Is it possible to use onboard in TTY?

I have old convertible netbook which is so weak even Lubuntu runs slow on it. I want to install Ubuntu Server (no GUI) and control it exclusively via tty.

Sometimes, I'd like to use the TTY in "converted" form, so I won't have access to my keyboard. Is there a way to get the onboard on-screen keyboard visible from the TTY?

Start with an Ubuntu Server iso file or Ubuntu mini.iso

I would select a 32-bit system for an old or weak computer, even if the computer has a 64-bit system because a 32-bit system uses less RAM. But it is also possible to select a 64-bit system or try both and decide afterwards which is the best in your particular case.

After installing the basic system you can install a simple window manager like Openbox or Fluxbox, or plain LXDE (used in Lubuntu, but without the extra features of Lubuntu), Onboard, and your favourite application programs. It is possible to make the system boot into a text screen, and after that have the option to start the graphical user interface.

Start with a compressed image of an installed 32-bit system

You can also download a compressed image file with an installed 32-bit system built from Ubuntu mini.iso and tweaked to be easy to manage in order to expand into different final systems.

This file is found at this link

dd_X32-dus-lxde-Intl_2017-06-13_4GB.img.xz

The md5sum is

4ad6c6477afc3dba4e6d266ca4bc4a6d  dd_X32-dus-lxde-Intl_2017-06-13_4GB.img.xz

and the file expands to 4 GB on the target drive, so you need a drive with at least 4 GB.

Login and password

user:     guru
password: changeme

Please change the password.

Links describing the system

The descriptions at the following links can help you install and use the system in the new compressed image file,

help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI/Xenial-32-txt (Xenial, the current version)

UEFI-and-BIOS mini system with 'text' screen user interface (the 64-bit version)

Text mode menu as seen after log in:

LXDE graphical desktop environment with Onboard:

There is an open source terminal emulator with embedded virtual keyboard. You can test it. Download and compile source code from here It's installed in /usr/local/bin by default.

And run it like

kterm -k 1 -l /usr/local/etc/kterm/layouts/keyboard.xml

EDIT: You will also need mouse support in tty mode to use kterm.

Try this

sudo apt-get install gpm

EDIT2: Though it has been a long time after the question, I've found a working solution here. First you need to enable framebuffer in your Linux installation. Framebuffer provides lightweight graphical aid in your tty.

Clone this repository:

 git clone https://github.com/zrafa/onscreenkeyboard
 cd onscreenkeyboard
 make
 chmod +x ./osk
 sudo cp ./osk /usr/bin

then run it from your tty

For more info check out: https://github.com/zrafa/onscreenkeyboard