There's your problem then. The forum changes tabs to spaces. Look at the other entries, using an editor that shows whitespace (I use NotePad++). Then you'll get it right.
I tried the explicit remapping and it worked for me.
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Well, actually I just discovered Shift + Caps does what I want. I don't care that my remapping attempts failed.
Actually, after using it some more I love the extend layer so much. Never using the Colemak backspace again.
I just started messing with this for the first time and I must mention one thing - as clear as you describe each of the mods, you don't really put much focus into explaining the requirements to getting this working. I'm sure going deep into this will supply me the answers on its own, but I think it would be great if the first post in the Linux and Windows bag-of-tricks threads had a basic step-by-step guide on how to get the ball rolling, that is get the MKLC software and throw the file in it, etc. I'm sure it's even more complex on Linux.
-EDIT: It looks like there's a very basic explanation in section 5.1 but you forgot to add it to your index at the beginning of the post...
Very fair points, BullHorn – thanks for the feedback!
I'll think about making that basic guide for newcomers (unless someone else wants to do it?). It's sorely needed I think, and would in the long run make support easier.
For now, I've cleared up section [5] a little and added it to the index. :-)
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I'll think about making that basic guide for newcomers (unless someone else wants to do it?). It's sorely needed I think, and would in the long run make support easier.
It's a good idea, a few people have mentioned there should be a basic guide, so that newcomers could quickly understand the different mods, terminology etc. I had planned to try and create such a thing over the Christmas break, but never got around to it (as is usually the case). It would good to have a handy quick reference, and might even entice people to take up ideas such as Extend and Angle mods, perhaps if they are not necessarily Colemak users even!
Using Colemak-DH with Seniply.
I should probably split into three instead of two topics: One introductory, one Linux and one Windows. But I don't like the amount of work involved...
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I've been lurking around here for ages, and I still find the big bags very difficult to use
don't get me wrong, super useful, but pedagogically wanting..
Its not so much the content, thats pretty good, just the fact its presented in a forum, its hard to find and doesn't instil confidence (all looks a bit temporary). It is all in the wrong order too though - the very first thing (as has already been noted) that you see should be a quickstart guide to getting it working. As it stands you have to wade through *a lot* of stuff before you get to that bit.
all those threads need to be pulled out of the forum, reordered, and put into shais colemak site
i don't think it can happen though as shai's not playing ball
another option could be a new website?
but its all work and who has the time or cash to splash??
Yeah, I totally and absolutely hear you. Actually, Shai's playing ball. It's me who haven't found the time&energy to implement.
What I'd like to do, is this:
• Everything on GitHub
• Main topic (in MarkDown) easy on the eye and mind, like, say, Stevep99's DH-mod pages
• Separate subtopics for each mod and tweak, linked to from side menu
• Separate topics for PKL implementation and XKB implementation (and other implementations), with starter guides
• URL Address links hosted from colemak.com to the above mentioned pages
Shai has said he's willing to do it. So what remains is getting all those pages made...
Also, I've got many other little keyboard things running. Lately, updates to the Cyrillic layouts and an Esperanto one. Some fixes for the XKB code, especially Extend. Thinking about PKL code improvements. And more work remains on my layout images!
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DreymaR, I actually forked PKL and implemented some of your ideas and some other things.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say you want PKL to be more modular, but I made it possible to share some files between layouts. But that way the layouts are no longer contained in one folder and are not as easy to add, delete, and share between users. Maybe a separate program can be made to copy all needed files inside the layout's main folder before sharing and distributing.
If you want to try it, I uploaded it here: pklv-0.5.0.zip (Layouts and the pkl.ini file are not included) - see the readme file for the changes I made.
It's likely that there are bugs, because I didn't test it much, so if somebody finds a bug, let me know.
Oh, hi vVv – long time no see! :-)
Ummm, too bad we didn't cooperate on that then. Sounds as if you went in a direction I wouldn't. But I'm sure there will be interesting lessons learned from this!
Did you work from the v0.3.85 source code? Is your source code included? And how do I use that link without signing up or anything?
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You can just click the button Download This File, the source code is included. I used the 4-preview version. I got some program that extracts the source code from the .exe, then I added back the comments. Then I made it work with the new, Unicode version of AHK. I tried to do it a few years ago, but it didn't work, but now I went and fixed it just for fun. I don't even use Windows now, but it's nice to have PKL in case I need it in the future. The modifications I made are just examples - if you don't like something it can be changed.
Bloody hell, that's brilliant work. Are there many differences from 0.3.85 to 0.4b? I've tried to pester Farkas for the 0.4b source code but he's been MIA forever.
You really added back all the comments from Farkas' source?
You're a regular hero, you are. Now I'll really have to look into your stuff.
We or you could make a GitHub repo for this, so we and others can develop it together?
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I also asked Máté for the 0.4 source. He told me to use the source code of the previous stable version, but I didn't want to lose any bug fixes and features that people may be using. I see that he was thinking about working on PKL again last year, but probably didn't happen. I should let him know about my version. There weren't that many differences between 0.3 and 0.4. I don't remember what the differences were exactly. You can put it on GitHub, that's fine with me. I don't plan on working on it again for a while.
(It will probably be nice to replace the keyboard icons, based on the license that is referenced in the 0.3 zip file.)
Finally I was able to run generateImages.bat from the utilities folder of PKL 0.3. I didn't get the .png images, just an html page with tables that look like the helper images for the specified layout, but with some more work I would probably be able to get the image files as well. It needs a full-page screenshot of that page and then it should cut it into the images for the separate states. Of course this tool doesn't work with the features I added to my PKL (named dead keys and imported files).
It would be better to have a tool that doesn't use a browser though, then we could create a website where users can create the images for their custom layouts. Another option is to print the characters on the screen (with AutoHotkey's Gui, Add, Text command), without using images. It's not pretty, but at least you don't need to edit images every time you make changes to your layout. I may try to do this one day.
I think we need images, or it may get too slow? Otherwise, it'd be great to make the help images auto-update with the layout of course.
A script that makes my SVG images based on a layout definition is what I'd like to use.
But if possible/practical, the image only providing the background (key graphics) would be great. I'm planning to separate background and glyphs anyway, in the images.
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You could turn the existing SVG into a template: replace all the letters eg. Q with a tag like %Q% (something distinctive that does not otherwise occur in the file). Then we write a simple script that replaces all those tags by the appropriate character, based on a layout mapfile that maps E to F etc.
Couple of suggjstions from someone usikg this for the first time.
Could you make the default INI the one you expect most people to use?
Also changing the keyboard help images to highlight the home keys would help people find the keys better.
Thanks for the feedback! First-time user feedback is very valuable. :-)
I did try to make the default .INI the most noob-friendly. That is, ANSI keyboard and Tarmak layout(s). My thought is that some of the Tarmak users will be the ones in most need of a low-threshold alternative. It's not so noob-friendly that anyone else have to dive right in and edit files, but there's open-source for you. ;-) I tried to provide a few options at least.
I'm hoping to make a fork of the program, but it's been slow going indeed so far. One thing I've made is the ability to choose a background image separately from the key images. When that is in place, it'll be simple to use, say a home-position-highlighted image as background. The idea is good... but I really like my "Feng Shui" colors and I'm not quite sure how to highlight those keys without messing it up a bit graphically. Hmmm...
Another thing on my wish list is modularity, so you can choose Angle/Wide ergo mods separately from layout for instance (and maybe Curl-DH too).
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A little counter-intuitive, but, may you add a QWERTY help image so that I may learn QWERTY without looking at keys (I don't know how to type right)
A little counter-intuitive, but, may you add a QWERTY help image so that I may learn QWERTY without looking at keys (I don't know how to type right)
I'm afraid it'll have to wait until I figure out how to automate help images (and split text from background). I won't make help images for other layouts at the moment.
Just look at the keys until you've learned the keys' positions, then stop looking at the keys. ;-)
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just trying to get the new colemak mod dh working under windows
have downloaded your PortableKeyboardLayout_DreymaR dir
But looking in the layouts subdir I can't see anything with CAW in the filename?
what should I be setting the layout to in the pkl.ini file?
So sorry bph, I'm in Rome and haven't found the time to finish and publish the PKL files yet! Argh!
The simplest way to make your own new Curl(DH) mod is to take my old one and swap the scan codes for D–V and H–M in layout.ini. That'll do the trick. But if you want the Ctrl+V to work as it should, you'll also have to swap the D–V codes in the [extend] section of pkl.ini.
I'll get those files out, I promise...!
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no problem - good to know i hadn't just misunderstood what was going on as per the linux big bag install attempt recently..
I finally got the updated files published, and on GitHub too!
So, bph: Please take a look now and see if it works for you. There's bound to be some minor bugs in there I feel, but hopefully it should be mostly good now.
Note that you have to rename a pkl_<something>.ini file to 'pkl.ini' to get started. Obviously, choose the one closest to your ergo mod and ANSI/ISO reality.
As always, testing and feedback is welcome.
*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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