diff --git a/scripts/core/sxmo_keyboard.sh b/scripts/core/sxmo_keyboard.sh
index 4237edf..05ee583 100755
--- a/scripts/core/sxmo_keyboard.sh
+++ b/scripts/core/sxmo_keyboard.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ SXMO_NO_ICONS=1 #just to make it a bit faster
 open() {
 	#Note: KEYBOARD_ARGS is not quoted by design as it may includes a pipe and further tools
 	# shellcheck disable=SC2086
-	pidof -q "$KEYBOARD" || "$KEYBOARD" $KEYBOARD_ARGS &
+	pidof -q "$KEYBOARD" || eval "$KEYBOARD" $KEYBOARD_ARGS &
 }
 
 close() {
diff --git a/scripts/core/sxmo_xinit.sh b/scripts/core/sxmo_xinit.sh
index 561dd3e..bcf07e6 100755
--- a/scripts/core/sxmo_xinit.sh
+++ b/scripts/core/sxmo_xinit.sh
@@ -45,14 +45,11 @@ xdefaults() {
 defaultkeyboard() {
 	if command -v svkbd-mobile-intl; then
 		export KEYBOARD=svkbd-mobile-intl
-		export KEYBOARD_ARGS=
 	elif command -v svkbd-mobile-plain; then
 		export KEYBOARD=svkbd-mobile-plain
-		export KEYBOARD_ARGS=
 	else
 		#legacy
 		export KEYBOARD=svkbd-sxmo
-		export KEYBOARD_ARGS=
 	fi
 }