Hi all. I have Colemak set as my Windows keyboard layout (found it more reliable than PKL). Sometimes my colleague would like to help me at my computer, but he can't type Colemak. Is there anyway I can use PKL to map Colemak to Qwerty? I'd keep it disabled normally, but turn it on when my colleague sits at the keyboard.
https://i.imgur.com/XzX5in6.png
Yes. You can't use the VirtualKey layouts because they just plop the scan code over to the Windows layout which in your case is Colemak. But you *can* use a QWERTY-mapped layout. There aren't any such available, so you'll have to edit a layout.ini file.
That way you'll map lv3-4 (AltGr) too, should you be interested.
Example (using my Colemak[eD] layout.ini file):
SC010 = Q 5 q Q -- ‚ „ ; QWERTY qQ
SC011 = W 5 w W -- ‘ “ ; QWERTY wW
SC012 = E 5 e E -- ↓ ↑ ; QWERTY eE
SC013 = R 1 r R -- ® ™ ; QWERTY rR
SC014 = T 5 t T -- þ Þ ; QWERTY tT
SC015 = Y 5 y Y -- › » ; QWERTY yY
SC016 = U 5 u U -- ‹ « ; QWERTY uU
SC017 = I 5 i I -- — → ; QWERTY iI
SC018 = O 5 o O -- º ª ; QWERTY oO
SC019 = P 5 p P -- π ¶ ; QWERTY pP
SC01a = OEM_4 4 [ { *{Esc} å Å ; QWERTY [{
SC01b = OEM_6 4 ] } -- α δ ; QWERTY ]}
SC01e = A 5 a A -- æ Æ ; QWERTY aA
SC01f = S 1 s S -- ß § ; QWERTY sS
SC020 = D 5 d D -- ð Ð ; QWERTY dD
SC021 = F 5 f F -- ’ ” ; QWERTY fF
SC022 = G 1 g G -- ŋ Ŋ ; QWERTY gG
SC023 = H 1 h H -- ε ə ; QWERTY hH
SC024 = J 5 j J -- ʃ Ʃ ; QWERTY jJ
SC025 = K 1 k K -- ç Ç ; QWERTY kK
SC026 = L 5 l L -- ł Ł ; QWERTY lL
SC027 = OEM_1 0 ; : -- dk1 … ; QWERTY ;: - dk_umlaut
SC028 = OEM_7 0 ' " -- dk2 ′ ; QWERTY '"" - dk_acute
SC02b = OEM_5 4 \ | -- dk4 ¦ ; QWERTY \| - dk_grave
SC056 = OEM_102 1 œ Œ -- ø Ø ; QWERTY OEM_102
SC02c = Z 5 z Z -- ʒ Ʒ ; QWERTY zZ
SC02d = X 5 x X -- † ‡ ; QWERTY xX
SC02e = C 5 c C -- © ¢ ; QWERTY cC
SC02f = V 5 v V -- γ ÷ ; QWERTY vV
SC030 = B 1 b B -- β • ; QWERTY bB
SC031 = N 5 n N -- – ← ; QWERTY nN
SC032 = M 1 m M -- µ × ; QWERTY mMActually, that should be all you need - make a copy of a colemak layout and name it qwerty or whatever you want to, then replace the layout.ini code from Q to M inclusive with the above. Edit pkl.ini to activate this layout and hey presto. :)
If you've got anything special you'd like on the number row or elsewhere you'd of course have to make sure that gets fixed as well.
To get back and forth you can use the suspend hotkey. You could autostart PKL with the 'start suspended' option on (see pkl.ini).
I haven't supported QWERTY so far since I saw no real point to it. You've convinced me to add a QWERTY layout to my PKL portfolio. ;)
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Thanks DreymaR, that worked great! (After restoring spaces to tabs in the .ini sample)
How can I start PKL suspended? I couldn't find that option
In the [pkl] section of pkl.ini you'll find this bit:
; If it is yes/true/1, pkl will start up suspended.
; (Yes, I know the helper image is appearing and hiding.)
; I think it's better to start PKL when you need it instead.
startsInSuspendMode = noEdit that entry to a 'yes', obviously. :)
Above that are some timeout options that will auto-suspend PKL after a given time of user inactivity, should you be interested. I use the suspendHotkey instead, set to Ctrl+Shift+`.
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Strange. That option wasn't in my pkl.ini . Added it, but had no effect. Are we using the same version? I'm using Portable_Colemak_v0.3.zip from Sourceforge.
I'm actually using the v0.4 beta pkl.exe (also found on Sourceforge), but I thought that option was in v0.3 nevertheless?
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That worked thanks Dreymar
Problem: punctuation isn't quite right, perhaps because I have UK keyboard and Colemak UK layout. Is there an easy way to run a given layout in reverse?
;
; Keyboard Layout definition for
; Portable Keyboard Layout
; http://pkl.sourceforge.net
;
[informations]
layoutname = ColemakUk
layoutcode = ColemakUk
localeid = 00000809
[global]
shiftstates = 0:1:2:6:7
[fingers]
row1 = 1123445567888
row2 = 1123445567888
row3 = 1123445567888
row4 = 11234455678
[layout]
;scan = VK CapStat 0Norm 1Sh 2Ctrl 6AGr 7AGrSh Caps CapsSh
SC002 = 1 0 1 ! -- ¡ ¹ ; QWERTY 1!
SC003 = 2 0 2 " -- º ² ; QWERTY 2@
SC004 = 3 0 3 £ -- ª ³ ; QWERTY 3#
SC005 = 4 0 4 $ -- ¢ £ ; QWERTY 4$
SC006 = 5 0 5 % -- € ¥ ; QWERTY 5%
SC007 = 6 4 6 ^ -- ħ Ħ ; QWERTY 6^
SC008 = 7 4 7 & -- ð Ð ; QWERTY 7&
SC009 = 8 4 8 * -- þ Þ ; QWERTY 8*
SC00a = 9 0 9 ( -- ‘ “ ; QWERTY 9(
SC00b = 0 0 0 ) -- ’ ” ; QWERTY 0)
SC00c = OEM_MINUS 0 - _ -- – — ; QWERTY -_
SC00d = OEM_PLUS 0 = + -- × ÷ ; QWERTY =+
SC010 = Q 5 q Q -- ä Ä ; QWERTY qQ
SC011 = W 5 w W -- å Å ; QWERTY wW
SC012 = F 5 f F -- ã Ã ; QWERTY eE
SC013 = P 5 p P -- ø Ø ; QWERTY rR
SC014 = G 1 g G -- dk1 ~ ; QWERTY tT
SC015 = J 5 j J -- đ Đ ; QWERTY yY
SC016 = L 5 l L -- ł Ł ; QWERTY uU
SC017 = U 5 u U -- ú Ú ; QWERTY iI
SC018 = Y 5 y Y -- ü Ü ; QWERTY oO
SC019 = OEM_1 4 ; : -- ö Ö ; QWERTY pP
SC01a = OEM_4 0 [ { -- « ‹ ; QWERTY [{
SC01b = OEM_6 0 ] } -- » › ; QWERTY ]}
SC01e = A 5 a A -- á Á ; QWERTY aA
SC01f = R 1 r R -- dk2 ~ ; QWERTY sS
SC020 = S 5 s S -- ß ~ ; QWERTY dD
SC021 = T 5 t T -- dk3 dk4 ; QWERTY fF
SC022 = D 1 d D -- dk5 ~ ; QWERTY gG
SC023 = H 1 h H -- dk6 ~ ; QWERTY hH
SC024 = N 5 n N -- ñ Ñ ; QWERTY jJ
SC025 = E 5 e E -- é É ; QWERTY kK
SC026 = I 5 i I -- í Í ; QWERTY lL
SC027 = O 5 o O -- ó Ó ; QWERTY ;:
SC028 = OEM_7 4 ' @ -- õ Õ ; QWERTY '"
SC029 = OEM_3 0 ` ¬ -- dk7 ~ ; QWERTY `~
SC02b = OEM_5 0 # ~ -- dk8 ~ ; QWERTY \|
SC02c = Z 5 z Z -- æ Æ ; QWERTY zZ
SC02d = X 1 x X -- dk9 ~ ; QWERTY xX
SC02e = C 5 c C -- ç Ç ; QWERTY cC
SC02f = V 5 v V -- œ Œ ; QWERTY vV
SC030 = B 1 b B -- dk10 ~ ; QWERTY bB
SC031 = K 1 k K -- dk11 ~ ; QWERTY nN
SC032 = M 5 m M -- dk12 ~ ; QWERTY mM
SC033 = OEM_COMMA 4 , < -- dk13 ~ ; QWERTY ,<
SC034 = OEM_PERIOD 4 . > -- dk14 ~ ; QWERTY .>
SC035 = OEM_2 0 / ? -- ¿ ~ ; QWERTY /?
SC039 = SPACE 0 ={space} ={space} -- ={space} ; QWERTY Space
SC056 = OEM_102 0 \ | -- – — ; QWERTY OEM_102
SC053 = DECIMAL 0 . . -- -- -- ; QWERTY Decimal in NumpadHmmm... now I've stated up there that you couldn't use a "virtualkey" layout but it seems that's exactly what you need now? A layout that lets you hit, say, Colemak T and it produces the corresponding QWERTY key event (F).
In my PKL files (from my sig topic) there's a layout called 'vk_qwerty-No_ISO'. The 'No' part means I've tested it on a Norwegian board (as you can see in the comment strings), but it should work just fine for a UK board. Let me know if it fits your bill.
You can combine virtualkey and fully defined mappings should you wish to. Then you could have extra symbols on some keys but the default system mappings on other keys (like the number row).
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Hi Dreymar. Thanks for all your help. I've everything almost perfect. One problem. With my Colemak to Qwerty script running, the semi-colon key still types o (as in Colemak). Any ideas?
https://gist.github.com/matt-hickford/6778777
Edit: sorry I couldn't download your no_iso layout because Dropbox is blocked at my work https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=1467 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/145 … reymaR.zip
Hmmm. For one thing, your ISO_1 key shouldn't be a CapsStat 5 but 0 key (i.e., it's like the number/symbols keys not the letter keys) – but that shouldn't be enough to throw the layout and just means that your Caps states will be wonky. It's 1 to make the key affected by Caps state, 5 if the AltGr mapping is affected too. Amusingly enough, going through my own PKL layout files I just found a slew of Caps errors. I don't use the Caps state much...
Possibly you may have to use another ISO_# for that key. On my keyboard there's OEM_1 (;:), 2 (/?), 3 (`~), 4 ([{), 5 (\|), 6 (]}) and 7 ('") but yours may be different. You could check out which keys do what. Bit of a long shot though.
Try this:
SC027 = OEM_1 VirtualKey ; QWERTY semicolon(I actually had OEM_3 there – QWERTY-NO 'Ø'. You might try that too then since the Norwegian Ø is on the semicolon key.)
You'd lose the óÓ since that's not defined in the base system layout, but that may be acceptable and at any rate help you determine the problem better. I use dead keys for accents since I need many of them and like this solution – keep in mind that if your system layout has dead keys then pkl.ini needs to be told which ones they are.
Tip for your Github script: You should state "If your Windows system keyboard layout is anything other than QWERTY UK" instead of "If your Windows keyboard layout is Colemak UK"! The script is just as useful for a Dvorak or what-have-you user. You might add that the AltGr mappings are your own though (or even mention Colemak-eD).
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