Maliit Explained

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.

Originating as part of MeeGo,^[3] Maliit is free software licensed under LGPL. Maliit ships as a standard component of LG webOS,^[4] Plasma Mobile,^[5] SailfishOS, LuneOS,^{[6] [7]} and Ubuntu Touch.^[8]

History

Maliit was originally developed as part of MeeGo by Nokia who eventually shipped it as part of MeeGo Handset “Day 1” software platform.^[9]

In the early 2010s, Maliit was deployed as a standard component of Nokia N9,^[10] KDE Plasma Active,^[11] OLPC devices, and Ubuntu Touch phones.^{[12] [13]}

After the MeeGo project ended, Maliit was transferred into an independent project by free software consulting firm Openismus.^[14] The first formally independent release was 0.80.0 on .^[15]

Maliit 0.99, released on, switched from Qt 4 to Qt 5.

In May 2016, a KDE developer announced that instead of Maliit, QtVirtualKeyboard had been integrated into KDE Plasma 5.7.^{[16] [17]} In September 2020, Maliit was made the default keyboard in Plasma Mobile.^{[18] [5]}

On Maliit 2.0 has been released.^[19]

Features

Among Maliit's features are a plugin-based architecture, word correction and prediction, multitouch, and context sensitive layouts.^[20]

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

See also

• List of input methods for UNIX platforms

Notes and References

1. Web site: Contributors to maliit/framework . GitHub.
2. Web site: Maliit on Windows: Basic build working. Jon Nordby . Jonnor.com . March 24, 2012 . 2013-03-04.
3. Web site: Compositing in Maliit . Jan Arne Petersen . 2012-01-25 . 2013-03-04 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120331125144/http://blog.jpetersen.org/2012/01/25/compositing-in-maliit/ . 2012-03-31 .
4. Web site: webOS OSE 1.4.1. www.webosose.org.
5. Web site: Plasma Mobile. www.plasma-mobile.org.
6. Web site: LuneOS tries to keep webOS alive [LWN.net]]. lwn.net.
7. Web site: webOS-ports/webos-keyboard. GitHub.
8. Web site: ubports/keyboard-component. July 8, 2020. GitHub.
9. Web site: Handset Project Day 1 is Here . MeeGo . 2010-06-30 . 2013-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130525164400/https://meego.com/community/blogs/valhalla/2010/meego-handset-project-day-1-here . 2013-05-25 . dead .
10. Web site: Michael Hasselmann . Maliit Status Update . April 2, 2013 . 2013-04-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130517213318/http://mikhas.posterous.com/maliit-status-update . 17 May 2013 .
11. Web site: Plasma Active 3 Improves Performance, Brings New Apps . 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. . Carl Symons . KDE.News . October 15, 2012 . 2013-04-03.
12. Web site: Maliit Keyboard Improvements . Murray Cumming . 2013-03-04.
13. Web site: ubuntu-keyboard in Launchpad. launchpad.net.
14. Web site: [Maliit-announce] Welcome! |publisher=Lists.maliit.org |date= |accessdate=2013-03-04].
15. Web site: [MeeGo-dev] Maliit "Brave New World" 0.80.0 released |publisher=Lists.meego.com |accessdate=2013-03-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820034647/http://lists.meego.com/pipermail/meego-dev/2011-June/483526.html |archivedate=2011-08-20 ].
16. Web site: Virtual Keyboard Support For KWin / KDE Wayland 5.7 - Phoronix. www.phoronix.com.
17. Web site: Virtual keyboard support in KWin/Wayland 5.7. Martin. Flöser. May 25, 2016.
18. Web site: KDE Plasma Mobile Has Been Making Great Progress . Phoronix.
19. Web site: Maliit 2.0.0 Release . 2021-04-02 . 2021-04-02.
20. Web site: Features – Maliit wiki . https://web.archive.org/web/20111001021907/http://wiki.maliit.org/Features . dead . 2011-10-01 . Maliit.org . 2012-03-28 . 2013-03-04 .