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DreymaR's Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks


For Linux using XKB

  • New "Colemak[eD]" AltGr mappings (lv3-4), placing dead keys on AltGr+symbol keys
  • An Extend layer using Caps Lock as a lv5 modifier for navigation/editing from the home position and more!
  • Angle/Wide ergo modifications to improve wrist angles(!), hand spacing and right pinky movement+load
  • The Curl-DH ergo mod to allow a more natural finger curvature and avoid lateral stretches
  • Note: The Sym ergo mod to improve access to often-used symbol keys is planned to be implemented soon
  • For several locales, a 'Unified Symbols' layout with only a few necessary changes from the standard Colemak[eD]
  • Also, a layout to 'Keep Local Symbols' like their default (QWERTY-type) counterparts for that locale
  • Intuitive phonetic layouts for Cyrillic, Greek and Hebrew scripts
  • Mirrored Colemak that allows one-handed typing (if I ever break an arm...)
  • The 4 Tarmak transitional Colemak layouts for learning Colemak(-DH) in smaller steps if so desired

The main Big Bag pages are found at https://dreymar.colemak.org/. To see XKB info boxes there, select the Tux platform icon.

These xkeyboard-config files are updated to XKB-data v2.23.1-1ubuntu1, 2018. They work fine with many other versions though.

Some info

First, run the install script. This copies my modified files into the system X11 directory. The old one are backed up by default.

You can now probably use the system's layout settings to choose a setup. For info on what the choices are, consult the Big Bag.

However, some layout settings won't let you set the model component that I use for some ergo mods.

The setkb script activates a Big Bag layout setup (model, layout and option components) using a setxkbmap command.

The setkb script can write its command to a file that gets sourced at startup, like ~/.bashrc; check your distro for which file(s) to use.

Run the install and setkb scripts with -h (or look inside them) for more help and info about their workings!

Learn about setkb.sh "model locale variant" shortstring syntax in the BigBag. The default is "5caw us us": PC105(ISO) board with Curl(DH)AngleWide mods, US locale, Cmk-eD UniversalSymbols variant. To switch to, say, an ANSI board without ergo mods, that's 4n instead of 5caw. Look in the scripts.

NOTE: It may be necessary to select "Use system defaults" if you have changed anything in the OS GUI layout settings.

Tips

  • Before trying out the BigBag, you may want to find out what your current XKB settings are. One way of seeing what you use is setxkbmap -v 9.
    • To get the standard default layout back, you can use setkb 4n for ANSI keyboards (5n for ISO). This depends on your locale though.
  • The 'Keep Symbols' layouts are intended for those who don't want to give up their symbol mappings. The 'Unified' variants are usually much better, and 'ks' may be missing symbols.
  • If you use Extend and want the Ctrl+Alt+F# TTY shortcuts back, disable F#-key Extend mappings in the symbols/extend file.
    • This is achieved easily by commenting out the include "extend(lv5_fk)" bit (with two trailing slashes).
    • If you had already installed the BigBag you must either edit the file in its target X11 directory, or edit and then reinstall the files.
    • In theory, we could make such shortcuts part of Extend so you can have both them and the Multimedia key shortcuts. I'll think about it.
  • The xkb-data package is very consistent between distros. I've use Debian xkb-data, sometimes with some Ubuntu updates.
  • Any .deb package may be opened using dpkg -x or ar -xv (from binutils) on Linux, and any decent zip manager such as PeaZip on Windows.

Links

See DREYMAR'S BigBag XKB topic on the Colemak Forums. There are plenty of explanations and further links in there.

One good source of info on the xkb-data package is the xkeyboard-config repository itself, and its docs folder. The repo is found both on GitHub and GitLab.

Happy XKB hacking! DreymaR, 2023-01

TODO:

  • Add colemak-dh to the colemak symbols file and the US locale? Both ISO, ANSI and Ortho.

  • Not all distros source ~/.bashrc by default. Seems that ~/.xinitrc is mostly used by xinit and not generally sourced?

    • But ~/.Xresources seems like a good option (and is sourced by xinitrc too)?
    • Its format is different though. And it doesn't list keyboard layout as one of its intended purposes.

  • Add some easy way of returning to the old xkbmap setup? But how? Can't unset settings, so we'd have to store it somehow? Or just let them go to us/us?

    • Make a restore to default layout shortcut instead? It's only an alias for setkb 4n/5n. Maybe resetkb 4/5?

  • Transition many ###.xml changes to ###.extras.xml? Other Colemak locale variants reside there. But it's a mess: Many (such as Norwegian) are in the main file!

  • Ensure a consistent Space key implementation for _ks layouts. Many layouts are sloppy about that. Maybe make a common include w/ Space+Enter?

  • Rename setkb --> setkb? It's easier to type! Would have to update all docs including the Forum topic.

  • To get Extend with the currently active layout, use setxkbmap -v 9 -option "" -option "misc:extend,lv5:caps_switch_lock,compose:menu".

  • Add lv5:lalt_switch_lock for LALT-Extend.

  • Add compose:102? Inconsistent between ISO and ANSI, just add a pro-tip.

  • The Curl(DH) model implementation has to go as it may mess w/ QWERTY. Instead, I should use two Extend variants.

    • It also seems very hard for some newcomers to understand. So yes, I should have the Angle mod only and not CurlAngle models.
    • Also, matrix users want the V-D swap without an Angle mod! Another nail in the coffin for the Curl models.
    • Actually, should I make a NoModel CurlAngle layout for the model impaired? Vanilla, Curl(DH) and Curl(DH)Angle then. ... No?
    • First, just make Curl with D-V swap built in. Let the Extend Paste function be where it falls for now.
    • Separate Angle mods for Curl and non-Curl?

  • Check out the compose:102 option. This would be similar to what I've used in EPKL for Windows! It's also present in some other layouts.

  • Problems with Super+ shortcuts: https://github.com/DreymaR/BigBagKbdTrixXKB/issues/23#issuecomment-1027839924

  • A purge option in addition to restore for the install script? So backup dirs etc are removed and the xkb dir restored to original state.

  • Update xkb-data and then start testing on a Wayland system!

    • Use the GitLab/GitHub repo as that's the freshest there is.

  • A clarification by Peter Hutterer on the mystic .part files in the rules component:

    • https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xkeyboard-config/xkeyboard-config/-/issues/327#note_1436334
    • The parts are numbered to get their sequence in the resulting files right. Only when there are differences, they start with base/evdev.
    • There are RMLVO (user interface) and KcCSGST (actual XKB) letter codes. The naming of those .part files is 1234-rmlvo-kccgst.part...
    • but with only the relevant bits. So, e.g., 0009-m_g.part is the model to group mapping of the final rules file. ml_s.part is model + layout to symbols.
    • It seems that you can make layout commits by editing only the rules/base.xml (and symbols) file(s) though?

  • Echo the setxkbmap command when using setkb.sh, for ease of troubleshooting! Also make the script able to output the command for piping?

  • Add a model-less Colemak-CAWS for people who want to switch to QWERTY? Or instructions on how to setkb it? That's better, I think.

  • Problem: Using Google Spreadsheets, hitting Caps Lock (which is mapped to ISO_Level5_Shift) clears the current spreadsheet cell.

  • Is there a way to clear the LevelFive mod on all the Extend mappings by default? Or must I be more careful with each RedirectKey()?

    • Example: Q -> Esc -> Caps caused people trouble, as Ext+Q would act as Esc+Caps.
    • Possibly, finally make a new key type EIGHT_LEVEL_EXTEND with the action clearmods=LevelFive added to state 5-8? No, no actions.
    • In xkb/types/level5 under EIGHT_LEVEL_SEMIALPHABETIC I used preserve[Shift] = Shift;. We need the opposite here, to discard lvl5.
    • See for instance https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.5/doc/input/XKB-Enhancing.html
    • "Usually, all modifiers introduced in 'modifiers=' list are used for shift level calculation and then discarded."
    • Does this mean that LevelFive should've been discarded but isn't? Is it an XKB bug?

  • From Daniele at the Cmk Discord: Try out localectl?

  • Update to the latest xkb-data: https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/20.04/ubuntu-main-amd64/xkb-data_2.29-2_all.deb.html

  • Find out how to change the rules component properly to allow compiling and eventually merging to the main repo?

  • Migrate from ~/.bashrc to ~/.xprofile? The latter is more appropriate, but which setups source it and which ones don't?

    • Include both? Or, people can just enter the file names.

  • Could use an key code alias defined in keycodes/evdev (alias = ), instead of the code?

  • Test this method for using a local dir, by Bjørnar "zkf" Hansen:

    • Copy the xkb-data_mod/xkb dir to, say, /usr/local/bigbag/xkb if desired.
    • Set setenv MYXKB <dir> or export MYKXB=<dir> as appropriate (not necessary for this, just practical here).
    • setxkbmap -rules evdev -option '' <parameters> -print | xkbcomp -I -I$MYXKB -I/usr/share/X11/xkb - $DISPLAY
    • See https://github.com/DreymaR/BigBagKbdTrixXKB/issues/14
    • More useful info in this comment: https://github.com/DreymaR/BigBagKbdTrixXKB/issues/14#issuecomment-767590722
    • "-I/usr/local/share/X11/xkb can be written more succinctly as -I. if you first cd into this directory."
    • Another reason to first cd into the local xkb dir is that the rules dir is expected to be in the pwd.

  • An earlier comment on the local dir subject, by neeasade@github in issue 1:

  • For an EsAlt variant as in EPKL:

    key <AE04> { [             4,        dollar,       dead_currency,            EuroSign ] }; // 4
    key <AD07> { [             l,             L,               U2039,       guillemotleft ] }; // QWE U Cmk L
    key <AD08> { [             u,             U,                   ú,                   Ú ] }; // QWE I Cmk U - EsAlt
    key <AC01> { [             a,             A,                   á,                   Á ] }; // QWE A Cmk A - EsAlt
    key <AC06> { [             h,             H,           leftarrow,          rightarrow ] }; // QWE H Cmk H
//    key <AC07> { [             n,             N,                   ñ,                   Ñ ] }; // QWE J Cmk N - EsAlt ANSI
    key <AC08> { [             e,             E,                   é,                   É ] }; // QWE K Cmk E - EsAlt
    key <AC09> { [             i,             I,                   í,                   Í ] }; // QWE L Cmk I - EsAlt
    key <AC10> { [             o,             O,                   ó,                   Ó ] }; // QWE ; Cmk O - EsAlt
    key <LSGT> { [             ñ,             Ñ,                  oe,                  OE ] }; // <>          - EsAlt ISO
//    key <AB06> { [             k,             K,              endash,             uparrow ] }; // QWE N Cmk K - ANSI
    key <AD11> { [   bracketleft,     braceleft,           masculine,         ordfeminine ] }; // [{
  • To change the logon keyboard layout:
    • sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

DONE:

  • 2020-11-05: Switched to the new DH = DHm standard (was DH = DHk)
  • Changed the default layout for the setkb.sh script to US (UniSym): In my experience, most users that struggle with the setup want US English.
  • To get back to your old layout/model, use setkb 4n/5n [loc]. You may also specify mod loc [var]; omit var for the default (basic) variant.
  • Separated out the F# key block in the extend file: People complain that their TTY shortcuts aren't working because of it. Ext+AltGr+F# works though.
  • Relieve the sudo requirement. And add an option to change the X11 dir since Nix uses another place. Pulled from fufexan@github.