I'm seeing some misbehavior with the screen keyboard, and would appreciate some guidance on how to figure out what's going on. This is the same issue as cited in Screen Keyboard not working for Password Prompt and Show Applications Popup, but in that post the OP resolved the issue by reverting an upgrade. I'd like to get a little more detail on how to pinpoint a root cause, if possible.
The issue, in brief
- Ubuntu 20.04 systems
- The on-screen keyboard won't work for logging in to GNOME. Strangely, none of the letter keys in the on-screen keyboard will work, but the ENTER key of the on-screen keyboard does work.
- The on-screen keyboard also doesn't work for the search box at the top of the screen when you "show all applications" in GNOME.
- But the on-screen keyboard does work for everything else (even for typing a
sudo password in a terminal window).
But this issue only seems to turn up on some systems
- I have three systems, all Ubuntu 20.04, and their setups "should" be identical but I'm only seeing this problem on one of the systems.
My question, in brief
- I'd like to know the root cause of the problem I'm seeing -- since I'm using multiple Ubuntu systems, I need to be sure I can fix the problem now, but also if/when it starts cropping up on other systems too!
- Are there certain libraries that are a most likely culprit?
- Are there certain log files I can check to get more insight into what's going on?
Other background information -- a strange (related?) observation
- On one of the "working" systems, I can log in using the screen keyboard, but then the screen keyboard won't work for the application search box until I've pressed at least one key on the regular keyboard.
- I've checked the syslog and I don't see any messages at the time I'm demonstrating the failure.
- I was also able to demonstrate just how much the problem is a) "works elsewhere" but b) "search box won't work until a physical keyboard key has been pressed":
- ... boot the computer. Log in to GNOME using the screen keyboard; works fine.
- ... bring up the "all applications" search window. Try to type "aaaaa" in the search box using the screen keyboard. Nothing appears.
- ... dismiss the search box. Bring up a terminal window. Type "aaaa" in the terminal using the screen keyboard. Works fine.
- ... dismiss the terminal window. Bring up the search box again. Try to type "aaaaa" in the search box using the screen keyboard. Still doesn't work.
- ... with the search box still open, type "b" on the standard (physical) keyboard. That works fine.
- ... with the search box still open, type "aaaaa" using the screen keyboard. Now it works!
