Wayland Support
Voice Dictation on Wayland
Full voice dictation support for modern Wayland compositors. Works with GNOME, KDE Plasma, Sway, Hyprland, and more. No X11 required.
Native IBus Integration
Text injection via IBus includes readiness checks, scoped activation, and runtime recovery for modern Wayland sessions.
Keyboard Layout Preservation
v0.10.1+ preserves your XKB keyboard layout when activating IBus. No more switching to US layout unexpectedly.
X11 Fallback Support
Automatic fallback to xdotool when running under XWayland or traditional X11 sessions.
Desktop Agnostic
Works with GNOME, KDE Plasma, Sway, Hyprland, river, and other Wayland compositors.
Reliability Hardening
Recent betas improve IBus startup, keyboard layout preservation, non-ASCII fallback, and suspend/resume behavior.
Supported Wayland Compositors
| Compositor | Method | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GNOME (mutter) | IBus | Full support | Default on Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian GNOME editions |
| KDE Plasma (KWin) | IBus | Full support | Works with IBus input method framework |
| Sway | IBus / wtype | Full support | i3-compatible Wayland compositor |
| Hyprland | IBus / wtype | Full support | Dynamic tiling Wayland compositor |
| river | IBus / wtype | Full support | Dynamic tiling Wayland compositor |
| XWayland apps | xdotool | Full support | X11 apps running under Wayland |
Quick Setup Guide
Install IBus
Most distributions include IBus by default. If not:
sudo apt install ibus ibus-gtk ibus-gtk3Start IBus Daemon
Ensure the IBus daemon is running in your session:
ibus-daemon -drxRun Vocalinux
Vocalinux will auto-detect Wayland and configure IBus:
vocalinuxIf text doesn't appear, ensure IBus is your active input method (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Methods).
How Wayland Text Injection Works
Unlike X11 where applications can simulate keyboard input globally, Wayland's security model requires a different approach. Vocalinux uses:
- IBus Engine - A custom IBus input method that receives text from Vocalinux and types it into the focused application
- wtype - Native Wayland typing tool for compositors that support the virtual keyboard protocol
- X11 Fallback - xdotool for XWayland applications
v0.9.0+ includes clipboard fallback for Wayland compositors without virtual keyboard support. Copy-to-clipboard is now disabled by default for privacy - enable in Settings if needed.
v0.10.2+ also improves IBus detection without legacy environment variables and handles non-ASCII ydotool paths with clipboard paste fallback.
Start Dictating on Wayland
Vocalinux automatically detects your display server and configures the appropriate text injection method. Just install and run.