Maintained Openboard FOSS Keyboard Fork (Android)

I’ve been using the Openboard keyboard on Android for a while but it seems like the developers have either disappeared, abandoned the project, or are otherwise just MIA/not releasing new versions.

In case anyone was still using the old version, was just wanting to let people know that there is a fork that is continuing development of it and has already had some improvements, though it’s considered beta/development for now: github.com/Helium314/openboard/tree/new

According to their Github, here are some of the current differences and changes:

spoilerDebug version can be installed along OpenBoard Allow users to add and replace built-in dictionaries modified / improved from openboard-team#569 and openboard-team#578 some AOSP dictionaries are available here experimental dictionaries with next-word suggestions created from sentence lists are also available, but they may contain unwanted words, and may be missing other features dictionary files starting with “main_” replace the built-in dictionary for the language, all other names work as add-on dictionaries emoji dictionaries can be used to get emoji suggestions Fixes / improvements regarding suggestions Remove suggestions by long pressing on suggestion strip while the more suggestions popup is open (suggestions get re-added if they are entered again) Allow using contacts for suggestions several small adjustments and fixes Reduce amount of unwanted automatic space insertions, openboard-team#576 Add multi-lingual typing, slightly modified from openboard-team#586, openboard-team#593 Allow loading an external library to enable gesture typing, openboard-team#3 based on wordmage’s work tested with Google libraries and others (when building with the rename) Theming: allow adjusting keyboard colors, openboard-team#124 Optionally make the navigation bar follow current theme, #4 Allow defining day/night themes Remove suggestions by long pressing on suggestion strip while the more suggestions popup is open, openboard-team#106 suggestions get re-added if they are entered again Optionally add typed words to system personal dictionary Improve issues with emoji deletion (still happens with delete gesture), Add Unicode 15 emojis, openboard-team#25 Better currency selection, / github.com/…/0d1106649f95ecbd7d8f6d95042854766605…Reduce space between keys, with option to use old values, #8 Fix number row not split in split keyboard view, Fix issue with spell checker incorrectly flagging words before a period as wrong on newer Android versions, openboard-team#679 maybe not properly fixed, this causes some other issues Fix always-dark settings on some Android versions, Fix bug with space before word being deleted in some apps / input fields, github.com/…/ce0bf06545c4547d3fc5791cc769508db0a8…Allow using auto theme on some devices with Android 9 Add number pad Overhauled language settings Updated translations Open dictionary files with the app Add more options to the language switch key

fievel, (edited )

Very nice project, at least I can try to switch from gboard and degoogle me a little more … For code, CLI, … I, however, prefer Unexpected Keyboard.

krash,

Unexpected keyboard is awesome, specially on a tablet where you have lots of screen space.

any1th3r3,

I’ve been using this fork for a little while now (since v4, so about a month altogether?) and apart from having to re-enable my “custom language keyboard” (French QWERTY) after every update, I honestly have no complaints.
Autocompletion is miles ahead of offline Gboard for my use case (switching between English and French constantly).

Samsy, (edited )

Since my keyboard is actually the fork with glide typing it’s nice to see an actual fork with near the same feature and new development.

Railcar8095,

I imagine you are happy with it, but at least for Spanish it was missing so much I ended up not using the glide.

I really hope it gets better, it’s the one thing that prevents me from doing Gboard

Samsy,

Spanish is missing? Didn’t know about that, I thought gesture typing is all about the already included dictionary. Did you checked about manually adding Spanish?

Railcar8095,

I didn’t explain well, sorry. The dictionary is there, but the slide predictions were awful. I always managed to get it wrong, while goggles one was almost perfect.

I’m using the new fork with the addional library and so far we might have a winner.

UKFilmNerd,
@UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk avatar

Could you possibly link the fork with Glide built in? Thank you.

Samsy,

github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/releases

But better try the one from op. And add the lib from here:

github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/tree/…/jniLibs

UKFilmNerd,
@UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk avatar

I’ve never done that before? It’s there an easy guide to follow?

Samsy,

Well its simple:

  1. install the app from OP.
  2. Follow the this link here
  3. Select your CPU type (if your phone is not older than 5 years it is arm64) in this folder is an file which ends on “.so” just download it to your phone
  4. Start openboard, go to settings > advanced > load gesture typing library
  5. Select the downloaded .so file
  6. Profit
UKFilmNerd,
@UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk avatar

Thank you. I thought it involved compiling a new apk file. That was far easier than I expected.

HaggierRapscallier,

There are two forks?? Also sauce pls :)

Samsy, (edited )

Its a fork with the last openboard version over a year ago, it just has gesture typing directly included:

github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/releases

The version from helium here is better, you have to include the lib manually (it’s in the repo from my linked fork) but it has new developments.

Edit: Here is the library: github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/tree/…/jniLibs

cakeistheanswer,
@cakeistheanswer@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Thank you for this, been hunting for a decent gesture typing option for awhile. Floris board had been decent, but the lack of actual suggestions was brutal to work around.

iturnedintoanewt,

Being on the same boat as you, have you tried this new keyboard? How does it compare to the older gliding fork?

Samsy, (edited )

Idk for real. I had to resetup my appearance and it looks slick and nice, but don’t know if I had the same setting possible on the other fork. My German keyboard has the special characters of the language, didn’t configured this on the other app and confuses me a little bit, now I have to slide to the äöüß keys but this brings better word recognition. Overall I prefer it over the other fork. Manual adding gesture typing wasn’t complicated if you know where it is.

Here: github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/tree/…/jniLibs

PS since android handle both forks as the same app, you have to uninstall the other one first.

DM_Gold,

Any possibility of them releasing a gesture typing library with this? I can’t seem to find one in the wild.

Nia, (edited )

If gesture typing is the same thing as glide/swipe (I don’t really know what the feature is called) then they have this one linked on their page github.com/erkserkserks/openboard/tree/…/jniLibs

It says they can’t bundle it with the app because they can’t find any open source ones, so the library linked isn’t FOSS I think and made by Google but it should still work if you don’t mind that.

juhani,

Finally, an open keyboard with functional glide typing and ability to load a decent dictionary file!

Thanks for sharing.

MasterBuilder,

Glad to see it. Is anybody else having trouble with the space bar writing “v” or “c” instead if space? It seems I have to be focused on hitting the bar near the bottom for it to work.

user,

I will wait for fdroid or gplay app.

Nia,

It looks like they plan to add it on F-droid sometime, not sure if it will reach gplay though. They originally said no to releasing anywhere but Github but F-Droid is on their roadmap now it seems after a rename and a new icon.

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