I think the Alphapad idea would be quite nice if you could get programmable numpads. Then you could have one for each hand and use it as a matrix-like board in two halves. It would be quite portable too.
]]>And for what it's worth, I didn't immediately remember which part of this 4-page, fairly complex topic you referred to either. Cevgar's a fount of ideas, so there's plenty to take from where he's been. So I dare say steve's in good company here.
There, said it. ;-)
]]>Ah, then it seems I didn't understand what you were talking about.
Is this proposal to use a numpad as the right hand home position?
Alphapad is a numpad replacement for right hand. You can't have six columns. You didn't read. https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?pid=6168#p6168
]]>Hmm, interesting, having comma-semicolon and fullstop-colon keys does have a certain logic to it.
Not sure I'd be keen on the top-row enter position though. Anyway, I've become too accustomed to the DreymaR-style Extend-Space (which I find to be very nice) to consider changing enter now.For those who don't mind moving punctuation around, maybe this?
J L U Y ' H N E I O enter (invalid position) K M ,; .: shift
Where would you put <> though?
That is NOT valid numpad!
This is valid numpad (19-key USB):
(rotated clockwise)
@ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @
@@@ @ @ @
And 17-key:
@ @ @ @
@ @ @ @
@
@ @ @ @
@ @ @ @
@
@@@ @ @
Alphapad is made by remapping numpad keys to right side of alphanumeric.
And note that comma-semicolon and fullstop-colon keys are used in german and other layouts.
For those who don't mind moving punctuation around, maybe this?
J L U Y '
H N E I O enter
K M ,; .: shift
Where would you put <> though?
]]>J L U Y enter
H N E I O
K M ,; .: shift
space al '" ()
Only left backspace is used. Colons and brackets are added, <> removed.
]]>It doesn't matter much to me whether you select this layer by AltGr or another modifier; it's still a mapping layer. In Linux, it's my Extend+AltGr layer, but that should change to something more workable. So far I haven't really felt the need for this layer so it's not at the top of my TODO list.
I moved the nav block to the left hand for the NumPad layer, as navigation is still necessary for number entry and a left-hand nav block is almost as easy to use as the main one due to the intuitive layout of the nav keys and the workings of our wonderful brains. As it stands, I haven't got a coding layer as I didn't feel I could implement it in a simple enough way to make it worthwhile (and I'm not sacrificing my AltGr mappings – I need those and my dead keys need to be in better places than yours!).
That's a decent point about the '10'-bigrams. My little dilemma is that in Norway and some other countries we use a decimal comma instead of a decimal point – commas also crop up in other NumPad-related contexts of course – so I need both the comma and period in place. Therefore I'll accept that same-finger bigram. I don't feel that it'll hurt me much.
Indeed, thumb keys are useful! I'm still dedicated to implementations that'll work on my current and future laptops though. ;-)
]]>SteveP: If you haven't already, check out my proposed NumPad Extend layer, in my main Big Bag sig topic. I'm working on implementing it well (currently it's only done for XKB and lacks a dedicated modifier but I think I know how to make one).
That's why thumb keys are so useful! :)
I am going for the approach of a single AltGr layer. This is what I have so far in my AHK implementation:
http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/# … 33a70230f1
The right hand is numpad-like, the left hand for other symbols I don't want to reach for. I also figured that numbers like 10, 100, etc are quite common and so it would be nice to have 0 and 1 on different fingers, hence 0 on comma. The characters surrounded by pipes | | are dead keys for creating accented characters (which I don't really need but it's a nice feature to have).
]]>// KeyPad overlay with nav block to the left (lv7-8):
// +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
// |` €€€ |1 |2 |3 |4 £ |5 € |6 |7 |8 |9 |0 |- |= |
// | Del | ! | @ | # | $ | % | ^ | KP_7 | KP_8 | KP_9 | KP_* | KP_- | KP_= |
// +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
// |Tab |Q ### |W ### |F ### |P €€€ |G €€€ |J ### |L |U |Y |; |[ { |] } |
// | | Home | Up | End | Del | Esc | PgUp | KP_4 | KP_5 | KP_6 | KP_+ | ( | ) |
// +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
// |Caps+ |A ### |R ### |S ### |T €€€ |D |H ### |N |E |I |O |' " |\ | |
// | ++++ | Left | Down | Right| Back | K_Bgn| PgDn | KP_1 | KP_2 | KP_3 | K_Ent| ' | \ |
// +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
// |_ *** |Z €€€ |X === |C === |V === |B *** |K |M |, ; |. : |/ |Spc |Entr |
// | *MOn | Undo | Cut | Copy | Paste| *Bt1 | K_Lck| KP_0 | , | KP_. | KP_/ | Spc | K_Ent|
// +------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
When I get it to work, at least in PKL it'll probably be activated with Alt+Extend but holding Extend alone will maintain it – and there'll be a lock key combo too (for instance Shift+Alt+Extend to lock the Num layer on/off).
]]>Thanks for the link davkol!
]]>Ergo Pro has DIP switches for making slight modifications to the layout, such as Ctrl-CapsLock swap or remapping either spacebar to backspace.
]]>R.Alt as MonoShift will cause all kinds of problems. Mostly for applications that expect Mouse+Shift /Ctrl /Ctrl+Shift. Also seems to make shifting the unmodded 6789 positions very awkward, though that is a rather minor concern.
EDIT: Though, with the Extended layer, you'd still have access to shift on the left, wouldn't you? Hmm....
On the other hand, not all applications play nice with PKL, and the Extended layer can't be applied through the registry.
Still PKL can just be toggled on or off as needed.
Hmmmm...
]]>All other keyboards with a split spacebar use the same scancode for both halves.
From what I've read, the upcoming Mathias Ergo Pro can be set to send different scancodes (space or backspace) on each of the two space bars - which is why I am keeping my eye on it.
Though for what it is worth, on the ThumbsPlus - while Space on R.Alt is less comfortable - I put Shift on Space to reduce redundancy. The space key is easily accessible to either hand, so we can cut out the L.Shift as well as the R.Shift...
Even with using RAlt as a single Shift key, surely it's still easy to type uppercase letters with either hand? I think Shift on AltGr means no other Shift is needed, so that both the original shift keys could still be reused for something else... perhaps (ironically) making them become AltGr would be interesting!?
]]>