6 ms·
The author recommends remapping "kj" to ESC. I've remapped caps lock to ESC, which I think is a far better use of that useless button, and a hack i recommend t
by oliverkofoed 16y ago
The author recommends remapping "kj" to ESC.
I've remapped caps lock to ESC, which I think is a far better use of that useless button, and a hack i recommend to everybody i know who uses VIM.
I could never understand that VIM choose to put such an important button so far away from the homerow.
- silentbicycle 16y agoEscape used to be located closer, IIRC it was next to 1 (on `) on some older keyboards. (Much like Ctrl used to be where CapsLocks is now.) Moving it is easy, of course. Also, Ctrl-[ is usually the same key as Escape, and if you have CapsLock remapped to Ctrl, they're practically on the home row. (The article hints at this, but doesn't explicitly note that C-[ is Esc.) You could also remap CapsLock to Esc, of course.
- oliverkofoed 16y agoI'm on a danish keyboard; the programmer-handy keys like "[" and "]" have been moved to shortcuts (alt-9 for "]") to make room for the danish letters "æøå", so some of the combo's that are easy to make on english keyboards are next to impossible on mine. Once in an effort to reach maximum typing efficiency, i attempted a switch to VIM+Dvorak. However, i quickly realized that i would have to use a Danish variant of Dvorak (there is no official standard..) and remap VIM to oblivion, which would make me too much of an oddball masochist.
- silentbicycle 16y agoA bunch of my coworkers are Swedish, and I've had similar issues with the brackets. It's aggravating. I use the English/American Dvorak, but it takes me a second to switch back to qwerty as necessary. (I'm probably in the rare niche of mixed vi/emacs users, FWIW.) Vi + Dvorak isn't so bad, though I feel like Dvorak is (somehow) more compatible with Emacs.
- slug 16y agoI have the same problem, although for a different language, and solved it by using a shortcut (alt-ctrl-k) to switch between layouts (en-us,etc). I do it both on KDE and fluxbox, which are fairly easy to configure and the "mental" switch is not problematic.
- rix0r 16y agoThis is what keeps me off switching to Dvorak: I have all these keyboard shortcuts wired into my muscle memory that I would have to either relearn or remap when switching to Dvorak that it's just too much of a bother...
- eelco 16y agoIf you're on OS X you can ease into it by using the 'Dvorak except for shortcuts' keyboard mode.
- chancho 16y agoThe happy hacking keyboard has both the esc and ctrl keys in these (proper) positions. Highly recommended for vimming. http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/happy-hacking-keyboard-lite-2-for-mac-touts-apple-key-demotes-c/ http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/happy-hacking-keyboard-li...
- silentbicycle 16y agoYeah, but re-mapping is easy. Personally, I'm fond of the (gasp!) Microsoft 4000 Natural Keyboard, with several remappings.
- hoprocker 16y agoA-men. Plus, OS X makes swapping caps<->ctrl super easy, so do that on a MS4000 and you're two large steps nearer to healthier longer-lasting wrists.
- jff 16y agovi was developed on the ADM-3A terminal, which indeed has the ESC key in the space occupied by ` these days. It also had Control in the proper place, but the arrangements of some of the punctuation keys on the right side of the keyboard always seemed rather hosed to me.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- xutopia 16y agoIn the same vein it seems totally ridiculous that we use the pinky finger to hit ctrl. Surely there are better ways.
- spudlyo 16y agoThere are. The Kinesis keyboard has four thumb buttons on each side of the keyboard. The biggest, closest one on the left side I map to CONTROL. The other big left thumb button I map to ESCAPE.
- RevRal 16y agoYou can also look into importing a Japanese keyboard for more thumb options.
- Calamitous 16y agoWhy? Do the Japanese have more thumbs? Sorry. Had to get it out my system.
- RevRal 16y agoI don't get it. . . . They have two thumbs, but within reach of their thumbs are extra keys. They need these extra keys because there are a lot of characters in their writing. They don't need more thumbs, because they only need to push one of these extra keys at a time. Do I need more pointer fingers if I need to use one of the Y, H, N, B, T, G, and V keys?
- Calamitous 16y agoUm, it was a joke...
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- 16y ago
- WildUtah 16y agoI've remapped caps lock to ESC I find that Mac keyboards are very difficult to remap. Is there any reason for that? Or maybe there's some utility that handles remapping I just can't find. Buggy as it is, I miss xmodmap.
- banjiewen 16y agoIf you're just remapping modifier keys, the Keyboard prefs pane works well (not sure if it's part of Leopard, though). If you want to map something to ESC, try PCKeyboardHack: http://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/extra.html http://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/extra.html
- cloudhead 16y agoYou can remap the modifier keys (Caps Lock, Alt, Cmd) from the preferences pannel, in Keyboard. There's a button at the bottom, called "Modifier Keys..."
- idoh 16y agoThis is true but that utility won't let you remap Caps to Esc.
- chancho 16y agoVery good Mac keyboard remapper: http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele