

There are several open source keyboard software available in linux, such as GOK (Gnome's on-screen keyboard) and kvkbd,onboard,Florence.

I will focus on Florence in this tutorial, showing you how to set up an on-screen keyboard with Florence. Florence has the characteristics of flexible layout scheme, various input methods, automatic hiding and so on. As part of the tutorial, I will also demonstrate how to use only the mouse to manipulate the Ubuntu desktop.

Install the Florence on-screen keyboard in Linux

Fortunately, Florence exists in the base repository of most Linux distributions.

In Debian,Ubuntu or Linux Mint:

$sudo apt-get install florence

In Fedora,CentOS or RHEL (EPEL repository is required for CentOS/RHEL):

$sudo yum install florence

In Mandriva or Mageia:

$sudo urpmi florence

For Archlinux users, Florence exists in AUR.

Configure and load on-screen keyboard

When you have installed Florence, you can simply type the following command to load the on-screen keyboard:

$florence

By default, the on-screen keyboard is always on top of other windows, allowing you to type on any active window.

Click the tool button on the left side of the keyboard to change the default configuration of Florence.

In Florence's "style" menu, you can customize the keyboard style to enable / disable sound effects.

In the window menu, you can adjust the keyboard background transparency, key opacity, and control the keyboard scale, toolbar, size, and always top features. If your desktop resolution is not very high, transparency adjustment is very useful because the on-screen keyboard will block other windows. In this example, I switched to a transparent keyboard and set the opacity to 50%.

In the behaviour menu, you can change the input method. Florence supports several different input methods: mouse (mouse), touchscreen (touch screen), timer (timer), and walk (ramble). Mouse input is the default input method. The last two input methods do not need to press the mouse button. The timer input triggers the key by holding the pointer on the key for a certain period of time. The principle of walking input is similar to that of timer input, but after training and dexterity, it can be faster than timer input.

In the layout menu, you can change the keyboard layout. For example, you can expand the keyboard layout to add navigation keys, number keys, and function keys.

Use only the mouse to manipulate the Ubuntu desktop

I'll demonstrate how to integrate Florence into the Ubuntu desktop, and then we can get to the desktop without a physical keyboard. This tutorial uses LightDM (the default display manager for Ubuntu) to enter Ubuntu, and other desktop environments can set up similar environments.

A physical keyboard is required for initial setup, but once set up, you only need a mouse, not a keyboard.

When you start the Ubuntu desktop, the launcher ends up in the welcome screen of the display manager (or login manager). You need to enter your login information on this interface. By default, the Ubuntu desktop uses the LightDM display Manager and the Unity welcome interface. If you don't have a physical keyboard, you can't enter a user name and password in the login interface.

In order to be able to load the on-screen keyboard in the login interface, install the GTK+ welcome interface with on-screen keyboard support.

$sudo apt-get install lightdm-gtk-greeter

Then open the welcome interface configuration file (/ etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf) with the editor and specify Florence as the on-screen keyboard to use. If you prefer, you can also use Ubuntu's default on-screen keyboard onboard instead of Florence.

$sudo vi / etc/lightdm/lightdm-gtk- greeter.confs [greeter] keyboard=florence-- no-gnome-- focus &

Restart the Ubuntu desktop and see if you can use the on-screen keyboard in the login screen.

When you see the GTK+ Welcome screen after launch, click on the humanoid symbol in the upper right corner. You will see the "use on-screen keyboard (On Screen Keyboard)" menu option, as follows:

Click this option and the on-screen keyboard will pop up in the login screen. Now you should be able to log in with the on-screen keyboard.

The official Florence web page provides documentation (documentation) on how GDM2/GDM3 users use the on-screen keyboard on the GDM2/GDM3 interface.

The last step in completely keyless Ubuntu desktops is to let the on-screen keyboard start automatically after login so that we can manipulate the desktop without using the physical keyboard after login. To do this, create the following desktop files:

$mkdir-p ~ / .config/autostart$ vi ~ / .config / autostart/florence.desktop [Desktop Entry] Type=ApplicationName=Virtual KeyboardComment=Auto-start virtual keyboardExec=florence-- no-gnome

This allows you to see the on-screen keyboard when you log in to the desktop.

At this point, I believe you have a deeper understanding of "how to use the on-screen keyboard in the Linux system". You might as well do it in practice. Here is the website, more related content can enter the relevant channels to inquire, follow us, continue to learn!

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