- Going too far from the mainstream pushes the cost up too high
- Let key do things that Emacs knows how to do well to leverage keyboard firmware
- EasyAVR is great, but stick closer to mainstream with tmk
- Start with layout 34
- Six rows is closer to a common row count, lets you use any type of keycap
- First two rows are unoccupied anyway
- Remove first two rows
- Layers can handle common keys
- Easier to source keycaps using a 104 key donor
- Fine that it isn’t double-shot, deal with wear later
- Balance Fn like the other modifiers
- Makes them easily reachable for handling all F keys
- Fn is only used for Function keys right now, that is fine, simple
- Move Esc to its place
- Good for VI users
- Add a layer below Fn
- Keeping it balanced
- Layer 1 (base is 0) most frequently used
- In the empty row in the middle, add layers
- Still an Emacs keyboard
- Use firmware macros to input Unicode for example Greek-a would send
M-x ucs-insert RET GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA- Unlikely to be re-bound
- Hex would be easier
- Use firmware macros to input Unicode for example Greek-a would send
- Layer listing
- 0 Base
- 1 Fn
- 2 Balanced below Fn
- 3-9 Middle row (balanced by location)
- Greek
- APL
- Emoticons
- Faces
- Brackets
- Double-Struck
- Upper
- Lower
- 9 layers
- Perhaps 10th layer can be accessed by double tap
96key layout
Roza Nyambura liked this on Facebook.
Hi Grant,
what software do you use for generating the images of the keyboard layout? I plan to blog about my personal layouts for the EK-128 i will (hopefully) get tomorrow.
The layout should have an emphasis on emacs (especially org-mode) and coding, starting with an ordinary german tenkey layout.
Hi Andy,
I used http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/.
Can’t wait to hear about the results of your pursuit!
Sincerely,
Grant Rettke
You can find my first iteration here: http://remline.de/2016/ThePerfectKeyboard/
Unfortunately Amazon cancelled my first order (out of stock), and the second arrived with a dead sixth row, so I’m waiting for my third EK-128 now which has been sent on Saturday. So it should arrive today.
The Software for programming it is a little “raw”, but it does its job.
Thank you for this post!
That is delightful.
Can’t wait to hear more about it’s use.
Here is my software-only attempt, on the first part of my problem. The coders layout.
After the brain accepted to use numbers only in the tenkey area, it goes quite natural.
https://github.com/andydrop/de-code
Great to hear and thank you for the link.