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algernon's layout

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.

Table of Contents

Layouts

Base layer

Base layer

At its core, this is a Dvorak layout, with some minor changes. The more interesting parts are how certain keys behave:

  • The keys on the number row double as function keys, when held for a bit longer than an usual tap. This allows me to use the function keys without having to switch layers.
  • The 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.
  • The 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.
  • The 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.
  • The Media and Hun layer keys are one-shot, the STENO key is a toggle.
  • When holding the Tab/Arrow key, the arrow layer activates while the key is held. Tapping the key produces the normal, Tab key. Double-tapping it toggles the Arrow layer on until a third tap.
  • Tapping the : key once yields :, tapping it twice yields ;.
  • Tapping the [{(/)}] keys once yields [ (or { when shifted), tapping them twice yields (.
  • The Lead key allows me to type in a sequence of keys, and trigger some actions:
    • 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.
    • LEAD u enters the Unicode symbol input mode.

ADORE layer

ADORE layer

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.

Hungarian layer

Hungarian layer

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.

Navigation and media layer

Navigation and media layer

This layer is primarily for navigating with the cursor or the mouse, and some media things.

Steno layer

Steno layer for Plover

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.

LED states

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:

  • When the ADORE layer is toggled on, LEDs will light up from left to right in a sequence, then turn off. When the layer is toggled off, the LEDs light up and turn off in the other direction. No LEDs are on while the layer is active.
  • When the Hungarian layer is active, the green and blue LEDs are on.
  • When the Navigation and media layer is active, the red and green ones are on.
  • When the ARROW layer is active, the red and blue ones are on.
  • For the Steno layer, all LEDs will be turned on.

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.

Special features

Unicode Symbol Input

Once in the Unicode Symbol Input mode, one is able to type in symbol names, press Enter or Space, and get the Unicode symbol itself back. When in the mode, a capital U is printed first. Once the sequence is finished, all of it is erased by sending enough Backspace taps, and the firmware starts the OS-specific unicode input sequence. Then, it looks up the symbol name, and enters the associated code. If it is not found, it will just replay the pressed keycodes.

The currently supported symbols are:

  • snowman: ☃
  • kiss: 😙
  • rofl: 🤣
  • poop: 💩

This is an experimental feature, and may or may not work reliably.

Tools

Heatmap

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, either pipe the output of hid_listen into it, or pipe it an already saved log, and it will save the results into files in an output directory (given on the command-line). See the output of tools/log-to-heatmap.py --help for more information.

The generated heatmap looks somewhat like this:

Heatmap

Building

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/keymaps/algernon-master
$ make keyboard=ergodox 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 keymap=algernon

Using on Windows

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.

Changelog

v1.6

UNRELEASED

Base layer changes

  • The parentheses & bracket keys have been merged: tapping them results in [ or { (if it was shifted), double tapping leads to (.
  • The :; and -_ keys are now available on the base layer, on their ADORE location, too, just below [{(/]}).
  • The Apps key has been replaced by F12.
  • The -/_ is no longer a tap-dance key.

ADORE layer changes

  • Adjustments were made to the ADORE layer, to separate some inconvenient combinations.

Miscellaneous changes

  • LEAD u now starts the symbolic unicode input system, instead of the OS-one.
  • The mouse acceleration keys on the Navigation and Media layer have been turned into toggles: tap them once to turn them on, until tapped again. Tapping an accelerator button will turn all the others off.
  • When the ARROW layer is on, the red and blue LEDs light up now.

Heatmap

  • The built-in keylogger has been greatly enhanced, it now outputs the pressed state, and the layer (Dvorak or ADORE). As such, the ADORE_AUTOLOG option has been removed, instead there is AUTOLOG_ENABLE now, which when enabled, makes the keylogger start when the keyboard boots. It defaults to off.
  • The heatmap generator received a lot of updates.

v1.5

2016-08-12

  • The 1HAND layer has been removed.
  • A Delete key is now available on the right thumb cluster.
  • The ADORE layer received a major update, see the layout image above.
  • It is now possible to enable automatic logging for the ADORE layer, by setting the ADORE_AUTOLOG makefile variable to yes when compiling the keymap. It is off by default.
  • The ~ key and the Media Next/Prev key have been swapped on the base layer.
  • On the ARROW layer, Backspace has been replaced by Enter.
  • There is some experimental support for entering Unicode symbols.

v1.4

2016-07-29

  • When toggling the key logging on or off, the LEDs will do a little dance.
  • The keylogger is now optional, but enabled by default. Use KEYLOGGER_ENABLE=no on the make command line to disable it.
  • The 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.
  • The -/_ key was turned into a tap-dance key too.
  • There is now a way to travel time with the keyboard, toggle the feature on by hitting LEAD t.

v1.3

2016-07-06

  • Added support for logging keys, by pressing LEAD d. Also included is a tool to generate a heatmap out of the logs.
  • The arrow and navigation keys were rearranged again, and now require an additional key being held to activate. See the base layer for an image that shows where arrows are.
  • The experimental layer has been redone, and is now called ADORE, and as such, can be enabled by LEAD a now.
  • Switching between Dvorak and ADORE is now persisted into EEPROM, and survives a reboot.

v1.2

2016-06-22

  • The forced NKRO mode can be easily toggled off at compile-time, to make the firmware compatible with certain operating systems.
  • The :; key has changed behaviour: to access the ; symbol, the key needs to be double-tapped, instead of shifted.
  • The = and \ keys were swapped, = moved to the home row, on both the base and the experimental layers.
  • The arrow and navigation keys were redone, they are now more accessible, but the navigation keys require an extra tap to access.
  • The Emacs layer is gone, replaced by a simplified navigation and media layer.
  • LEAD v types the firmware version, and the keymap version.
  • On the experimental layer, the L and Q, and the K and G keys were swapped.
  • The Steno layer gained a few more # and * keys, to make it easier on my fingers.

v1.1

2016-06-14

  • The keyboard starts in NKRO mode, bootmagic and other things are disabled.
  • A Steno layer was added, to be used with Plover.
  • An experimental layer was added, something halfway between Dvorak and Capewell-Dvorak. A work in progress.
  • LEAD y types \o/.
  • Some keys on the Base layer have been moved around:
    • ? 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.

v1.0

2016-05-26

Initial version.

License

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.