I sincerely apologize if my post has created such an impression! I really tried to achieve an entirely different impression here.

I had a lot to say/ask and it wasn't possible to do justice to all the great stuff Extend does (and you personally did). I tried to say how great you/Extend is, but I can understand if you felt like the post was too negative. It's hard to see sincere praise when 95% of the amount of the text is questions/bugs/misunderstanding/suggestions.

So, disregarding the technical issues I would be happy to get resolved, here is the general sense I tried to convey (and failed):
- Extend is amazing!
- Your active and consistent work over so many years is beyond great!
- I will be using Extend even if all the issues I currently have are going to remain unsolved.
- I will be recommending Extend to everyone who uses keyboard even semi-actively.

All the super/hyperlatives are used in a proper way (for something truly outstanding), not in the American way (when 95% of everything is awesome).

The reason why I spent so much time writing the text and described different stages (instead of simply writing about my remaining issues), was not for the abundance of time and not enough interesting things to do. It wasn't to vent and test Extend in action on a big text. It wasn't to annoy or troll you. No, my attempt was to provide you with a "user story" ("playtest feedback" in game development). I think that they are critically important for the success of the product (and I think it is useful to treat Extend as a product). In my life I have personally noticed two major problems with making a certain product/service for a long time:
1. Over the years my view on a subject is dimmed ("professional deformation"). I am became an expert, but I lost touch with how things look from newbies' point of view. Users' first-time experience described in a story form help to mitigate the "expert bias". Doesn't mean that newbie's POV is correct. It's his point of view and if looked at objectively, a lot can be learned from it.
2. People have issues, but they never tell about them. They either solve them themselves (so a bunch of people are forced to fix the same stuff as countless people before them; but the issue is never totally solved on the strategic level) or they fail and leave (still not saying anything). User stories are an excellent resource of such overlooked problems, I find. Even if 90% of said thing is garbage, the rest can provide a very useful information that can be used to improve the product.

If your attitude would have been "I did this for myself, take it or leave it - I don't care" - I wouldn't have spent so much time writing my posts. But it's clear that you still care about this marvelous product of yours! And if you care - even after all those years - then I care as well to spend more time trying to help your efforts (I know how impossibly hard it is to get a proper user story and how valuable they can be)! Whether or not my attempt was successful or caused more harm - that's for you/history to decide. But please do know that my intentions were pure!

I hope that this clears things up a bit!

I haven't read all the posts from the Main Linux (this one) and Extend threads. Maybe 50%.
I have read your main posts from those threads multiple times over.

If you say that some of the issues I encountered were solved in those threads, I can go and read them in their entirety.

Thank you for explaining. I understand the size thing now.

My perspective came from the "print it on A4 and put it on the wall in front of you" scenario - in which there is enough room for additional markings.

I am not saying that you should do what I suggested. Or that I would do it and you would have to replace the current version. I simply asked if there is a bigger resolution version somewhere, which could be used for the experiment, which - if even successful - could be put as an additional picture in the Docs directory, not replace the current one.

Enter symbol is a common one. And it's totally understandable once you know it's there. But I personally didn't (a small symbol on such a big key; kinda looks like the typical symbol for Space) until it was pointed out separately. Maybe I am the only one with such an alternative viewing pattern. Or maybe I am simply the first one to bother to write about this kind of embarrassing (for me!) peculiarity...

CapsLock is not exactly the same thing as Shift. The symbol is also not exactly the same - it is turned 180 degrees. When I first saw it, I thought that there is simply a bug in a picture (I planned to actually report it). Another theory was that the graphics was correct and it was "a button that can be pressed". The third theory was "maybe it's a button that somehow re-disables the function of the Shift key - hence the opposite direction from the Shift symbol". I didn't seem to need any of those strange functions, so I concentrated on discovering other buttons and functionality.

I don't assume that I deserve any help or that you need to spend a single second answering me. The work you did so far is more than enough for me to feel gratefulness towards you for the rest of the eternity!

But I will be humbly waiting for any help you may decide to provide! :)

And to conclude. Thank you for all the amazing work you did! My appreciation goes way beyond my English skills!

Your proposal looks extremely sensible to me.

I use LeftAlt as my Extend key, and IMO it is the best possible key for an Extend layer. The key benefits of using LeftAlt over CapsLock, are that it makes it easier to access all the left-hand side Extend mappings, and using your thumb is more comfortable than using your pinky. YMMV.

However it might depend somewhat on your keyboard, as some keyboards have larger spacebars than others, which force the Alt keys too far to the sides. My main keyboard is a Matias Ergo Pro which has the benefit of a split space bar, plus very good Alt Key positions. There are other keyboards, such as the UHK where thumb key Extend would work well too. But even on my laptop, where LeftAlt is directly below Qwerty X, LeftAlt is still comfortable enough.

There are a couple of different ways to implement it. My approach is to redefine the scan code definitions in xkb/keycodes/evdev for the appropriate keys, <LALT>, <CAPS>, etc, to get the mappings you prefer.

I would think you should be able to map the CapsLock key to Super, and LeftAlt to CapsLock by editing the keycodes. Then, rely on DreymaR's files which by default apply Extend to the key that maps to <CAPS> which in your case (and mine) would really be LeftAlt. 

I don't use xcape but would assume you could still use it to produce Esc on a short tap on the Super key, which in your case would really be CapsLock.

Updated help images

mixer and others: Okay, I've finally gotten around to posting updated images with
• Text labels to hopefully explain the symbolic images better
• A high-res (DIY) version found in the Extend topic (in a Spoiler box) for printing
• A more universally understood CapsLock icon

This, then, is what a text labeled help image like the ones in the Extend topic looks like:

Hope that helps someone. Mixer, thanks for the constructive criticism and sorry if I came across as crass. I was stressed and tired. It happens.

I think you were wondering why such arcane functions as PauseBreak and PrintScreen are on such big keys as Back and Enter? Well, in the Extend perspective these are actually among the least attractive ones despite their size. Extend is all about bringing important keys near your home position.

If some keys don't do anything in Linux despite producing the key code they are supposed to, it's because the Linux distro doesn't map those keys to any actions. You can use hotkey settings or tools to make those key codes do pretty much whatever you like, including their original intended functionality. This is described in the topic post's Extend section.

Yes, you can use Extend with normal Colemak. With an ANSI/104 (the number of keys on a 100% ANSI) board you can use this for the setxkb.sh script:

setxkb.sh 4n us us

Use an -a switch to write the resulting setxkbmap command into your ~/.bashrc file.

Nice! Not as good as mine you say, but I don't see anything important missing there? As long as everything chords nicely.

That image probably belongs more in the Extend or TMK topics than here in the XKB topic though. ;-)

Also one unfortunate thing; I'm currently in the process of learning the Colemak-CAW (ANSI) layout and I've run into two issues:

1. After running

bash ./install-dreymar-xmod.sh -ox 4cw us

(I'm on linux) and restarting wide mode … disappears

2. After running

bash ./install-dreymar-xmod.sh -ox 4cw us

(and not restarting) my function keys (F1–12) don't work

Other than that it's been great — I definitely feel more comfortable, if a little slower, and the extend mode is marvellous!
I may only be typing at ~15 wpm now but it's going up! (this is the first message I've written in not-querty).

I would recommend AGAINST using CapsLock as dual-role key in this way. For one, the consequence would be that backspace event could only trigger once you take your finger off the key, rather than when you press it down. The delay would be quite annoying I'm sure, as well as the lack of repeat by holding the key down.

Extend is way more useful than backspace. Extend-O (in DreymaR's case) or Extend-H (in my case) are very quick and easy, despite being two keys. But if you really want a dedicated backspace key, a couple of other options could be:
1. Use TAB key as backspace. Then to type TAB, use an Extend combo.
2. Use LeftAlt for Extend, and CapsLock as backspace. (I use LeftAlt for Extend, it's very nice!)

Hmm, maybe having the 200ms timer is the key to making it work then, as when I've tried to do similar stuff like this before (without a timer), it was awful. I'm not sure how you'd implement it linux though, as I would want a cross-platform solution.

Hi @DreymaR and first of all thank you for those great utils!

I've installed the extended layer on top of my `fr bepo` kbmap.  I'm in the process of tweaking that lv5  & I'm facing some issues.  The part I want to modify is the left half plus the bottom line. So on a qwerty keyboard it would be:

QWERTY
ASDFG
?ZXCVBNM,./

The ? is for the addional touch that is not on US keyboard but that is on mine.

Now the issue I'm facing is that setting lv5/6 using `xmodmap -e "keycode = ...."` doesn't works for some touch, namely:

Q.ER.
.....
.ZXCV......

It stays bound to ESCAPE, left/right navigation and ^C/V/Z/X. The others bind just fine.

Another issue is that some of the keys get "blocked" if typed in quick sequence. In fact, I found out that for some weird reason it would trigger a CTRL+key − I have no idea why. My extend touch is AltGr, I used "lv5:altr_switch_lock".

Could you please bring me some insight about those issues?
Thanks.

Thank for the warm welcome :)

I've tried to "disable AltGr" but I could not find how to do that. Changing its binding in xmodmap led my nowhere. What am I supposed to do to achieve that? I also had the plan to edit the extend file itself, but actually I'm having a hard time finding it ^^```. Which is its path?

The fr bepo layout is part of most GNU/Linux distribution (`setxkbmap fr bepo`), the layout file should be named `fr-dvorak-bepo.xkb`.

French Bépo is not in that file you said when it's selected with `setxkbmap fr bepo`; then it's in the xkb/symbols/fr file. In there under the `bepo` layout you have indeed a line like this:

    include "level3(ralt_switch)"

This sets RAlt as an AltGr modifier which could cause you trouble. Bépo is by nature a 4-level layout that uses RAlt as AltGr to produce weird and wonderful characters like þðæ߆®© etc, like my Colemak[eD] mappings do.

But if your RAlt is indeed only set to ISO_Level5_Shift which is what I use for the Extend key, then I don't know. But again, some people have had trouble combining XModMap with XKB and it could be an example of that. Other than that, I have few ideas at this point.

Actually, if you're quite sure you won't be using the lvl3-4 AltGr mappings from Bépo you could always use lvl3-4 for Extend instead. To do that, you could take away the level5_switch completely and remove two levels from each key in the symbols/extend file (make a backup first) then use RAlt as a level3 switch like Bépo intended except now your level3-4 mappings will be Extend instead. That would work. You wouldn't have the NumPad Extend levels but they're clunky in XKB anyway. Not sure you understand what I mean here; it's a bit techy...