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The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

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Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#31

Post by manaskarekar »

coldpie wrote: post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

There is the world of ergo and/or split keyboards, which is quite fascinating, but rather expensive to `try one that best fits me`. (Ergodox EZ, Kineses advantage, OLKB splits and many more)

There is also the Alice layout, which is an interesting step towards ergonomics on a traditional keyboard.

I wish there was a keyboard club or something that let you try these out for a week or so.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#33

Post by coldpie »

manaskarekar wrote: post #31
coldpie wrote: post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

There is the world of ergo and/or split keyboards, which is quite fascinating, but rather expensive to `try one that best fits me`. (Ergodox EZ, Kineses advantage, OLKB splits and many more) There is also the Alice layout, which is an interesting step towards ergonomics on a traditional keyboard. I wish there was a keyboard club or something that let you try these out for a week or so.

I've got the Feker Alice 98 and like it very much! It's a great replacement for the old Microsoft Natural Elites I've been using for well over a decade.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#34

Post by fanf2 »

PeeMcGee wrote: post #26

This seems pretty nice if you spend 100% of your computer time in a shell. For typical usage, swapping out F keys with a modifier seems like a downgrade unless you're short on space, and macros seems sorta like a workaround to address absent keys that unexpectedly become important. Also sorta unclear whether delete will go backwards or forwards, and in any case how do you delete in the other direction? (the backtick/…

I basically never use the F keys as F keys: when I am using an Apple keyboard they default to media keys and similar stuff, which I do use. On my new keyboard I have bound (for example) fn+plus and fn+minus to adjust the volume - plus and minus are directly under the volume keys on my laptop.

The delete key deletes left when pressed by itself, or right when pressed with fn, same as Apple keyboards. Or use ctrl-d, which works in bash and emacs and all over macOS.

I have configured the macro keys to move windows to predetermined places, which is something I need far more frequently than the 39 extra keys on a full-sized keyboard.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#37

Post by madphilosopher »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #7
jeppesen-io wrote: post #2

First glance I thought this was silly with left ctrl changed to fn But on closer look, I saw caps lock was changed to ctrl. Which is what I do on all my computers I hope the Framework ecosystem grows so we might someday see a keyboard like this for it

And no CapsLock at all. Bug or feature?

In my entire computing career, I have never locked my Caps or unlocked my Num! That's how I roll.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#38

Post by jwells89 »

As noted in the linked page, this is very similar to the HHKB layout, which is far and away my personal favorite. This is also basically the layout I use on my 65% boards and is my second favorite.

I don't really have much of a need for a left Fn or physical arrow keys. In fact for the latter I find HHKB layered arrows more comfortable, especially when using the various macOS text navigation shortcuts, because it requires notably less hand movement.

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#39

Post by o11c »

smodo wrote: post #15
JKCalhoun wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And no CapsLock at all. Bug or feature?

If you need capslock that’s easy to emulate in software nowadays. For instance KDE has a default option to toggle capslock by pressing both shift keys.

I use that, but unfortunately it's not that easy (also I'm pretty sure it's not KDE-specific - most keyboard stuff even works in the console!).

Let's use `xev`'s `state` field for reference:

First, `state & 0x10` is NumLock which is the only modifier that's often set. Software knows to mask out this and a couple other modifiers when dispatching keyboard shortcuts.

Second, `state & 0x02` is CapsLock. Software that detects CapsLock as a modifier will work correctly with double-shift-as-capslock.

Unfortunately, `state & 0x01` is Shift. Software that reads CapsLock as a keysym (often e.g. games that use it as a "turbo" toggle) will often fail, because when double-shift is pressed, the shift modifier has been set. And it's generally considered a bug to ignore modifiers when dispatching keyboard events.

Unfortunately, there is no event for just "`state` changed", it is only dispatched alongside some other mouse/keyboard event. If you press just `shift` you'll see that it doesn't update yet for the just-pressed key (and fundamentally cannot due to how it has to work to switch between keycode->keysym mappings).

Re: The unix69 keyboard layout: nerdy and nice

#40

Post by jwells89 »

coldpie wrote: post #17

I am continually baffled by how keyboard enthusiasts almost never have ergonomic layouts. If you care this much about typing, surely the first thing you do is get an ergo layout. The rectangle layout is really bad, people! How can you spend this much time and energy and money on keyboards, and keep using the awful rectangle layout?

My hand movement is minimal with Tsangan/HHKB layout and as such, I haven't had much issue with fatigue or pain even after long stretches of typing. I find that actually, keycap profile and switch weight are bigger factors.

I do have an ai03 Meridian, which is a Alice-style board (which while not ergo is more in that direction), in the closet that I need to build though but have been putting it off because it requires soldering (hotswap has spoiled me).

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