Maliit

Maliit
Original authorNokia
DevelopersJan Arne Petersen and contributors[1]
Initial releaseJune 30, 2010 (2010-06-30)[2]
Stable release
2.3.0 / July 6, 2022 (2022-07-06)
Written inC++
Operating systemUnix-like, Windows[3]
PlatformQt
Available inMultilingual
TypeInput method
License
Websitemaliit.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.

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

References

  1. ^ "Contributors to maliit/framework". GitHub.
  2. ^ a b "Handset Project Day 1 is Here". MeeGo. June 30, 2010. Archived from the original on May 25, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  3. ^ Jon Nordby (March 24, 2012). "Maliit on Windows: Basic build working". Jonnor.com. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  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 April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  6. ^ Jan Arne Petersen (January 25, 2012). "Compositing in Maliit". Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  7. ^ "webOS OSE 1.4.1". www.webosose.org.
  8. ^ a b "Plasma Mobile". www.plasma-mobile.org. October 9, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Michael Hasselmann (April 2, 2013). "Maliit Status Update". Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  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 April 3, 2013. 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 (March 4, 2013). "Maliit Keyboard Improvements". Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  15. ^ "ubuntu-keyboard in Launchpad". launchpad.net. August 12, 2013.
  16. ^ "[Maliit-announce] Welcome!". Lists.maliit.org. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  17. ^ "[MeeGo-dev] Maliit "Brave New World" 0.80.0 released". Lists.meego.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  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". April 2, 2021. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
  22. ^ "Features – Maliit wiki". Maliit.org. March 28, 2012. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2013.