5 ms·

Perhaps a naive question here, but I'm interested in emacs now, and I need to ask: does your left pinky finger get used to all the CTRL and ALT key combos, or d

Perhaps a naive question here, but I'm interested in emacs now, and I need to ask: does your left pinky finger get used to all the CTRL and ALT key combos, or do you change the key bindings, or are there special keyboards meant for emacs use, or what? Two minutes into the tutorial I was already thinking about whether there should be some sort of hack to use CAPSLOCK instead of CTRL...

jtan189 12y ago
I use xmodmap on Linux to remap caps lock to ctrl: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey
jaequery 12y ago
honestly i have no idea why people complains about the ctrl and i actually love how accessible ctrl is. i use ctrl all the time, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-a, ctrl-e etc ... ie; ctrl-xs ctrl-xc just rolls off my finger like nothing. i think capslock thing was just a thing of the past when capslock was where ctrl was/is now.
- jaequery 12y ago
  only thing i had to do was for macs, i had to switch option key to my command key. there was no way i was able to use option key for the emacs meta key.
a_e_k 12y ago
I tend to lean on the control key with the corner of my palm rather than pressing it with a finger tip. (Though I don't use a normal home-row style of touch typing, either, so YMMV.)
tokenrove 12y ago
I always rebind capslock to control. That's essential. The other thing is adjusting the bindings to your taste; for example, I change a number of standard bindings to better suite a dvorak layout.
mechanical_fish 12y ago
You should absolutely rebind Caps Lock to Ctrl. I guess it's time once again to mention the Kinesis Advantage keyboard on HN. You can rebind every key. You can rebind control and meta to keys that are under your thumbs, and put one copy under each thumb so you don't have to use the same thumb all the time. And everyone who walks by your desk will have an excuse to start a conversation about your incredibly strange keyboard.
- joeclark77 12y ago
  Looks interesting, but at $269 I don't think I'll be able to try one out. Maybe after I make that first million. Glad to hear my instinct about capslock isn't crazy.
  - mechanical_fish 12y ago
    If you think that's bad, don't get me started on chairs and desks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=105026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=105026 (Incidentally, since writing that N years ago a physical therapist talked me out of the Aeron, which has poor upper back support. I've got a Steelcase Leap now.) If you ever find yourself getting a job as a programmer, convince them to buy you a fancy keyboard and a proper chair and some Ergotron products. These things all last at least half a decade, so it's not as if you're spending that money every month. Or buy them yourself... But if your company can't be convinced to budget $750 per year to keep you healthy and happy as you sit at your desk all day pounding out code for them at ludicrous speed, I've got bad news about your company.

jtan189 12y ago

I use xmodmap on Linux to remap caps lock to ctrl: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey

jaequery 12y ago

honestly i have no idea why people complains about the ctrl and i actually love how accessible ctrl is. i use ctrl all the time, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-a, ctrl-e etc ... ie; ctrl-xs ctrl-xc just rolls off my finger like nothing. i think capslock thing was just a thing of the past when capslock was where ctrl was/is now.

jaequery 12y ago
only thing i had to do was for macs, i had to switch option key to my command key. there was no way i was able to use option key for the emacs meta key.

a_e_k 12y ago

I tend to lean on the control key with the corner of my palm rather than pressing it with a finger tip. (Though I don't use a normal home-row style of touch typing, either, so YMMV.)

tokenrove 12y ago

I always rebind capslock to control. That's essential. The other thing is adjusting the bindings to your taste; for example, I change a number of standard bindings to better suite a dvorak layout.

mechanical_fish 12y ago

You should absolutely rebind Caps Lock to Ctrl. I guess it's time once again to mention the Kinesis Advantage keyboard on HN. You can rebind every key. You can rebind control and meta to keys that are under your thumbs, and put one copy under each thumb so you don't have to use the same thumb all the time. And everyone who walks by your desk will have an excuse to start a conversation about your incredibly strange keyboard.

joeclark77 12y ago
Looks interesting, but at $269 I don't think I'll be able to try one out. Maybe after I make that first million. Glad to hear my instinct about capslock isn't crazy.
- mechanical_fish 12y ago
  If you think that's bad, don't get me started on chairs and desks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=105026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=105026 (Incidentally, since writing that N years ago a physical therapist talked me out of the Aeron, which has poor upper back support. I've got a Steelcase Leap now.) If you ever find yourself getting a job as a programmer, convince them to buy you a fancy keyboard and a proper chair and some Ergotron products. These things all last at least half a decade, so it's not as if you're spending that money every month. Or buy them yourself... But if your company can't be convinced to budget $750 per year to keep you healthy and happy as you sit at your desk all day pounding out code for them at ludicrous speed, I've got bad news about your company.