Colemak forum

ghen · 24-May-2008 01:41:32

Hi,

last week I committed support for my (new) favourite keyboard layout to my (long-time) favourite OS: NetBSD. :-)

Since the wscons mapfile from the Colemak website doesn't work for USB keyboards (this is a general problem with mapfiles), I implemented the Colemak layout in the kernel (where Dvorak and others also live). It's implemented (like Dvorak) as a "variant" to the US layout. To enable it:

Code:

wsconsctl -w encoding=us.colemak

To switch back to US Qwerty:

Code:

wsconsctl -w encoding=us

This now works for PC (PS/2) keyboards, USB keyboards and I think also Bluetooth keyboards. To do: add support for other keyboard drivers on other architectures, eg. Sun keyboards on SPARC.

I've also included the xkbmap file in NetBSD's X11 server. So "setxkbmap colemak", or setting Option "XkbLayout" "colemak" in XF86Config will now work out of the box.

All this will be in the upcoming NetBSD 5.0 release (expected Q4 2008). Update: it will be in NetBSD 4.1 as well (whichever comes first).

Last edited by ghen (08-Jun-2008 15:31:17)

Korivak · 24-May-2008 08:36:18

Very nice. First Linux and now NetBSD. Now we just need Mac OS X.

... and maybe that other one, too... but I'm not holding my breath on that.

ghen · 25-May-2008 10:55:16

I forgot to mention: to enable it permanently, set "encoding us.colemak" in /etc/wscons.conf.

Last edited by ghen (25-May-2008 11:17:38)

DreymaR · 25-May-2008 12:32:05

This is simply awesome!

ghen · 27-May-2008 08:56:25

More good news: Colemak support has now been included in FreeBSD, too (I asked a friend with FreeBSD commit access to add the keymap file from http://colemak.com/Unix).

I'll try to get it imported in OpenBSD (similar to NetBSD) and DragonFly (similar to FreeBSD) as well.

dewarrn1 · 09-Jun-2008 00:30:32

Hey, that's really cool! I'm a FreeBSDer, so I'm delighted that your buddy was able to commit the change. Any idea if he got it into the 7-STABLE branch, 8-CURRENT, or both? Many thanks!

ghen · 10-Jun-2008 12:55:06

Both, and apparently even 6-STABLE, too. :-)

See http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/s … 15.acc.kbd

dewarrn1 · 14-Jun-2008 00:53:17

Nicely done! I feel a buildworld coming on...

ghen · 21-May-2009 07:12:25

In NetBSD, you can get Colemak support as far as to the bootloader!
Just add the following to your installboot(8) command line:

Code:

-o keymap="FTGDSRP:OYJNKEFLIULftgdsrp;oyjnkefliul"

The bootloader maps each character to the next one, and this way you can type in Colemak even before your kernel is loaded. :-)

ghen · 27-Jun-2009 02:24:06

Another OS down: DragonFlyBSD now also includes the Colemak keyboard layout (based on the FreeBSD implementation from the Colemak website), it will be in the 2.4 release.

For OpenBSD, a patch has been submitted (based on my earlier NetBSD kernel implementation of Colemak), but no response so far.

On the Linux front, kbd, providing the keytable files and related utilities for the Linux console, will include Colemak in their 1.15.1 release (the implementation taken from the Colemak website). Linux distributions should then pick it up from there.

I think I should setup a new thread with a matrix of OS'es supporting Colemak. :-)

Colemak forum

#1 24-May-2008 01:41:32

Colemak now included with NetBSD

Code:

Code:

#2 24-May-2008 08:36:18

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

#3 25-May-2008 10:55:16

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

#4 25-May-2008 12:32:05

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

#5 27-May-2008 08:56:25

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

#6 09-Jun-2008 00:30:32

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

#7 10-Jun-2008 12:55:06

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

#8 14-Jun-2008 00:53:17

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

#9 21-May-2009 07:12:25

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

Code:

#10 27-Jun-2009 02:24:06

Re: Colemak now included with NetBSD

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