Sway on the Framework Laptop 12

junaruga · August 3, 2025, 11:08pm

I am using Sway on the Framework Laptop 12. This thread is for people to share tips.

Tablet mode

I recently commented, “I installed a virtual keyboard wvkbd. Then I need to set up the auto-rotation, and may add some buttons on Waybar.” on this thread. And here is an update. I customized the wvkbd, changing the keyboard size and font. I set up the auto-rotating display. I added the buttons “Apps” to toggle a menu to launch apps, “Close” to close the current focused window, and “Virt Kbd” to toggle a virtual keyboard.

You can check the details below.

Custom power button

I customized the power key to suspend by pressing the button and power off by long-pressing the button. Because the power key was set to power off when pressing the button by default on Sway. You can check the details below.

I will update the page when I update my configs on Framework Laptop 12.

junaruga · August 4, 2025, 6:18am

I updated the above screenshots with the transparent virtual keyboard.

junaruga · August 4, 2025, 7:39am

I found a cool keyboard layout such as standard US keyboard layout of wvkbd and menu bar (waybar?) on a tiling window manager for a screenshot on the first comment on the following page. It seems that the left top 2 buttons are to launch apps and virtual keyboard.

github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd

add desktop layout from user nine7nine as independent layout

master ← FearlessSpiff:feature/desktop-layout

opened 05:05PM - 18 Mar 24 UTC

FearlessSpiff

+12061 -1

This adds the layout from user nine7nine as described in https://github.com/jjsu…llivan5196/wvkbd/issues/54. See screenshot (athough with my own dracula theme which is not part of this MR) ![20240318_18h02m24s_grim](https://github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd/assets/1927259/b13c482e-75cc-4d27-a7dc-5f5ac153444b)

junaruga · August 8, 2025, 7:48am

I sent the following pull request to the wvkbd project. Stay tuned!

github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd

Add deskintl (desktop international) layout set.

master ← junaruga:wip/layout-desktop

opened 07:28AM - 08 Aug 25 UTC

junaruga

+908 -2

Let me send the pull request (PR) via GitHub for better visibility in this conte…xt. I can also send this patch by `git send-email`. This PR adds a desktop layout set. I took over the work on the https://github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd/pull/67. The layout set is aimed at desktop, laptop, and tablet devices with a larger touchscreen. The layout is the US-International English below, adding a compose key. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY#US-International I also referred to the [Framework Laptop 12](https://frame.work/laptop12)'s US English layout about the Fn (Function) layer's layout. <img width="615" height="469" alt="framework-laptop-12-international-english" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6998e257-5d6e-46f3-a074-fa6f1410e793" /> The layout set was created based on the layout set by the user nine7nine (Jordan Johnston) <https://github.com/nine7nine>. ## Screenshots The screenshots are below. I took the screenshots on the [Sway window manager](https://swaywm.org/) on Fedora Linux 42 on Framework Laptop 12 (a 2-in-1 laptop with a touchscreen). You can download the original image files [here](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xuy4-H4fsJaevShItrUpW_lI3oFK0mvT?usp=drive_link) on my Google Drive. ### Landscape **Layout `Landscape` (`keys_landscape`)** <img width="1920" height="1200" alt="wvkbd-desktop-landscape" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8d943f64-9e7d-4ba4-9458-c880384483f5" /> **Layout `LandscapeSpecial` (`keys_landscape_special`)** <img width="1920" height="1200" alt="wvkbd-desktop-landscape-special" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/721fc105-5463-48f0-a982-598e82e245fa" /> ### Portrait **Layout `Full` (`keys_full`)** <img width="1200" height="1920" alt="wvkbd-desktop-portrait" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/acc5792e-b06e-4000-8f96-3087bc09f828" /> **Layout `Special` (`keys_special`)** <img width="1200" height="1920" alt="wvkbd-desktop-portrait-special" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b0408bf4-1880-4223-852b-c9f68b5e07ea" /> ## Reply to the comments @proycon's comment (https://github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd/pull/67#issuecomment-2027782803): > > Just credit my part of it in the commit, and we are good! > This was my first thought as well; I understand this > comes from [@nine7nine](https://github.com/nine7nine)'s fork with additional improvements by [@FearlessSpiff](https://github.com/FearlessSpiff) on top. Right now the commit history in this PR doesn't reflect this though. ... > [@FearlessSpiff](https://github.com/FearlessSpiff): Could you rebase the PR so the original commits are as > they were (carrying the proper Author for attribution)? And then yours > on top of that? (you might still have them in your working tree) I added @nine7nine's name as a credit in the commit message. I couldn't find @nine7nine's branch in the forked repository. So, this PR is based on https://github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd/pull/67, and rebased on the latest master branch. And I modified and adjusted the code. > Some other comments: > > I didn't really notice the line is not straight, but I do notice the > slight border on the left/right yes. I suppose it's a purely aestethic > choice or does it have some functional reason too? I adjusted each key's width with `0.25 * N`. I set each row's total width as 14.5 in each layout. > * I see some of the keys were renamed, which is okay but care has to be > taken to do it consistently for all layers in the desktop layout > then. Changing labels also makes it a bit harder to document keys clearly as > the README refers to Cmp for example, I'd suggest not renaming these > keys unless there's a good reason). I noticed: > * "Cmp" changed to "><" > * Sup changed to "<Arch logo>"; ideally I think we better keep a distro-neutral label > in wvkbd rather than an Arch/Debian/Gentoo/.. logo > (even though I too mostly use Arch, btw) I fixed the above things. > * though 99% percent of desktop users are probably on a landscape > layout, some 1% have a portrait monitor. The layout that opens > then is still the same as in wvkbd-mobintl. Is this by choice? I'd be inclined to > just use the same new landscape layout in portrait mode since the screen is probably > wide enough on desktop. I fixed the above thing. Now, the landscape and portrait modes have the same layouts. > * Perhaps an AltGr key would be useful on the default layer (right of spacebar)? > It would give alternative access to some special keys users may > already be used too (and as an alterntive for Cmp). I fixed the above thing. I added the AltGr key. > * Currently the keymaps and layouts for the other languages are still in > the code, but not really modified. If they're not used they should be > removed. Ideally though, a desktop layout for cyrillic etc would be > great (if anyone's up for it). I removed unused keymaps and layouts for other languages, also some compose layouts (`ComposeMath`, `ComposePunctuation`, `ComposeBracket`, and `ComposeCyr*`) to simplify the layout set. I wanted to show a simple example so that users can modify and extend the `layout.*.h` file easily. I see some duplicated codes between `layout.mobintl.h` and `layout.deskintl.h`. Can we move the code related to the layouts `Compose*` into a header file, such as `layout_compose.h`, and the `layout.mobintl.h` and `layout.deskintl.h` load the `layout_compose.h`? @justinlovinger's comment (https://github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd/pull/67#issuecomment-2645300798): > `<`, `>`, and `?` type the wrong symbols. I still have no idea about how to fix this issue. Could you tell me how to fix it? ## Notes I executed `make format`. However, after executing the command, I see many changes including the `keymap.mobintl.h` and `layout.mobintl.h`. So, I didn't apply the changes to `keymap.deskintl.h` and `layout.deskintl.h`. Because I think it's better to align the content between the `*.mobintl.h` and `*.deskintl.h`. ``` $ clang-format --version clang-format version 20.1.8 (Fedora 20.1.8-3.fc42) $ make format $ git status On branch wip/layout-desktop Changes not staged for commit: (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed) (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory) modified: config.def.h modified: drw.c modified: drw.h modified: keyboard.c modified: keyboard.h typechange: keymap.deskintl.h modified: keymap.mobintl.h modified: layout.deskintl.h modified: layout.mobintl.h modified: main.c modified: os-compatibility.h ``` So, what do you think?

junaruga · August 10, 2025, 11:02am

The above pull request was merged. Now Wvkbd (wvkbd-deskintl program) has a US International English-based full keyboard layout. I also added 3 buttons to toggle the virtual keyboard (wvkbd-deskintl), to launch apps, and to close the focused window on the Waybar at the top left. The screenshots are below.

Landscape

Portrait

junaruga · August 18, 2025, 5:32pm

I created my customized layout sets of the wvkbd. One of the layout sets is a 44-key ortholiner split keyboard layout. The photo is below.

My repository with the layout sets is below.

You can customize the layout by the following steps:

Fork my repository junaruga/wvkbd-contrib.
Create the layout/your_layout_name directory, and create some header files. The https://github.com/jjsullivan5196/wvkbd’s *.deskintl.h, and https://github.com/junaruga/wvkbd-contrib/'s layout/split/*.h may be useful to check to create your layout.
Run the make LAYOUT=your_layout_name.
Run the ./wvkbd-your_layout_name.

Theraa · September 1, 2025, 11:28pm

This is great, thanks for all the work! I was already worrying about the usefullness of tablet mode because switching away from sway wasn’t an option for me

junaruga · September 2, 2025, 6:55pm

I am glad you like my contributions. I am motivated to contribute something to make a compact device use case with a touchscreen mature in Linux. This was one of the things that I wanted to do with the Framework Laptop 12.

There are the following 2 fun challenges in the Framework Laptop 12’s tablet mode with Sway, as far as I know.

Screen lock with virtual keyboard

This topic is discussed at the What Desktop Environment are you using with your FW12? - #14 by junaruga. Maybe it is possible by using the gtklock, gtklock-virtkb-module, or sway-lock-mobile mentioned on the linked thread. However, we may need some contributions to the swaylock or gtklock project to make the use case of the virtual keyboard for screen lock more useful and consumable.

Gestures on touchscreen

Sway has the bindgesture syntax. However, it only supports a touchpad, and it doesn’t support a touchscreen for now. There are the following issue tickets for that.

For example, the following sway config to enable 3-finger swipe up/down to show/hide the virtual keyboard wvkbd only works for touchpad gestures. For the ~/script/control_wvkbd.sh, you can check my framework-laptop-config repository.

# Gesture to show/hide the virtual keyboard wvkvd.
# This setting is only for touchpad. The touchscreen is not supported.
# https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/1904
bindgesture swipe:3:up exec ~/script/control_wvkbd.sh SIGUSR2
bindgesture swipe:3:down exec ~/script/control_wvkbd.sh SIGUSR1

Someone reported the gesture app lisgd worked for the touchscreen. So, I plan to try the app.

I updated the following wiki page, adding the above topics.

junaruga · September 10, 2025, 12:40am

I tried the lisgd on my Framework Laptop 12. It works for the touchscreen! I wrote the instructions below. The lisqd supports gestures in specific areas of the edges and corners.

2disbetter · September 13, 2025, 5:21am

If you have the time, I wrote an application to handle rotation on Hyprland that should work for Sway as well. (rotates the monitor, touch, and pen support)

Maybe give it a whirl and see if it does work on Sway? I have only guessed that it would.

Berend · September 17, 2025, 5:51pm

@junaruga thanks for your work on wvkbd! I was wondering if there are some events you can hook into that would listen to the hinge turning? Maybe you know

I would really like to enable iio-hyperland only when I have the device flipped around.

junaruga · September 17, 2025, 6:55pm

Are you talking about the display-rotating events, right? The monitor-sensor command can listen to the events. The command is in the iio-sensor-proxy RPM package on Fedora Linux.

$ sudo dnf install iio-sensor-proxy

Then I am using the following script to auto-rotate the display, hooking the events on Sway. Note that swaymsg output is Sway’s command.

You need to install the mawk command to run the script.

$ sudo dnf install mawk

github.com/junaruga/framework-laptop-config

home/.config/sway/config.d/00-framework-laptop-12

7bf2b8016


      
          # vim: set filetype=swayconfig :
          
          gaps inner 4
          output eDP-1 scale 1.0
          
          # Auto-rotate display.
          exec ~/.config/sway/script/auto_rotate_display.sh &
          # Run the gesture daemon lisgd.
          exec ~/bin/lisgd &

github.com/junaruga/framework-laptop-config

home/.config/sway/script/auto_rotate_display.sh

main

#!/bin/bash

set -euo pipefail

monitor-sensor | \
    mawk -W interactive \
    '/Accelerometer orientation changed:/ {print $NF; fflush();}' | \
    while read -r line; do
        case "$line" in
        normal)
            swaymsg output eDP-1 transform 0
            ;;
        bottom-up)
            swaymsg output eDP-1 transform 180
            ;;
        right-up)
            swaymsg output eDP-1 transform 90
            ;;
        left-up)
            swaymsg output eDP-1 transform 270

This file has been truncated. show original

If you are using Hyprland, you can check the following thread to find the equivalent script or program on Hyprland.

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Tablet mode

Custom power button

Screen lock with virtual keyboard

Gestures on touchscreen

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