DreymaR's Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks

For Linux using XKB

• Improved "Colemak[eD]" AltGr mappings (lv3-4), placing dead keys on AltGr+symbol keys
• Powerful Extend layers using Caps Lock as a lv5 modifier for navigation/editing from the home position and more!
• Comfy 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
  • The Colemak-DH layout on normal row-staggered keyboards, is a combination of the Curl-DH and Angle mods
• The Sym ergo mod to improve access to often-used symbol keys
• 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 with practically no re-learning (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.

Some info

• First, run the install script. This copies my modified files into the system X11 directory. Original files are backed up by default.
• You can now probably use the system's layout settings to choose a setup.
• For info on what your choices are, consult the Big Bag pages.
• 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 US default layout back, you can use setkb 4n for ANSI keyboards; 5n for ISO. What you want depends on your locale.
  • Generally, use setkb 4n/5n [loc [var]] to get back your locale layout/model. The [var] is for variant; omit it for the default/basic one.
• Due to complaints from new users that Extend on F# keys interferes with Ctrl+Alt+F# TTY shortcuts, FKey Extend is now disabled by default.
  • You can enable FKey Extend by activating the include "extend(lv5_fk)" bit (delete the trailing slashes) in the symbols/extend file.
  • 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.
• To just get Extend with the currently active layout, use setxkbmap -v 9 -option "" -option "misc:extend,lv5:caps_switch_lock,compose:menu".
  • The first -option "" clears any existing option settings, while the one with non-empty arguments add to existing options.
• The 'Keep Symbols' layouts are intended for those who aren't ready to give up their symbol mappings. Not the best option, but "training wheels".
  • The Unified 'us' variants are usually much better. The 'ks' ones will miss out on some symbols and many dead keys.
• 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
  • On Windows, you can use any decent zip manager such as PeaZip.
• To change your logon keyboard layout, use the dpkg-reconfigure command:
  • sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
  • NOTE: Be sure you know how to type your password afterwards!

localectl

• You can use the localectl set-x11-keymap command to make changes persistent; you may have to run it with sudo privileges
• Syntax: [sudo] localectl [--no-convert] set-x11-keymap layout [model [variant [options]]]
• Example: sudo localectl set-x11-keymap us pc105awide cmk_ed_us "lv5:caps_switch_lock,misc:extend"
• For layout and [variant], you can use for instance "us,us" and "cmk_ed_us," to switch between Cmk-eD and the default us layout
• Unfortunately, you can't switch between multiple models nor options this way – so your QWERTY may have the Angle (and Curl!) mods...
• Add --no-convert to not convert between closest matching console and X11 keyboard mappings; this precludes applying as system console mapping
• Note that XKB options may be overridden by the settings tools used with desktop environments like GNOME and KDE
• More info on setting keyboard layouts is found in the Arch Manual and Wiki, at:
  • https://man.archlinux.org/man/localectl.1
  • https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg/Keyboard_configuration#Using_localectl
  • https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Linux_console/Keyboard_configuration#Persistent_configuration
• Thanks to: Daniele, i-c-u-p, Flomza and others at the Cmk Discord for helping find this out

Wayland & Friends

Wayland has a somewhat different tack: It uses xkb-data files, but not an X server. So the setkb script won't work there, but the BigBag as such will.

It depends on which Wayland Compositor you're using. Sorry, but I don't know them all. See its docs for more info?

For the popular Sway compositor, add a piece like this example to your ~/.config/sway/config file:

input * {
  xkb_model     pc105awide
  xkb_layout    us
  xkb_variant   cmk_ed_us
  xkb_options   lv5:caps_switch_lock,misc:extend,compose:menu
}

And here's one for Hyprland's ~/.config/hypr/hyprland file:

input {
    kb_rules=evdev
    kb_model=pc105awide
    kb_layout=us
    kb_variant=cmk_ed_dh
    kb_options=misc:extend,lv5:caps_switch_lock,compose:menu
    repeat_rate=40
    repeat_delay=200
}

The repeat settings are of course optional. Some like a higher repeat rate and a lower delay, and this is how to get that.

Here's a KDE Settings ~/.config/kxkbrc file. It can be set via the Settings GUI, or edited directly:

[$Version]
update_info=kxkb_variants.upd:split-variants,kxkb.upd:remove-empty-lists,kxkb.upd:add-back-resetoptions

[Layout]
DisplayNames=,
LayoutList=us,us
LayoutLoopCount=-1
Model=pc104awide
Options=grp:alt_shift_toggle,grp:win_space_toggle,caps:backspace,lv3:ralt_switch_multikey,compose:menu
ResetOldOptions=true
ShowFlag=false
ShowLabel=true
ShowLayoutIndicator=true
ShowSingle=true
Use=true
VariantList=cmk_ed_dh,

This one uses Caps as a Backspace. See the example above to upgrade it to an Extend key.

In NixOS without Wayland/Sway, services.xserver should work:

services.xserver = {
  layout = "us";
  xkbVariant = "cmk_ed_dh";
  xkbModel   = "pc105awide";
  xkbOptions = "misc:extend,lv5:caps_switch_lock,compose:menu";
};

To get the xserver layout in your console as well, use console.useXkbConfig in your configuration.nix file.

I guess the solution will be quite similar for other compositors, but I don't know more at the moment.

Links

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

TODO/DONE for this repo are found in the xmod folder README.

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

Or, have a look in the X.Org Wiki. https://www.x.org/wiki/XKB/

Arch has good documentation on all things XKB. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/X_keyboard_extension https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg/Keyboard_configuration

Ivan Pascal is a grandmaster of XKB; to learn it better you should definitely consult his site. Though maybe a bit less complete for us who can't read Russian, it's well worth it. http://pascal.tsu.ru/en/xkb http://pascal.tsu.ru/en/xkb/gram-symbols.html

Happy XKB hacking!
   DreymaR