Maliit

Last updated
Maliit
Original author(s) Nokia
Developer(s) Jan Arne Petersen and contributors [1]
Initial releaseJune 30, 2010;13 years ago (2010-06-30) [2]
Stable release
2.3.0 / July 6, 2022;21 months ago (2022-07-06)
Written in C++
Operating system Unix-like, Windows [3]
Platform Qt
Available inMultilingual
Type Input method
License
Website maliit.github.io

Maliit is an input method framework for computers with particular focus on implementing virtual keyboards. Designed mostly for touchscreen devices, Maliit allows the inputting of text without the presence of a physical keyboard. More advanced features such as word correction and prediction are also available.

Contents

Originating as part of MeeGo, [6] Maliit is free software licensed under LGPL. Maliit ships as a standard component of LG webOS, [7] Plasma Mobile, [8] SailfishOS, [9] LuneOS, [10] [11] and Ubuntu Touch. [12]

History

Maliit was originally developed as part of MeeGo by Nokia who eventually shipped it as part of MeeGo Handset “Day 1” software platform. [2]

In the early 2010s, Maliit was deployed as a standard component of Nokia N9, [9] KDE Plasma Active, [13] OLPC devices, [9] and Ubuntu Touch phones. [9] [14] [15]

After the MeeGo project ended, Maliit was transferred into an independent project by free software consulting firm Openismus. [16] The first formally independent release was 0.80.0 on June 20, 2011. [17]

Maliit 0.99, released on March 27, 2013, switched from Qt 4 to Qt 5. [9]

In May 2016, a KDE developer announced that instead of Maliit, QtVirtualKeyboard had been integrated into KDE Plasma 5.7. [18] [19] In September 2020, Maliit was made the default keyboard in Plasma Mobile. [20] [8]

On April 2, 2021 Maliit 2.0 has been released. [21]

Features

Among Maliit's features are a plugin-based architecture, word correction and prediction, multitouch, and context sensitive layouts. [22]

When running on Linux kernel, handling of the input hardware relies on evdev. Maliit supports X11 as well as Wayland. [9]

See also

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References

  1. "Contributors to maliit/framework". GitHub.
  2. 1 2 "Handset Project Day 1 is Here". MeeGo. 2010-06-30. Archived from the original on 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  3. Jon Nordby (March 24, 2012). "Maliit on Windows: Basic build working". Jonnor.com. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  4. "Maliit Keyboard 'Read Me'". GitHub.
  5. "[MeeGo-dev] ANNOUNCEMENT: MeeGo Keyboard license is now changed to BSD". Lists.meego.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  6. Jan Arne Petersen (2012-01-25). "Compositing in Maliit". Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  7. "webOS OSE 1.4.1". www.webosose.org.
  8. 1 2 "Plasma Mobile". www.plasma-mobile.org.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Michael Hasselmann (April 2, 2013). "Maliit Status Update". Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  10. "LuneOS tries to keep webOS alive [LWN.net]". lwn.net.
  11. "webOS-ports/webos-keyboard". GitHub.
  12. "ubports/keyboard-component". July 8, 2020 via GitHub.
  13. Carl Symons (October 15, 2012). "Plasma Active 3 Improves Performance, Brings New Apps". KDE.News. Retrieved 2013-04-03. Thanks to a new virtual keyboard based on Maliit—the input method used on devices such as Nokia's N9 smartphone—Plasma Active Three makes text input easier.
  14. Murray Cumming. "Maliit Keyboard Improvements" . Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  15. "ubuntu-keyboard in Launchpad". launchpad.net.
  16. "[Maliit-announce] Welcome!". Lists.maliit.org. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  17. "[MeeGo-dev] Maliit "Brave New World" 0.80.0 released". Lists.meego.com. Archived from the original on 2011-08-20. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  18. "Virtual Keyboard Support For KWin / KDE Wayland 5.7 - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com.
  19. Flöser, Martin (May 25, 2016). "Virtual keyboard support in KWin/Wayland 5.7".
  20. "KDE Plasma Mobile Has Been Making Great Progress". Phoronix.
  21. "Maliit 2.0.0 Release". 2021-04-02. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  22. "Features – Maliit wiki". Maliit.org. 2012-03-28. Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2013-03-04.