1 cbbrowne custom keyboard
2 ==============================
4 Due to cbbrowne@acm.org
7 This was originally based on the default keyboard map, but I have been
8 doing sundry experimentation:
11 ----------------------------------------
13 * It made sense to mess around some with keyboard maps.
14 - I added a keypad, originally based on keymaps/numpad.c, but
15 mighty substantially revised, as that one seems to be rotated 90
16 degrees from usual conventions for number pads
17 * The keypad layer also includes some sample "hacks" of cool things,
18 all using actions attached in using the function action_get_macro()
19 - Key [1][2] aka "q" types out my name, cbbrowne, as a fun example
20 of a key generating a bunch of keystrokes. The keystroke is
21 sufficiently inconvenient that it isn't terribly practical for me
22 to use it, but hey, it shows how others might use this facility
23 in a more useful context.
24 - Key [2][2] aka "a" uses a random number generator to select a digit 0-9 at random
25 - Key [3][2] aka "z" uses a random number generator to select a letter a-z at random
26 - Key [1][3] aka "e" spits out the keymap version number
27 * Trying out sgoodwin's "hold Enter down to get Shift"
28 - Liking this Quite Well Enough...
29 - Applied this to both Shift and Quote
30 * I have added an alternate ADJUST layer that is activated via update_tri_layer()
31 - e.g. - LOWER+RAISE simultaneously
32 - This seems entirely more useful for handling my "special keys"
33 like the random numbers, user name, and such, than the keypad layer
35 2. Some code structure ideas
36 ---------------------------------------------------
38 Each layer is given a name to aid in readability, which is then
39 used in the keymap matrix below. The underscores do not denote
40 anything - you can have a layer called STUFF or any other name.
42 Layer names don't all need to be of the same length, obviously, and
43 you could also skip them entirely and just use numbers, though that
44 means needing to manage the numbers.
46 It is preferable to keep the symbols short so that a line worth of
47 key mappings fits compactly onto a line of code. It might be an
48 interesting idea to express the maps rotated 90%, so that you
49 only need to fit 4 symbols onto each line, rather than 12.
51 I used enums to manage layer IDs and macro IDs so that I don't need
52 to care (beyond "start at 0", and arguably that's not needed) about
55 3. Things I did not like about the default mapping
56 ---------------------------------------------------------
58 * I found control too hard to get to. I use it more than Tab, so
60 * Having dash on [lower-j] is a bit nonintuitive, but may be OK
61 * I switched ESC/TAB/M(0) around
62 * I'm suspicious that I want to shift M(0) from [4][1] to [4][2],
63 and shift ESC off the first column so KC_LCTL and KC_LALT can
64 be on the first column.
65 * I needed to swap ' and ENTER
67 4. Unuseful experiments
68 ---------------------------------------------------------
70 I have tried some things out that didn't turn out particularly well.
71 I'll note some of these for posterity, hopefully helpful in not doing
72 unwise things again...
74 * I tried added Workman alongside Dvorak and Colemak
75 - Boy, oh boy, these don't help!!!
76 - I have done 30 years of learning of Emacs key mappings, and
77 these alternative keyboards massively mess me up
79 * Space Cadet Shift; switching L_SHIFT to KC_LSP0, so that when I
80 just hit SHIFT, I get a left parens. In principle, this is great
82 - Unfortunately, there are times when mouse interfaces use SHIFT
83 to allow selecting multiple items, and this really interferes
89 ---------------------------------------------------------
91 * I use tmux quite a lot; the mollat keymap seems to have some
92 interesting helpers. It might be interesting to add a "tmux
93 layer," or to have a few keys in a layer oriented towards that
94 * The mollat tmux layer also suggests some thoughts about Emacs
96 * I do not presently have anything that handles X11 screen
97 switching, as with Control-Alt-various
98 * I ought to probably look into KC_LEAD, to have some key combos
99 that do not need to be concurrent
100 * The jeebak keymap seems to have some neat ideas:
101 - Number layer which is aggressive about having numbers in several places
102 - Touch layer seems interesting