6 ms·

Toward a more useful keyboard

79 points by albertzeyer 13y ago

zachlatta 13y ago
Looks like a neat project. I'd recommend simplifying the readme a bit though. I gave it a brief skim and I still have no idea what this is.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  That should be a clue as to the actual utility of the system.
secure 13y ago
Related: http://www.neo-layout.org http://www.neo-layout.org — also has the arrow keys on one of the upper levels, plus tons of useful characters all over each of the levels :).
lunixbochs 13y ago
I prefer leaving shift out of the hyper modifier, so you also have shift+hyper as a valid modifier.
Someone 13y ago
Interesting that he talks about _what_ he wants to do (same commands, everywhere), then shows an app that controls _how_ to do things (use caps lock for escape and control). Isn't he consciously aware of what he wants, or isn't he getting there yet?
jaequery 13y ago
super duper mode, space for shift? i don't get it ... o_O
zackkitzmiller 13y ago
The best thing I ever did was remap Caps Lock to Esc at some point last year.
- hudibras 13y ago
  Agreed. This article (the inspiration for OP's github) is what triggered it for me. http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/ http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/
- ne0phyte 13y ago
  I have Ctrl on Caps on all my keyboards and my main keyboard, a Happy Hacking Keyboard[1], comes with the Unix layout* anyway. Why Esc? For Vim? *Control instead of Caps, Delete above Enter [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard
- Jd 13y ago
  Pro typers frequently remap Caps Lock to backspace. Backspace/delete is in an inane position on most keyboards.
krenoten 13y ago
I went through much of the same process in the past week, as I started at a new job where I was not easily able to use linux. I'm a HHKB pro 2 user also - although I actually have really grown to enjoy the placement of the arrow keys and not having to physically move my hand over to use a separate set of specialized keys. As a user of the colemak keyboard layout, I've grown accustomed to rarely needing to stray far from the home row, and this keyboard helps me take the same economy of motion to the next level. For software, I arrived at KeyRemap4MacBook at the recommendation of the colemak website, and between that and standard mountain lion system preference remaps of where command is mapped to etc... (caps lock -> control on the actual laptop keyboard is MANDATORY) I'm finally starting to enjoy using osx as a tool for interacting with text editors. But - I was fiercely at war with manual placement of windows and the horrendous methods I knew of for changing windows. I'm an xmonad user, and really just wanted something that would put windows exactly where I wanted them and to swap focus easily enough. I found slate, and although it may take a few minutes to write a conf that you're happy with I was able to replicate the major functionality that I wanted. Ahh... ok now I can finally get stuff done without constant vacations to the mouse, and I can start to notice some of OSX's visual niceties.
- weaksauce 13y ago
  Care to post your slate config?
  - krenoten 13y ago
    Sure - it's not something I would call polished but it gets the job done for now - http://hastebin.com/hofejobumu.mel http://hastebin.com/hofejobumu.mel It only looks good for me when I'm plugged into a big thunderbolt display. The rightmost window intentionally goes off the screen boundary so that it can maintain its size and not cause any kinds of resizing artifacts when switching it in and out of the wider center pane. The way I'm arranging center panes and switching focus to them is definitely a hack, and doesn't work when there are other windows open on the screen.
- autodidakto 13y ago
  Check out xnomad. It seems to me the closest imitation to Xmonad, and doesn't need messing with a config to get working (that is, comes with good default keycommands and limited layouts). It's not in Haskell, but the authors experimental ObjC-based-but-many-times-cleaner-and-cooler language. Install tranquil, and then I recommend using the .app bundle I made on my fork (https://github.com/JasonJAyalaP/xnomad/raw/master/xnomad.app.zip https://github.com/JasonJAyalaP/xnomad/raw/master/xnomad.app...). I added a nice icon and made it much simpler to quit and launch it.
kps 13y ago
OS X has a fairly sophisticated keyboard layout handler (better than xkb IMO) that allows you to define arbitrary dead keys in addition to the usual accents. For instance, in my usual layout, I have ‘⌥G’ as a ‘dead Greek’ key, such that for example pressing ‘⌥G’ followed by ‘b’ yields ‘β’. Similarly I have dead-key layers for superscripts, subscripts, math, blackboard bold, Hebrew letters, keyboard symbols, and so on. Layers can also be chained, so, for instance, I have a fraction chain such that ‘⌥F 3 4’ yields ‘¾’. (An X-style Compose key could be done that way, though I haven't.) Ukelele¹, free software from SIL, provides a reasonably good GUI for defining and manipulating OS X keyboard layouts. ¹ http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele [Edit: fixed link]
- chjj 13y ago
  Not many people have heard of it for whatever reason, but what you're describing can be accomplished perfectly well on X11 systems using XCompose: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Accents_on_US_keyboards https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Accents_on_US_keyboards
rasur 13y ago
Whatever happened to that keyboard with LCD keys (I've completely forgotten it's name, otherwise I'd surely answer my own question). Did it ever become available or is it still vapourware? That seemed like a good idea at the time.. I mean, muscle memory is fine if all you do is programming (which I do a fair amount of), but sometimes one moves into different domains that have their own keyboard layouts, for which type of keyboard would be a boon. EDIT: Of course, actually googling beforehand would have brought up 'The Optimus'.. And of course the Optimus Maximus is "unavailable", though I fail to see why except that perhaps it was horribly expensive?
- GuiA 13y ago
  Jef Raskin, The Humane Interface, page 51: "BUTTONS THAT CHANGE IN THE NIGHT Some aircraft have pushbuttons that contain dot-matrix display used to change the legend that appears on the button. This change is done under the aircraft's computer's control so that the buttons can be relabeled on the fly. The advertising copy for one brand of these buttons made some human factors claims. or one thing, fewer buttons would be needed in the limited cockpit area. For another, avionics and other system changes could be effected without having to rewire the cockpit. From the perspective of cognitive science, good labels enhance visibility. Assuming that the person choosing the labels bothers to test the wording, to make sure that the chosen labels are effective and unconfusing, it is, on the face of it, a good idea. But more careful thinking reveals a number of potential pitfalls to the product: All legended buttons get obscured– by the very finger you are using–just as you are about to press them, obviating a last-second check that you are pressing the right button. But this is a minor problem, for normally you have looked at the legend before you press the button– if you have looked at all. (I am certainly not looking at the legends on the keycaps of my keyboard as I type this) Then there is the deeper problem of the disappearing button. You want to enable, say, the manual controls on the cabin air conditioner. There is, you recall, a button labeled MANUAL AIR, but it is nowhere to be found. The reason is that it now says COMM BACKUP. You have to figure out how to get that button to light up the way it did before. Perhaps a switch or a button somewhere else changes the legends on the buttons. Or perhaps the legends are context sensitive and won't allow you to change the air conditioning right now. Whatever the cause, when a button has variable legends, the button you want will perhaps have vanished because the system is in a different mode. But the gravest problem has to do with habituation. Imagine the experienced pilot reaching up and pressing a button. The radio's not working; something's wrong. A communications problem: Time to enable COMM BACKUP. She jabs out expertly at the COMM BACKUP button. Click! Too bad. The copilot was adjusting the cabin temperature in response to a passenger complaint, and the buttons are now in climate control mode. The pilot has just achieved complete manual control over the air conditioning system. Variable-legend buttons could be useful, for instance, if several people use the same console, each using it in such a way that the buttons do not change meaning for any one user. But this is a situation seldom encountered. Soft keys, whereby a display has changable legends that affect on-screen buttons or buttons adjacent to the display, have the same liability as do variable-legend buttons. A similar problem exists with the use of function buttons, labeled F1 through F11 on many computers. If their functions are unchanging, the labeling is mnemonic. If their functions change, you cannot use them automatically. In either case, they are a poor design."
autodidakto 13y ago
I've been thinking a lot lately about a completely pimped out keyboard interface... It starts with hardware (Type Matrix, Kinesis) and hardware accessories (petals, extenders). It continues with a keyboard layout you're happy with (Workman seems to be the most hardcore), either built into the keyboard hardware or selected via the OS. The keyboard layout in the OS can be modified as well. Then come deeper software hacks like PCKeyboardHack and KeyRemap. Then, softer stuff like keyboard shortcuts go in your favorite launcher/macro/shortcut app.
- krenoten 13y ago
  I'd never heard of workman, I think I'll be trying this out.
barbs 13y ago
I started reading this, saw "Super Duper mode" and F19, and the assignment of Control+Shift+Option+Command to some newly created "Hyper" key, and seriously thought it was a parody of those projects trying to improve and innovate on computer input methods (e.g. vim, colemak, various ergonomic keyboard designs). I then realised it wasn't a joke. Now I actually think this is pretty cool at what it does, but it did make me think about how much effort people seem to put into finding the perfect interface, and yet the QWERTY keyboard has (generally) been the unchanging standard for decades now...
pkamb 13y ago
I made an app that remaps your Mac's power key to forward delete: https://github.com/pkamb/PowerKey https://github.com/pkamb/PowerKey
omegote 13y ago
Yet another article who supposes everybody uses Mac. Up until you reach the 'dependencies' part you realize it's for OS X only.
rumbler 13y ago
What I want is a keyboard with two big keys below the space bar, each half the width of the space bar, that I could map to Escape (the left one) and 3rdLevelShift (the right one). With Ctrl left of A, and Backspace just above Enter (aka the Unix Layout), I would be able to type without having to resort to ridiculous contorsions. Loads of bonus points if the keyboard has the same kind of keyswitches as the IBM 5100 computer. If you are familiar with modern keyboard switches and folding knives, the IBM 5100 switches are to Cherry blues what a Chris Reeve Sebenza is to a Walmart-bought Buck knife.
- reeses 13y ago
  Do you really need that large a spacebar anyway? http://www.trulyergonomic.com http://www.trulyergonomic.com (I feel like a shill, but this is what I use when I'm not on the road, with the keys remapped like a crazy person.)

79 points by albertzeyer 13y ago

Looks like a neat project. I'd recommend simplifying the readme a bit though. I gave it a brief skim and I still have no idea what this is.

anigbrowl 13y ago
That should be a clue as to the actual utility of the system.

secure 13y ago

Related: http://www.neo-layout.org http://www.neo-layout.org — also has the arrow keys on one of the upper levels, plus tons of useful characters all over each of the levels :).

lunixbochs 13y ago

I prefer leaving shift out of the hyper modifier, so you also have shift+hyper as a valid modifier.

Someone 13y ago

Interesting that he talks about _what_ he wants to do (same commands, everywhere), then shows an app that controls _how_ to do things (use caps lock for escape and control). Isn't he consciously aware of what he wants, or isn't he getting there yet?

jaequery 13y ago

super duper mode, space for shift? i don't get it ... o_O

zackkitzmiller 13y ago

The best thing I ever did was remap Caps Lock to Esc at some point last year.

hudibras 13y ago
Agreed. This article (the inspiration for OP's github) is what triggered it for me. http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/ http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/
ne0phyte 13y ago
I have Ctrl on Caps on all my keyboards and my main keyboard, a Happy Hacking Keyboard[1], comes with the Unix layout* anyway. Why Esc? For Vim? *Control instead of Caps, Delete above Enter [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard
Jd 13y ago
Pro typers frequently remap Caps Lock to backspace. Backspace/delete is in an inane position on most keyboards.

krenoten 13y ago

I went through much of the same process in the past week, as I started at a new job where I was not easily able to use linux. I'm a HHKB pro 2 user also - although I actually have really grown to enjoy the placement of the arrow keys and not having to physically move my hand over to use a separate set of specialized keys. As a user of the colemak keyboard layout, I've grown accustomed to rarely needing to stray far from the home row, and this keyboard helps me take the same economy of motion to the next level. For software, I arrived at KeyRemap4MacBook at the recommendation of the colemak website, and between that and standard mountain lion system preference remaps of where command is mapped to etc... (caps lock -> control on the actual laptop keyboard is MANDATORY) I'm finally starting to enjoy using osx as a tool for interacting with text editors. But - I was fiercely at war with manual placement of windows and the horrendous methods I knew of for changing windows. I'm an xmonad user, and really just wanted something that would put windows exactly where I wanted them and to swap focus easily enough. I found slate, and although it may take a few minutes to write a conf that you're happy with I was able to replicate the major functionality that I wanted. Ahh... ok now I can finally get stuff done without constant vacations to the mouse, and I can start to notice some of OSX's visual niceties.

weaksauce 13y ago
Care to post your slate config?
- krenoten 13y ago
  Sure - it's not something I would call polished but it gets the job done for now - http://hastebin.com/hofejobumu.mel http://hastebin.com/hofejobumu.mel It only looks good for me when I'm plugged into a big thunderbolt display. The rightmost window intentionally goes off the screen boundary so that it can maintain its size and not cause any kinds of resizing artifacts when switching it in and out of the wider center pane. The way I'm arranging center panes and switching focus to them is definitely a hack, and doesn't work when there are other windows open on the screen.
autodidakto 13y ago
Check out xnomad. It seems to me the closest imitation to Xmonad, and doesn't need messing with a config to get working (that is, comes with good default keycommands and limited layouts). It's not in Haskell, but the authors experimental ObjC-based-but-many-times-cleaner-and-cooler language. Install tranquil, and then I recommend using the .app bundle I made on my fork (https://github.com/JasonJAyalaP/xnomad/raw/master/xnomad.app.zip https://github.com/JasonJAyalaP/xnomad/raw/master/xnomad.app...). I added a nice icon and made it much simpler to quit and launch it.

kps 13y ago

OS X has a fairly sophisticated keyboard layout handler (better than xkb IMO) that allows you to define arbitrary dead keys in addition to the usual accents. For instance, in my usual layout, I have ‘⌥G’ as a ‘dead Greek’ key, such that for example pressing ‘⌥G’ followed by ‘b’ yields ‘β’. Similarly I have dead-key layers for superscripts, subscripts, math, blackboard bold, Hebrew letters, keyboard symbols, and so on. Layers can also be chained, so, for instance, I have a fraction chain such that ‘⌥F 3 4’ yields ‘¾’. (An X-style Compose key could be done that way, though I haven't.) Ukelele¹, free software from SIL, provides a reasonably good GUI for defining and manipulating OS X keyboard layouts. ¹ http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele http://scripts.sil.org/ukelele [Edit: fixed link]

chjj 13y ago
Not many people have heard of it for whatever reason, but what you're describing can be accomplished perfectly well on X11 systems using XCompose: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Accents_on_US_keyboards https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Accents_on_US_keyboards

rasur 13y ago

Whatever happened to that keyboard with LCD keys (I've completely forgotten it's name, otherwise I'd surely answer my own question). Did it ever become available or is it still vapourware? That seemed like a good idea at the time.. I mean, muscle memory is fine if all you do is programming (which I do a fair amount of), but sometimes one moves into different domains that have their own keyboard layouts, for which type of keyboard would be a boon. EDIT: Of course, actually googling beforehand would have brought up 'The Optimus'.. And of course the Optimus Maximus is "unavailable", though I fail to see why except that perhaps it was horribly expensive?

GuiA 13y ago
Jef Raskin, The Humane Interface, page 51: "BUTTONS THAT CHANGE IN THE NIGHT Some aircraft have pushbuttons that contain dot-matrix display used to change the legend that appears on the button. This change is done under the aircraft's computer's control so that the buttons can be relabeled on the fly. The advertising copy for one brand of these buttons made some human factors claims. or one thing, fewer buttons would be needed in the limited cockpit area. For another, avionics and other system changes could be effected without having to rewire the cockpit. From the perspective of cognitive science, good labels enhance visibility. Assuming that the person choosing the labels bothers to test the wording, to make sure that the chosen labels are effective and unconfusing, it is, on the face of it, a good idea. But more careful thinking reveals a number of potential pitfalls to the product: All legended buttons get obscured– by the very finger you are using–just as you are about to press them, obviating a last-second check that you are pressing the right button. But this is a minor problem, for normally you have looked at the legend before you press the button– if you have looked at all. (I am certainly not looking at the legends on the keycaps of my keyboard as I type this) Then there is the deeper problem of the disappearing button. You want to enable, say, the manual controls on the cabin air conditioner. There is, you recall, a button labeled MANUAL AIR, but it is nowhere to be found. The reason is that it now says COMM BACKUP. You have to figure out how to get that button to light up the way it did before. Perhaps a switch or a button somewhere else changes the legends on the buttons. Or perhaps the legends are context sensitive and won't allow you to change the air conditioning right now. Whatever the cause, when a button has variable legends, the button you want will perhaps have vanished because the system is in a different mode. But the gravest problem has to do with habituation. Imagine the experienced pilot reaching up and pressing a button. The radio's not working; something's wrong. A communications problem: Time to enable COMM BACKUP. She jabs out expertly at the COMM BACKUP button. Click! Too bad. The copilot was adjusting the cabin temperature in response to a passenger complaint, and the buttons are now in climate control mode. The pilot has just achieved complete manual control over the air conditioning system. Variable-legend buttons could be useful, for instance, if several people use the same console, each using it in such a way that the buttons do not change meaning for any one user. But this is a situation seldom encountered. Soft keys, whereby a display has changable legends that affect on-screen buttons or buttons adjacent to the display, have the same liability as do variable-legend buttons. A similar problem exists with the use of function buttons, labeled F1 through F11 on many computers. If their functions are unchanging, the labeling is mnemonic. If their functions change, you cannot use them automatically. In either case, they are a poor design."

autodidakto 13y ago

I've been thinking a lot lately about a completely pimped out keyboard interface... It starts with hardware (Type Matrix, Kinesis) and hardware accessories (petals, extenders). It continues with a keyboard layout you're happy with (Workman seems to be the most hardcore), either built into the keyboard hardware or selected via the OS. The keyboard layout in the OS can be modified as well. Then come deeper software hacks like PCKeyboardHack and KeyRemap. Then, softer stuff like keyboard shortcuts go in your favorite launcher/macro/shortcut app.

krenoten 13y ago
I'd never heard of workman, I think I'll be trying this out.

barbs 13y ago

I started reading this, saw "Super Duper mode" and F19, and the assignment of Control+Shift+Option+Command to some newly created "Hyper" key, and seriously thought it was a parody of those projects trying to improve and innovate on computer input methods (e.g. vim, colemak, various ergonomic keyboard designs). I then realised it wasn't a joke. Now I actually think this is pretty cool at what it does, but it did make me think about how much effort people seem to put into finding the perfect interface, and yet the QWERTY keyboard has (generally) been the unchanging standard for decades now...

pkamb 13y ago

I made an app that remaps your Mac's power key to forward delete: https://github.com/pkamb/PowerKey https://github.com/pkamb/PowerKey

omegote 13y ago

Yet another article who supposes everybody uses Mac. Up until you reach the 'dependencies' part you realize it's for OS X only.

rumbler 13y ago

What I want is a keyboard with two big keys below the space bar, each half the width of the space bar, that I could map to Escape (the left one) and 3rdLevelShift (the right one). With Ctrl left of A, and Backspace just above Enter (aka the Unix Layout), I would be able to type without having to resort to ridiculous contorsions. Loads of bonus points if the keyboard has the same kind of keyswitches as the IBM 5100 computer. If you are familiar with modern keyboard switches and folding knives, the IBM 5100 switches are to Cherry blues what a Chris Reeve Sebenza is to a Walmart-bought Buck knife.

reeses 13y ago
Do you really need that large a spacebar anyway? http://www.trulyergonomic.com http://www.trulyergonomic.com (I feel like a shill, but this is what I use when I'm not on the road, with the keys remapped like a crazy person.)