RFE: add an item to options menu to start onscreen keyboard

[Francesco Fumanti]

At the gdm login screen, there is an Options menu, that enables users to change their keyboard and language settings.

I would suggest to add an item to this menu to start the onscreen keyboard that is shipped with ubuntu and that is called onboard. This would be welcome for people that only have the pointer as input. (for example tabletpc users or disabled users)

Appearantly, some people have onboard running at the login screen by applying a little hack:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=267051
Consequently, I hoped that making it appear using an additional item in the Options menu will not be very difficult.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for sending the bug upstream, that's the right place to discuss such change

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

If we restrict ourselves to using the Plain greeter and a dwell gesture to start onboard, the only thing needed is a new line that defines the dwell gesture to start onboard.

Considering that onboard is installed by default (I think at least so) with Ubuntu, that should not cause any problems.

However, things are not so streamlined for mousetweaks, as it will probably not be part of the default installation... I hope it will be the case for gutsy+1.

You can find more details on the following page that I have prepared:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/doc/OnboardAndDwellAtGDM

If you are going to add the line to start onboard by a dwell gesture already for gutsy, I will edit the wiki page accordingly. (when I will be back from holidays in mid September). Onboard has to include all the enhancements done until 28082007 included.

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

Here you can find the source of the current version of onboard and mousetweaks:
https://code.launchpad.net/onboard/
http://gerdk.blogspot.com/

As long as the new version of mousetweaks (probably 0.2.4) is not available, I suggest to use mousetweaks without the Clicktype window. This way, the user will only be able to do the single left click by dwelling, but for gdm, it is enough.

Moreover, the problem of at-spi-registryd seems to be on the way to be fixed:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-desktop/2007-September/001167.html

I will attach debian packages of the current onboard and mousetweaks for the case anybody would like to test it.

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

Ubuntu 8.04 ships versions of onboard and mousetweaks that are appropriate to be used during the GDM session. However, users still have to configure GDM to use them. The following document explains how it can be done:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Accessibility/OnboardAndMousetweaksAtGDM

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

The new gdm (version > 2.26) offers an accessibilty dialog containing an item to start the onscreen keyboard. Ubuntu only has to configure it to use the onscreen keyboard it is shipping. Here is a bug thread about how to do it.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+bug/423831

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package gdm - 2.27.90-0ubuntu7

---------------
gdm (2.27.90-0ubuntu7) karmic; urgency=low

  [ Ken VanDine ]
  * debian/patches/10_xsplash.patch:
    - Use --daemon instead of using the "&" (LP: #430834)
  * debian/control:
    - Conflict with xsplash (<< 0.8), we don't depend on xsplash but if
      /usr/bin/xsplash exists we need it to support the --daemon option

  [ Martin Pitt ]
  * debian/gdm.upstart: Drop gdm-cdd.conf handling, gdm does not support it
    any more.
  * debian/gdm.upstart: Do not start in single-user modes or when "text" is
    given as a kernel command line option. This restores previous behaviour.
    (LP: #431176)
  * Add debian/onboard.desktop: gdm "onboard" configuration for the
    accessibility dialog, thanks to Francesco Fumanti!
  * debian/rules: Install onboard.desktop, remove gok.desktop from upstream
    install. We do not ship gok any more. (LP: #423831, #130368)

 -- Martin Pitt <email address hidden> Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:22:46 +0200