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.
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]
^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.