Ok @DreymaR, the script ran. Ugh, not sure the mention worked... there is no info how to mention people on the site.

I was abloe to use xce4-keyboard-settings program to select two preffered colemak[eD] layouts, but they have not been applied? I still have the qwerty layout.

From what I understand, `setkb.sh` does just this but via command-line. Acorrding to my `setxkbmap` settings the changes through GUI were applied:

debian%  setxkbmap -v 9
Setting verbose level to 9
locale is C
Trying to load rules file ./rules/evdev...
Trying to load rules file /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev...
Success.
Applied rules from evdev:
rules:      evdev
model:      pc105
layout:     pl,pl,gb
variant:    cmk_ed_us,,cmk_ed_us
Trying to build keymap using the following components:
keycodes:   evdev+aliases(qwerty)
types:      complete
compat:     complete
symbols:    pc+pl(cmk_ed_us)+pl:2+gb(cmk_ed_us):3+inet(evdev)
geometry:   pc(pc105)

So what's next? Should this be working now? Why doesn't it?

GUI settings picture: https://www.idrive.com/idrive/sh/sh?k=c2p9p2m0k7

Haha, sorry. I shared the wrong link: https://www.idrive.com/idrive/sh/sh?k=y1t2c7h3k3.

To be clear, we're on the OS level on Debian 12.

I sat down to it again, and it appears that through xfce4 GUI only setting back the layout to one of the default ones works, but setting it to one of the layout installed by your script did not. It worked through setxkbmap command, but the keys were not properly mapped. The [ apperead where letters should be, the letters were off by 1-2 to the right and even some weird Swedish "ae" symbol was somewhere where "vzkh" sit on Colemak-DH.

I had no luck and found it very hard to figure anything out given the current documentation... all I wanted is to set up vanilla Colemak-DH to not get RSI because of QWERTY when forced to use the laptop's keyboard. I kinda have hopes there might be something simple you can point out to fix it, so here's the output.

debian% ./setkb.sh   

@@@ DreymaR's setxkbmap script (by OeBeAa, 2023-06) @@@
¤ No ShortStr; using model/layout: pc105awide / us(cmk_ed_us)

¤ Changing dir to '/usr/share/X11/xkb'
¤ Looking for and removing any old .xkm server files
[sudo] password for kamil: 
¤ Running setxkbmap command using the system XKB dir:

> setxkbmap -model pc105awide -layout us(cmk_ed_us) -option misc:extend,lv5:caps_switch_lock,grp:shifts_toggle,compose:menu -v 9

Setting verbose level to 9
locale is C
Warning! Multiple definitions of keyboard model
         Using command line, ignoring X server
Warning! Multiple definitions of keyboard layout
         Using command line, ignoring X server
Trying to load rules file ./rules/evdev...
Success.
Applied rules from evdev:
rules:      evdev
model:      pc105awide
layout:     us(cmk_ed_us)
options:    misc:extend,lv5:caps_switch_lock,grp:shifts_toggle,compose:menu
Trying to build keymap using the following components:
keycodes:   evdev(pc105awide)+aliases(qwerty)
types:      complete
compat:     complete
symbols:    pc+us(cmk_ed_us)+inet(evdev)+group(shifts_toggle)+compose(menu)+level5(caps_switch_lock)+extend(basic)
geometry:   pc(pc105awide)

¤ Changing dir to '/home/kamil/BigBagKbdTrixXKB'

@@@ setkb.sh finished! @@@

Well, that's not right at all. You can't mix a shortstring at the end with normal options earlier. It's either or.

This should be enough:

./setkb.sh "5caw pl us"

Also, this is a BASH script. Its shebang says so. I hope you didn't actually try to run it with CSH? Would it just ignore the shebang?

The xfce4 GUI only lists the layouts from xkeyboard-config's base.xml, but you can add arbitrary layouts and variants directly in .config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/keyboard-layout.xml under your home dir (path may differ in your distro).

It would seem to me that you're describing the Wide mod without knowing what that is? Please consult the BigBag Ergo page to understand.

You included '5caw' in your shortstring, so I showed you how to get that. Cmk-CAW = Cmk-CurlAngleWide, which is Colemak-DH for row-stagger (CurlAngle) with a Wide mod. I use Cmk-CAWS, which also includes the Symbol key ergonomic mod.

If you didn't want the Wide mod, use '5ca' instead of '5caw'. In this case, you'll get the pc105angle keyboard model instead of the pc105awide model.

I'm glad it worked out in the end! And as long as the users are polite and motivated, giving free support isn't so bad. I do want my creations to work and be understandable.

Which brings us to the next point: Anything you'd like to see done to the docs, based on your experience? It's often good to have some fresh eyes, since as a creator you tend to take things for granted and develop blind spots for confusing passages.

Preferably as specific as possible.

I would be open to some specific suggestions, but as you note: striking a balance between audiences with varying degrees of experience is hard.

As for the issue of specifics vs messy pull requests, we could do it in chats instead if you want. I'm DreymaR on Discord, for instance on the Colemak Discord. That'll give us the chance to introduce thoughts and talk them over before implementation.

On the BigBag pages I've worked on splitting things up, and hiding more specific stuff in boxes for the ones who want to open boxes. That seems to be working fairly well, but nothing's perfect.

Whether your suggestions/edits will sit well with me, remains to be seen I guess? But it sounds interesting to give it a try, when we have the time!