This is an unconventional layout for the ErgoDox EZ. For more details about the history of the layout, see my blog posts about my ErgoDox journey.
Some of the things in the layout only work when one uses Spacemacs and GNOME under Linux. Your mileage may vary.
At its core, this is a Dvorak layout, with some minor changes. The more interesting parts are how certain keys behave:
Shift
, Alt
, and Control
modifiers are one-shot. When tapped, they are considered active for the next key press only. When double tapped, they toggle on, until a third, single tap sometime later. When held, they act as expected. My usual pattern is that I use these for the next keypress only, so this behaviour is perfect. If I need them held, I'll just double-tap.GUI
key is special, because when I double-tap it, it sends GUI + w
, which pops up an application selector. It also switches to a one-shot layer, where the number row on the left half turns into app selector macros, for the most common things I usually want to switch to. Otherwise it behaves as on a normal layout.ESC
key also doubles as a one-shot cancel key: if tapped while any of the one-shot modifiers are in-flight (as in, single-tapped, and not expired yet), it cancels all one-shot modifiers. It also cancels the Hun layer, if active. Otherwise it sends the usual keycode.:
key once yields :
, tapping it twice yields ;
.LEAD u
enters unicode input mode, by sending the GTK+ key sequence that does this.LEAD l
uses the unicode input method to enter a λ
.LEAD s
does a lot of magic to type in a shruggie: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
LEAD y
types \o/
.LEAD w m
maximises the currently focused window.LEAD a
makes the ADORE layer the default.LEAD v
prints the firmware version, the keyboard and the keymap.LEAD d
toggles logging keypress positions to the HID console.LEAD t
toggles time travel. Figuring out the current date
is left as an exercise to the reader.While using the standard Dvorak layout, I encountered a number of inconveniences, and on this layer, I am playing with ideas to make the layout feel better. Initially, it was based on Capewell-Dvorak, but that too, had shortcomings I was not happy with. So now this is something inbetween, with own observations thrown in. How it works out in the long run remains to be seen.
Based on a week and a half of typing, the keys were rearranged, and the home row neatly spelled out ADORE, that gave the layout its name.
On this layer, the accented characters are at the same position as their base variant. For some, which can have other diatribes, the long one is on top, short's on bottom. Tapping any of the accented characters takes us back to the base layer.
This layer is primarily for navigating with the cursor or the mouse, and some media things.
The one-handed layer is used in situations where the right hand is occupied, by mousing around, for example. Tapping the OTHER
key switches which side is active. For the most part, keys remain in their usual position. When the right half is active, keys are mirrored to the left half.
The differences are as follows:
ESC
key has been moved to the bottom row, so the OTHER
key is easier to tap.Space
/Backspace
key sends Space
on tap, Backspace
when held for longer than a normal tap.Enter
/Shift
key sends Enter
on short-tap, Shift
on long-tap.Apps
/BASE
key can be used to go back to the base layer, by long-tapping it. A short-tap will send the App
key, as usual.This is to be used with Plover, nothing really fancy here. The STENO key toggles the layer on and off, and sends the toggle command to Plover too.
The primary purpose of the LEDs is to show the modifier status, a secondary, to show which layer is active. Each modifier, Shift
, Alt
and Control
each have their designated LEDs: the red, green and blue, respectively. When a modifier is in a one-shot state, the respective LED will turn on with a dimmer light. If the modifier is toggled on, the brightness of the LED turns full.
For the layers, the following rules apply:
Unless noted otherwise, the layers use a dim light for the LEDs, while modifiers use a stronger one, and modifiers override any layer preferences. For example, when on the one-handed layer, with the left side active (red light blinking), if Shift
is on, the red light will be constantly on.
When the keypress logging functionality is enabled (by LEAD d
), the keyboard will output a line every time a key is pressed, containing the position of the key in the matrix. This allows one to collect this information, and build analytics over it, such as a heat map, including dead keys too.
Included with the firmware is a small tool that can parse these logs, and create a heatmap that one can import into KLE. To use it, simply point tools/log-to-heatmap.py
to a base layout file (one is included in the tools/
directory), and the key position log. The latter one can create by running hid-listen
, and redirecting its output to a file.
The generated heatmap looks somewhat like this:
To make my workflow easier, this layout is maintained in its own repository. To build it, you will need the QMK firmware checked out, and this repo either checked out to something like keyboards/ergodox_ez/algernon-master
. One way to achieve that is this:
$ git clone https://github.com/jackhumbert/qmk_firmware.git
$ cd qmk_firmware
$ git clone https://github.com/algernon/ergodox-layout.git \
keyboards/ergodox_ez/keymaps/algernon-master
$ make KEYBOARD=ergodox_ez KEYMAP=algernon-master
From time to time, updates may be submitted back to the QMK repository. If you are reading it there, you can build the firmware like any other firmware included with it (assuming you are in the root directory of the firmware):
$ make KEYBOARD=ergodox_ez KEYMAP=algernon
The keymap default to forcing NKRO, which seems to upset Windows, and except the modifiers, none of them work. If you experience this problem, recompile the firmware with FORCE_NKRO=no
added to the make
command line.
KEYLOGGER_ENABLE=no
on the make
command line to disable it.TAB
/ARRW
key was turned into a tap-dance key, allowing one to toggle the ARROW layer on by double-tapping, and as such, avoid the need to hold the key.-
/_
key was turned into a tap-dance key too.LEAD t
.LEAD d
. Also included is a tool to generate a heatmap out of the logs.LEAD a
now.:;
key has changed behaviour: to access the ;
symbol, the key needs to be double-tapped, instead of shifted.=
and \
keys were swapped, =
moved to the home row, on both the base and the experimental layers.LEAD v
types the firmware version, and the keymap version.L
and Q
, and the K
and G
keys were swapped.#
and *
keys, to make it easier on my fingers.LEAD y
types \o/
.?
moved to the left pinky, left of Q
.=
shifted one row down, but F11
stayed where it was.-
on the left half was replaced by Tab
.Tab
's original position is taken by a Media Next
/Media Prev
key.:
now inputs ;
when shifted.ESC
cancels the Hungarian layer too, not just modifiers.Initial version.
The layout, being a derivative of the original TMK firmware which is under the GPL-2+, this layout is under the GPL as well, but GPL-3+, rather than the older version.