After doing some extensive Perspective Workstation testing here is some discussion.
We were surprised that the OSK didn't work in Linux and ended up testing about 14 different distros. I lost track of some of them. Most distros were based on Ubuntu 22.04 due to it being the latest LTS release.
Some distros that either Perspective Workstation would not work with the OS OSK or had other general issues with:
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Kubuntu 22.04
• Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.2 Victoria
• Linux Mint Mate 21.2
• Linux Mint Xfce 21.2
• Debian 12.1.0 Cinnamon
• CentOS Stream9
• Fedora Linux 38
• RHEL 9.2
Distros that had excellent OSKs, in order of preference:
• Linux Mint Cinnamon
• PoP!_OS 22.04 Cosmic
• Ubuntu 22.04. (Note that Ubuntu 22.04 does have an excellent OSK however it is not without issues, it can hang up in the settings and can have issues on the log-in screen)
Distros where Perspective Workstation worked with the OS OSK:
• Ubuntu 20.04. This is not surprising, this older version was very likely well tested with Perspective Workstation. However, support is ending for this version so it's not a great choice for us.
• POP!_OS 22.04 Cosmic. Perspective Workstation works fine with the desktop OS OSK and it is quite nice. The drawback is that POP!_OS does not really have any LTS version but it is based on Ubuntu. POP!_OS essentially has a custom desktop OS called Cosmic, this likely has something to do with it working with Perspective Workstation as it is not a pure GNOME Wayland Desktop OS like most of the others tested.
Workaround options:
• Use POP!_OS, or Ubuntu 20.04.
• Skip Perspective Workstation altogether. Use Ubuntu 22.04, Chrome web browser, and Auto Launch script to start perspective app in the browser full screen. For this to work download chrome with curl or a web browser and install with dpkg. DO NOT bother with Snap web browsers as they have issues with the OSK. Even the Snap Firefox that comes with Ubuntu 22.04 does not work with the OS OSK. Create the launch script in
/home/{user}/.config/autostart to launch the application.
• Use Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. (I myself always though that I would never install windows in the field, however I am warming up to this option). You do have to pay extra for this OS but there are reasons to do so:
○ In our testing it was undeniable that the Windows touch user experience is far superior to Linux, from multi-touch, gestures, and OSK it "just works".
○ Windows 10 IoT Enterprise is made intentionally for enterprise applications and kiosks.
○ LTS branch supported for 10 years is much better than most free Linux distros.
○ Complete control of when and how updates are installed. Updates are slow rolled and not nearly as bleeding edge as consumer windows updates.
○ Windows Kiosk Mode allows you to completely lock down the desktop so users can't inadvertently get to the desktop and fiddle or hack on things. Kiosk mode is not without peril as it only supports modern Microsoft Store apps so you will be using perspective in a web browser. The biggest issue with this is the kiosk browser often launches before the gateway is started, then you are stuck on an error page. I did not find a way to delay start the kiosk.
I feel all of these options have some undesirable tradeoffs. Unfortunately, in the end a traditional HMI will make more sense for some applications.
Another welcome update from IA would be any documentation on how to install Perspective Workstation on Linux, how to set up the "desktop" launch icon, and their suggested auto launch mechanisms.
