Emacs Keyboard Design 33: What If Emacs Pinky Isn't Real

Emacs Pinky might be real.

What does a good Emacs keyboard look like if it isn’t, though?

• Guiding idea:
  • Wide variety of key switches lets you choose for strength of finger
  • Don’t need to worry about “Emacs pinky”
  • Still stick with tenets and lessons learned so far
  • Assumption: Your fingers combined with the appropriate switch only require a single key
• Start with preset ANSI 104
• Make every key 1×1
• Space goes in home position below F and J
• Enter goes in home position below Space
• Menu key is deleted
• Num pad is deleted
• Leave QAZ alone!
• Shift ~ right so 1 is above Q
• Rename Backspace to “Back Space”
• Move below ~: Tab, Caps Lock, Shift
• Move shift near main body
• Move CapsLock close to A
• Add Fn to right of “
  • I use F1-F4 for macros, and not much else
• Use Fn to move escape rows into row below
  • Justification
    • Never used ScrollLock and PauseBreak
    • PrtSc is a flow interruption operation, so Fn is fine
    • Ditto for F keys and Esc
    • Important for one handed operation are navigation keys
    • Originally made these moved keys front print, but they are so familiar and obvious, I removed it. Made it easier, use doubleshot donors.
• Rename Win to Gui
• Move arrow keys on same row as Gui
• Too difficult to guess what shifters would be perfect
  • Instead of guessing: Greek, APL, Emoticons, and Double-Struck
  • Make it per-layer 1-4
    • See now why Space cadet ended up here
  • Added I, II, III, IV between spaces and enters
• Made Shift keys 1.5w
  • Foundational for reach-shift combinations
  • Make you feel “home”, sort of
  • Visually fine
• Desire to utilize empty key space grows
• Ultra key: C-M-s-H
  • Can do to do with current layout
  • Can do with Shift, too
  • Not easy though
  • Adding it
  • Works fine with shift
• Still love the idea of a GUI Ultra/Meh
  • Control-Alt-Shift is doable
  • Seems a waste not to use that space to left and right of GUI
    • Unless I move arrow keys left and saved two spaces on right
      • Makes sense
      • PrSc is still totally fine
      • Gap in keyboard between Fn and Home looks weird
        • Shouldn’t matter but it just looks weird
      • Stick with 80%
  • Name it Parc, for Xerox’s Gui
• Still a shame to waste empty spaces
• Add function layers for V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X
• Still a shame to waste empty spaces
• Add function layers for XI, XII
• 11 layers is great, currently not using that many, perhaps make PrtSc row normal keys again?
  • Yea, familiarity is good, and still plenty of function layers
• Thoughts
  • Home keys still staggered and familiar
  • Everything is familiar
  • Shift is the “second home” so bigger
  • Nice to see layer access be simple and transparent
  • 6 rows means using caps other than DSA
  • Use letters on each cap, easier to remember
  • Can get most caps doubleshot from stock set
  • For custom 1x and 1.5x can do custom
    • Donate 35 custom keys, rest spares or sell
• Summary
  • Started with ANSI-104
  • Keys removed: 0
  • Keys added: 19 (2x each modifier, 5) (layers, 9)
  • Keys resized: 8
  • Keys moved: Enter and space
  • 5 emacs modifiers (Emacs remapping)
  • 3 OS modifiers (Normal OS stuff)
  • Layers: 11 total (firmware layers)
    • Base (normal keyboard)
    • Fn: Use top row as function keys
    • 1-9