random-state.net

Nikodemus Siivola

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August 22nd 2004 #
random, August 22nd 2004

I just played at remapping the keyboard for the first time really; before I've just used some Debian configuration to get a Meta somewhere and give some life to the windows-keys.

Irritation has been mounting quite a while: Finnish keyboards suck for hacking. Parens are shifted, and braces and brackets are behind awkward one-handed chords. Here's the beast:

   ½  |  !  |  "  |  #  |  %  |  ¤  |  &  |  /  |  (  |  )  |  =  |  ?  |  `  |
   §  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  0  |  +  |  '  |  Backspace
      |     |  @  |  £  |  $  |     |     |  {  |  [  |  ]  |  }  |  \  |     |
===========================================================================================
         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  ^  |
Tab      |  Q  |  W  |  E  |  R  |  T  |  Y  |  U  |  I  |  O  |  P  |  Å  |  ¨  |  Return
         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  ~  |
==================================================================================\
           |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  *  |
CapsLock   |  A  |  S  |  D  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  J  |  K  |  L  |  Ö  |  Ä  |  '  |
           |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
===========================================================================================
       |  >  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  ;  |  :  |  _  |
Shift  |  <  |  Z  |  X  |  C  |  V  |  B  |  N  |  M  |  ,  |  .  |  -  |   Shift
       |  |  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
===========================================================================================
        |       |      |                                 |       |       |       |
Control |  Win  | Alt  |            Space bar            | AltGr |  Win  | Menu  | Control
        |       |      |                                 |       |       |       |

To add insult to the injury: tilde, circumflex and backquote are all dead keys, requiring two strokes. Gah.

Here's what I ended up for now — remains to be seen how it works, and how confused I get. I tried to be pretty conservative, moving only what I felt I had to move, and tried to make the new locations both comfortable and easy to remember: only letter key moved was aring, which I almost never need anyways. Since dead tildes, circumflexes, and backquotes come handy sometimes (mainly with people's names), they are mode-shifted on the same keys where non-dead versions are just shifted. Right-hand side is a bit busy with all the triple-keys, but it also means that no one-handed chords are needed anymore. ...at least as long as I pick bindings for Hyper with care. Here's the new layout:

   ½  |  !  |  "  |  #  |  %  |  ¤  |  &  |  /  |  ~  |  ^  |  =  |  ?  |  `  |
   §  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  0  |  +  |  '  |  Backspace
      |     |     |     |     |     |     |  £  |  ~  |  ^  |  $  |  \  |  `  |
===========================================================================================
         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  {  |  }  |
Tab      |  Q  |  W  |  E  |  R  |  T  |  Y  |  U  |  I  |  O  |  P  |  (  |  )  |  Return
         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  [  |  ]  |
==================================================================================\
           |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  *  |
ModeShift  |  A  |  S  |  D  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  J  |  K  |  L  |  Ö  |  Ä  |  '  |
           |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  ¨  |  Å  |  @  |
===========================================================================================
       |  >  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  ;  |  :  |  _  |
Shift  |  <  |  Z  |  X  |  C  |  V  |  B  |  N  |  M  |  ,  |  .  |  -  |   Shift
       |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  |  |
===========================================================================================
        |       |      |                                 |       |       |       |
Control | Super | Meta |            Space bar            | Hyper | Meta  | Super | Control
        |       |      |                                 |       |       |       |

Seems nice so far. Next I should wean myself from using single-handed chords — unsurprisingly mainly C-x, C-c, and M-x.