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iPad is unusable for true productivity until Karabiner can run on it. So amazed how few people still use it though. Like it seems no one at Apple uses it at any

by nikivi 6y ago

iPad is unusable for true productivity until Karabiner can run on it. So amazed how few people still use it though. Like it seems no one at Apple uses it at any capacity as it's broken again with new version of OS. https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements/issues/2331 https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-Elements/issues/2331

jrockway 6y ago
I just program my keyboard to emit the key events that I want, rather than relying on OS-level hacks to do it. On some level, keyboards should just expose the results of the key matrix scan to the OS, and let them add things like layers, macros, matrix position -> character map, etc... but no OS supports keyboards like this, so you just have to do it on the keyboard. I plug in my qmk-based keyboard to my iPad Pro and it does exactly what I want. It is a shame that you can't reflash the keyboard from iPadOS, though.
jiofih 6y ago
What is Karabiner? Never heard of it (mac dev for 10 years).
- graeme 6y ago
  Very powerful keyboard remapping tool.
graeme 6y ago
Ugh, I wish they would. Such an essential tool. I even used it to remap mouse scrolling to the keyboard, as I hate scroll wheels, ergonomically. In case you missed it, Apple added a very limited ability to remap hardware keyboards in ios 13.4. It is far from karabiner, but it at least lets you use windows keyboards on an ipad now: you can remap the command key.
MDWolinski 6y ago
Why are you surprised it's broken? Every major OS upgrade changes things and improves security, so the developers need to see the changes and the needed fixes. The Beta has only been out 4 days, even if everyone at Apple used it, they're not going to push the fix for an unreleased/unannounced product, if they contribute to the project.
- nikivi 6y ago
  I'm surprised that it's such a powerful and game changing tool and yet none of the devs at Apple use it at any capacity. As from the things I read/saw, devs are using the new versions of OS before even the betas get released to test run them.
  - MDWolinski 6y ago
    I guess we should expect Apple developers to test every OS against every open source project out there, then.
    - nikivi 6y ago
      I see what you mean. My point is more to the fact that none of the Apple devs seem to have woken up to how useful it is to remap the keyboard to a high degree. I might be wrong of course and there are Apple devs for whom moving to a new OS and losing Karabiner will be an ok loss.
chrisseaton 6y ago
> iPad is unusable for true productivity until Karabiner can run on it Why do you think it'd be impossible to be productive without this one random app you use? I wrote a blog post the other day on my iPad. I was truly productive.
- nikivi 6y ago
  Just recently read this nice comment about whether vim makes you faster. > I only care about reducing friction, and Vim's editing language is very good at that. From https://www.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/hg37kq/question_how_much_time_do_you_save_using_vim/ https://www.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/hg37kq/question_how_mu... So Karabiner to me is in the same category. It removes literally all frictions I have in interfacing with my computer. I can activate ANY app I use on my mac in less than 1 second (two key taps). On iPad that would require multiple gestures unless the apps were not recently used. Have you used Karabiner hyper keys? You might misunderstand just how powerful it is. For example I have all keys on my keyboard be custom hyper keys. That means I have around 30 modifier keys with 30+ keys mapped to each modifier with access of < 1 second away from me. And it's not just Karabiner that iPad lacks. Alfred, Keyboard Maestro are two other essential tools. I am trying to bring one to iOS so hope that part will be solved. Here is my config, it might bring more light to what I mean: https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/dotfiles/blob/master/karabiner/karabiner.edn https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/dotfiles/blob/master/karab...
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    Sounds like it works for you. > That means I have around 30 modifier keys with 30+ keys mapped to each But to me that sounds like my worst nightmare. I really hate having to learn keyboard shortcuts. I'd much rather use touch and gestures and things. I don't really need to switch apps in less than one second - that's not the bottleneck in my workflow - usually thinking is. Having a config like yours would make me despair. I don't like to configure anything - I just use the defaults and get on with my work. > And it's not just Karabiner that iPad lacks. Alfred, Keyboard Maestro are two other essential tools. They are demonstrably not essential, since people can get things done without them.

by nikivi 6y ago

jrockway 6y ago

I just program my keyboard to emit the key events that I want, rather than relying on OS-level hacks to do it. On some level, keyboards should just expose the results of the key matrix scan to the OS, and let them add things like layers, macros, matrix position -> character map, etc... but no OS supports keyboards like this, so you just have to do it on the keyboard. I plug in my qmk-based keyboard to my iPad Pro and it does exactly what I want. It is a shame that you can't reflash the keyboard from iPadOS, though.

jiofih 6y ago

What is Karabiner? Never heard of it (mac dev for 10 years).

graeme 6y ago
Very powerful keyboard remapping tool.

graeme 6y ago

Ugh, I wish they would. Such an essential tool. I even used it to remap mouse scrolling to the keyboard, as I hate scroll wheels, ergonomically. In case you missed it, Apple added a very limited ability to remap hardware keyboards in ios 13.4. It is far from karabiner, but it at least lets you use windows keyboards on an ipad now: you can remap the command key.

MDWolinski 6y ago

Why are you surprised it's broken? Every major OS upgrade changes things and improves security, so the developers need to see the changes and the needed fixes. The Beta has only been out 4 days, even if everyone at Apple used it, they're not going to push the fix for an unreleased/unannounced product, if they contribute to the project.

nikivi 6y ago
I'm surprised that it's such a powerful and game changing tool and yet none of the devs at Apple use it at any capacity. As from the things I read/saw, devs are using the new versions of OS before even the betas get released to test run them.
- MDWolinski 6y ago
  I guess we should expect Apple developers to test every OS against every open source project out there, then.
  - nikivi 6y ago
    I see what you mean. My point is more to the fact that none of the Apple devs seem to have woken up to how useful it is to remap the keyboard to a high degree. I might be wrong of course and there are Apple devs for whom moving to a new OS and losing Karabiner will be an ok loss.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> iPad is unusable for true productivity until Karabiner can run on it Why do you think it'd be impossible to be productive without this one random app you use? I wrote a blog post the other day on my iPad. I was truly productive.

nikivi 6y ago
Just recently read this nice comment about whether vim makes you faster. > I only care about reducing friction, and Vim's editing language is very good at that. From https://www.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/hg37kq/question_how_much_time_do_you_save_using_vim/ https://www.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/hg37kq/question_how_mu... So Karabiner to me is in the same category. It removes literally all frictions I have in interfacing with my computer. I can activate ANY app I use on my mac in less than 1 second (two key taps). On iPad that would require multiple gestures unless the apps were not recently used. Have you used Karabiner hyper keys? You might misunderstand just how powerful it is. For example I have all keys on my keyboard be custom hyper keys. That means I have around 30 modifier keys with 30+ keys mapped to each modifier with access of < 1 second away from me. And it's not just Karabiner that iPad lacks. Alfred, Keyboard Maestro are two other essential tools. I am trying to bring one to iOS so hope that part will be solved. Here is my config, it might bring more light to what I mean: https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/dotfiles/blob/master/karabiner/karabiner.edn https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/dotfiles/blob/master/karab...
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  Sounds like it works for you. > That means I have around 30 modifier keys with 30+ keys mapped to each But to me that sounds like my worst nightmare. I really hate having to learn keyboard shortcuts. I'd much rather use touch and gestures and things. I don't really need to switch apps in less than one second - that's not the bottleneck in my workflow - usually thinking is. Having a config like yours would make me despair. I don't like to configure anything - I just use the defaults and get on with my work. > And it's not just Karabiner that iPad lacks. Alfred, Keyboard Maestro are two other essential tools. They are demonstrably not essential, since people can get things done without them.