Author Topic: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint  (Read 93283 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #100 on: Wed, 30 July 2014, 17:48:16 »
I've been having a strange issue with my Yoda for the past couple days: the keys in the lower-right corner (right shift, control, function, windows) are now registering as arrow keys instead. I haven't changed the DIP switch settings since I first received it, and it seemed to happen suddenly (I was typing, tried to use right shift and found that I was moving up a line!) Anyone have any idea what may be the cause of this?
You should try fiddling with the DIP switches, as there’s one which does this. (The Yoda that was brought to KeyCon was configured the same way, and I definitely wasn’t a fan.)
It's not DIP switch option, you turned on Arrow mode. You need to press FN+Enter (depending on DIP switch your second FN is tab, caps or the leftmost 1.25, anyway all DIP positions on the first page)

Offline sdiearly

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 178
  • Location: Taiwan
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #101 on: Mon, 25 August 2014, 04:47:49 »
Update two pics, my special edition in RED






These keyboards are wet due to I join the ICE bucket challenge, and I forgot to move them away. -_-
« Last Edit: Mon, 25 August 2014, 04:55:54 by sdiearly »
My favorite 60%:  TEX-Beetle
                 80%:  KBtalKing Race
                100%: Cherry G80-3494, Zowie Celeritas

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #102 on: Thu, 28 August 2014, 13:34:16 »
Update two pics, my special edition in RED

Show Image


Show Image


Show Image

These keyboards are wet due to I join the ICE bucket challenge, and I forgot to move them away. -_-
Looks nice.

After few month of usage, I would say that the right part of fn layer completely useless for work in MacOs and Linux (IMHO) (prtsc  / srlk / second arows / ins / menu), hope we will see open firmware or possibility to reprogram second layer. I still love my yoda but it may be more powerful in everyday work.

Offline mashby

  • ** Moderator Emeritus
  • Posts: 2828
  • Location: Nashville, TN
  • What Up Shoney? (ツ)_/¯
    • Mashby
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #103 on: Thu, 28 August 2014, 16:25:34 »
Update two pics, my special edition in RED

Show Image


Show Image


Show Image

These keyboards are wet due to I join the ICE bucket challenge, and I forgot to move them away. -_-

sdiearly -- what case is that on the far right on the last photo?

Offline sdiearly

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 178
  • Location: Taiwan
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #104 on: Thu, 28 August 2014, 23:28:18 »
sdiearly -- what case is that on the far right on the last photo?

That's for KBtalKing Race, or Race II
The signature is from KBT BOSS.
I have pics in my gallery.  :)








« Last Edit: Thu, 28 August 2014, 23:34:27 by sdiearly »
My favorite 60%:  TEX-Beetle
                 80%:  KBtalKing Race
                100%: Cherry G80-3494, Zowie Celeritas

Offline zmurf

  • Posts: 156
  • Location: Sweden
    • Cherry G803000LQC With Latest Generation Trackpoint
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #105 on: Tue, 09 September 2014, 03:01:34 »
Is anyone aware if there will be possible to buy this kit again? I really really really want one. Unfortunately I didn't know about the last Massdrop. :(
At last! A mechanical keyboard with Trackpoint of my own! Now with Hyper-Scroll! And also Ergo-Clear switches. Ohh... look... custom keys! :D

Offline justin.wu

  • * Commercial Vendor
  • Posts: 92
  • Location: Taiwan
  • Less is more
    • TEX
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #106 on: Tue, 09 September 2014, 04:52:26 »
Is anyone aware if there will be possible to buy this kit again? I really really really want one. Unfortunately I didn't know about the last Massdrop. :(

Don't mind !! If you have any question , that you can ask me :)
make different

Offline sdiearly

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 178
  • Location: Taiwan
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #107 on: Tue, 09 September 2014, 04:55:14 »
Is anyone aware if there will be possible to buy this kit again? I really really really want one. Unfortunately I didn't know about the last Massdrop. :(

Justin Wu is the TEX guy, you can contact with him  :D
My favorite 60%:  TEX-Beetle
                 80%:  KBtalKing Race
                100%: Cherry G80-3494, Zowie Celeritas

Offline zmurf

  • Posts: 156
  • Location: Sweden
    • Cherry G803000LQC With Latest Generation Trackpoint
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #108 on: Tue, 09 September 2014, 06:38:30 »
Great! Will do!
 :thumb:
At last! A mechanical keyboard with Trackpoint of my own! Now with Hyper-Scroll! And also Ergo-Clear switches. Ohh... look... custom keys! :D

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #109 on: Wed, 10 September 2014, 05:35:57 »
Is anyone aware if there will be possible to buy this kit again? I really really really want one. Unfortunately I didn't know about the last Massdrop. :(

Don't mind !! If you have any question , that you can ask me :)
Hi, Justin
why horizontal scrolling not working with pressed middle button? Is it possible to add horizontal scrolling in next firmware update (if it will be)?

Offline justin.wu

  • * Commercial Vendor
  • Posts: 92
  • Location: Taiwan
  • Less is more
    • TEX
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #110 on: Thu, 11 September 2014, 01:42:48 »
Is anyone aware if there will be possible to buy this kit again? I really really really want one. Unfortunately I didn't know about the last Massdrop. :(

Don't mind !! If you have any question , that you can ask me :)
Hi, Justin
why horizontal scrolling not working with pressed middle button? Is it possible to add horizontal scrolling in next firmware update (if it will be)?

Sorry , this firmware only vertical scrolling , maybe next firmware :)
make different

Offline mkawa

  •  No Marketplace Access
  • Posts: 6562
  • (ツ)@@@. crankypants
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #111 on: Thu, 11 September 2014, 02:10:30 »
i have tried this unit, and frankly, i really dislike the trackpoint, which is the major and only novel feature of the board. the trackpoint unit is hacked together from what looks like a joystick controller with a very loose mechanical pillar. the response of the unit felt completely wrong to me, and, oddly, the pillar and nub are not tightly mechanically tied to the sensor. i don't see this being a viable product at all at the moment.

to all the brilliant friends who have left us, and all the students who climb on their shoulders.

Offline zmurf

  • Posts: 156
  • Location: Sweden
    • Cherry G803000LQC With Latest Generation Trackpoint
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #112 on: Thu, 11 September 2014, 06:26:22 »
i have tried this unit, and frankly, i really dislike the trackpoint, which is the major and only novel feature of the board. the trackpoint unit is hacked together from what looks like a joystick controller with a very loose mechanical pillar. the response of the unit felt completely wrong to me, and, oddly, the pillar and nub are not tightly mechanically tied to the sensor. i don't see this being a viable product at all at the moment.

So you're saying it's not like an IBM trackpoint? Is it like the Unicomp trackpoint which moves when you use it?
« Last Edit: Thu, 11 September 2014, 06:32:45 by zmurf »
At last! A mechanical keyboard with Trackpoint of my own! Now with Hyper-Scroll! And also Ergo-Clear switches. Ohh... look... custom keys! :D

Offline dorkvader

  • Posts: 6288
  • Location: Boston area
  • all about the "hack" in "geekhack"
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #113 on: Thu, 11 September 2014, 08:08:42 »
i have tried this unit, and frankly, i really dislike the trackpoint, which is the major and only novel feature of the board. the trackpoint unit is hacked together from what looks like a joystick controller with a very loose mechanical pillar. the response of the unit felt completely wrong to me, and, oddly, the pillar and nub are not tightly mechanically tied to the sensor. i don't see this being a viable product at all at the moment.
If you tried massdrop's at keycon, it probaby felt bad because they broke it. I repaired that unit with superglue but it broke again (didnt bond right to ceramic substrate)

I compared it to the other one (vibex's I think?) and his is quite different.

So you're saying it's not like an IBM trackpoint? Is it like the Unicomp trackpoint which moves when you use it?
way better than IBM trackpoint, in my opinion.

Offline mkawa

  •  No Marketplace Access
  • Posts: 6562
  • (ツ)@@@. crankypants
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #114 on: Thu, 11 September 2014, 08:27:59 »
yah, i tried massdrop's. in that case, other than potential durability issues, disregard my impressions

to all the brilliant friends who have left us, and all the students who climb on their shoulders.

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #115 on: Thu, 11 September 2014, 08:45:13 »
yah, i tried massdrop's. in that case, other than potential durability issues, disregard my impressions
This trackpoint very good for all day working and really sturdy, maybe you tried broken joystick. After some manipulation with sensitivity on mac os and linux trackpoint works very good and smooth. On my keyboard joystick rather tight than loose and much better(!) than on modern lenovo thinkpads. I found vendor of this modules and want to try with next custom board.
But anyway after trackpads and magic mouse lack of X axis very annoying, I don't say about graphical apps, but simple navigation in MySQL workbench or wide web site or excel table is hard because you need to use bottom scrollbar or map.
Keyboard will be much better with programmable second layer and x-scroll. This is two features that I hope to see in next firmware.

Offline rgomes

  • Posts: 8
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #116 on: Sun, 19 October 2014, 16:00:59 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #117 on: Sun, 19 October 2014, 17:23:00 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.
What is difference between this app and autohotkey? With autohotkey is possible to make much better layout than on this keyboards.

Offline dorkvader

  • Posts: 6288
  • Location: Boston area
  • all about the "hack" in "geekhack"
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #118 on: Sun, 19 October 2014, 22:37:02 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.
What is difference between this app and autohotkey? With autohotkey is possible to make much better layout than on this keyboards.

does autohotkey run on linux?
http://ahkscript.org/download/ (looks like no).

rgomes's stuff does. If you notice it helps you navigate the complicated commands for setxkbmap. I like it.

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #119 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 02:03:37 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.
What is difference between this app and autohotkey? With autohotkey is possible to make much better layout than on this keyboards.

does autohotkey run on linux?
http://ahkscript.org/download/ (looks like no).

rgomes's stuff does. If you notice it helps you navigate the complicated commands for setxkbmap. I like it.
IronAHK and AutoKey. Anyway, choice is good and hope this app works well, so good luck rgomes with your app.

Offline rgomes

  • Posts: 8
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #120 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 04:34:07 »
( I don't know how to delete this! Sorry for my stupidity )
« Last Edit: Mon, 20 October 2014, 04:38:34 by rgomes »

Offline rgomes

  • Posts: 8
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #121 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 04:36:20 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.
What is difference between this app and autohotkey? With autohotkey is possible to make much better layout than on this keyboards.

does autohotkey run on linux?
http://ahkscript.org/download/ (looks like no).

rgomes's stuff does. If you notice it helps you navigate the complicated commands for setxkbmap. I like it.
IronAHK and AutoKey. Anyway, choice is good and hope this app works well, so good luck rgomes with your app.

This is not technically an "app". It is basically a set of configuration files for X11.
The point is: X11 was designed to handle any kind of keyboard without external assistence (device drivers). It can even emulate a mouse with the keyboard. You just need to configure X11 properly, which is not always trivial.

You don't need AutoKey on Linux, IMHO. I suppose there's no AutoKey for Linux since it is not needed, really.
X11 allows you to redefine Win-F, Win-R and Win-E for example, among others. In Linux you can do whatever you wish in regards to keyboard configuration. You just need to know the scan code associated to a key and that's all.

I guess this configuration (provided by this package) works well with FreeBSD too (which is not technically Linux) since package 'xkb' was initially written for FreeBSD. If it works in FreeBSD, it will possibly work just fine on MacOS too, since MacOS is based on FreeBSD. But I haven't tested any of these things :(

Chances are that working for any flavor of linux, FreeBSD and MacOS is a matter of just adjusting the path where the configuration files are installed. The installation script was tested on Debian and Ubuntu; and it will send an email to me when it find troublerunning on a different distribution. I will contact people trying to install in other distributions so that I will get some help adjusting the script for other distributions. It must be a matter of adding one line for a given distribution and that's it!

I hope it helps. Cheers :)

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #122 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 09:39:46 »
I hope it helps. Cheers :)
Thanks for explanation. Will try in near feature.

Offline nuclearsandwich

  • Posts: 752
  • Location: Santa Clara Valley, CA
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #123 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 10:30:08 »
I guess this configuration (provided by this package) works well with FreeBSD too (which is not technically Linux) since package 'xkb' was initially written for FreeBSD. If it works in FreeBSD, it will possibly work just fine on MacOS too, since MacOS is based on FreeBSD. But I haven't tested any of these things :(

Mac OS X doesn't use the X windowing system so this definitely won't work on OS X directly.

Offline daerid

  • Posts: 4276
  • Location: Denver, CO
    • Rossipedia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #124 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 10:36:50 »
I missed the last one because I was getting married, but I still really, really want one of these :(

Offline nuclearsandwich

  • Posts: 752
  • Location: Santa Clara Valley, CA
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #125 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 10:59:44 »
I finally got my Yoda kit from Massdrop's run. I a little regret not putting schmancy switches in it, I just went with stock blues but I'm already digging the Surface + Yoda combo as a laptop replacement. The setup and takedown time is reduced drastically from surface + 60% + mouse although it's still seconds instead of the one second it takes to shut a clamshell laptop. Looking forward to putting trackpoints in an Atreus or similar ergonomic portable keyboard.

Offline rgomes

  • Posts: 8
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #126 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 12:00:51 »
I guess this configuration (provided by this package) works well with FreeBSD too (which is not technically Linux) since package 'xkb' was initially written for FreeBSD. If it works in FreeBSD, it will possibly work just fine on MacOS too, since MacOS is based on FreeBSD. But I haven't tested any of these things :(

Mac OS X doesn't use the X windowing system so this definitely won't work on OS X directly.

Thanks for letting me know.

Offline spiceBar

  • Posts: 998
    • ChessTiger.com
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #127 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 14:55:04 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.
What is difference between this app and autohotkey? With autohotkey is possible to make much better layout than on this keyboards.

does autohotkey run on linux?
http://ahkscript.org/download/ (looks like no).

rgomes's stuff does. If you notice it helps you navigate the complicated commands for setxkbmap. I like it.
IronAHK and AutoKey. Anyway, choice is good and hope this app works well, so good luck rgomes with your app.

This is not technically an "app". It is basically a set of configuration files for X11.
The point is: X11 was designed to handle any kind of keyboard without external assistence (device drivers). It can even emulate a mouse with the keyboard. You just need to configure X11 properly, which is not always trivial.

You don't need AutoKey on Linux, IMHO. I suppose there's no AutoKey for Linux since it is not needed, really.
X11 allows you to redefine Win-F, Win-R and Win-E for example, among others. In Linux you can do whatever you wish in regards to keyboard configuration. You just need to know the scan code associated to a key and that's all.

I guess this configuration (provided by this package) works well with FreeBSD too (which is not technically Linux) since package 'xkb' was initially written for FreeBSD. If it works in FreeBSD, it will possibly work just fine on MacOS too, since MacOS is based on FreeBSD. But I haven't tested any of these things :(

Chances are that working for any flavor of linux, FreeBSD and MacOS is a matter of just adjusting the path where the configuration files are installed. The installation script was tested on Debian and Ubuntu; and it will send an email to me when it find troublerunning on a different distribution. I will contact people trying to install in other distributions so that I will get some help adjusting the script for other distributions. It must be a matter of adding one line for a given distribution and that's it!

I hope it helps. Cheers :)

No it does not help.

Linux user here. I have been using linux as my main OS since 2003.

Your point about linux or X11 having been designed to handle any kind of keyboard is true, but only in theory.

In practice, it is very difficult or even impossible to do on linux things that are easily done on the Mac or on Windows.

On a Mac, you use Karabiner (formerly known as KeyRemap4MacBook) to write relatively simple scripts that allow you not only to change key assignments, but also to change the behavior of key combinations, and much more.

On Windows, you have AHK (AutoHotKey). It does the same thing. You write scripts to change the keyboard's behavior. And you can do pretty much anything.

On linux you have... NOTHING.

True, you can change xmodmap and use xkb and fiddle with various system-wide configuration files.

But it's a horrible mess. Most of the time you have to close and re-open your session to test your changes, or even reboot.

Some of your changes will affect X sessions (graphical sessions), other changes will affect the console (outside of the GUI).

Some things are extremely difficult or maybe impossible to do. Doing something simple may require changing several system files.

Just an example: I want Ctrl-Up to do PageUp and Ctrl-Down to do PageDown. The behavior of Up and Down when they are pressed alone must not be changed.

How do you do that in linux?

I have been able to do it with a program called AutoKey. Unfortunately AutoKey is very buggy, and hangs when you press and hold a key for which you have defined a new behavior. So it's not an option.

I have tried to write a C program to do just that, using X11's Xrecord extension, just to discover that you can intercept key presses, but not remove key presses from X11's input queue. Doing so would actually require messing with DBus or patching some system drivers.

Long story short: please don't hype linux or FreeBSD's ability to remap the keyboard, because it's 20 years behind Mac and Windows in this regard.

It is actually easier to hook a microcontroller to your keyboard to remap it than to do it inside the OS (that's how I do it, with Hasu's TMK firmware).

And it's coming from someone who would otherwise advocate in favor of linux.

Offline spiceBar

  • Posts: 998
    • ChessTiger.com
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #128 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 14:56:14 »
(double post - please ignore)

Offline nuclearsandwich

  • Posts: 752
  • Location: Santa Clara Valley, CA
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #129 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 18:18:00 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.
What is difference between this app and autohotkey? With autohotkey is possible to make much better layout than on this keyboards.

does autohotkey run on linux?
http://ahkscript.org/download/ (looks like no).

rgomes's stuff does. If you notice it helps you navigate the complicated commands for setxkbmap. I like it.
IronAHK and AutoKey. Anyway, choice is good and hope this app works well, so good luck rgomes with your app.

This is not technically an "app". It is basically a set of configuration files for X11.
The point is: X11 was designed to handle any kind of keyboard without external assistence (device drivers). It can even emulate a mouse with the keyboard. You just need to configure X11 properly, which is not always trivial.

You don't need AutoKey on Linux, IMHO. I suppose there's no AutoKey for Linux since it is not needed, really.
X11 allows you to redefine Win-F, Win-R and Win-E for example, among others. In Linux you can do whatever you wish in regards to keyboard configuration. You just need to know the scan code associated to a key and that's all.

I guess this configuration (provided by this package) works well with FreeBSD too (which is not technically Linux) since package 'xkb' was initially written for FreeBSD. If it works in FreeBSD, it will possibly work just fine on MacOS too, since MacOS is based on FreeBSD. But I haven't tested any of these things :(

Chances are that working for any flavor of linux, FreeBSD and MacOS is a matter of just adjusting the path where the configuration files are installed. The installation script was tested on Debian and Ubuntu; and it will send an email to me when it find troublerunning on a different distribution. I will contact people trying to install in other distributions so that I will get some help adjusting the script for other distributions. It must be a matter of adding one line for a given distribution and that's it!

I hope it helps. Cheers :)

No it does not help.

Linux user here. I have been using linux as my main OS since 2003.

Your point about linux or X11 having been designed to handle any kind of keyboard is true, but only in theory.

In practice, it is very difficult or even impossible to do on linux things that are easily done on the Mac or on Windows.

On a Mac, you use Karabiner (formerly known as KeyRemap4MacBook) to write relatively simple scripts that allow you not only to change key assignments, but also to change the behavior of key combinations, and much more.

On Windows, you have AHK (AutoHotKey). It does the same thing. You write scripts to change the keyboard's behavior. And you can do pretty much anything.

On linux you have... NOTHING.

True, you can change xmodmap and use xkb and fiddle with various system-wide configuration files.

But it's a horrible mess. Most of the time you have to close and re-open your session to test your changes, or even reboot.

Some of your changes will affect X sessions (graphical sessions), other changes will affect the console (outside of the GUI).

Some things are extremely difficult or maybe impossible to do. Doing something simple may require changing several system files.

Just an example: I want Ctrl-Up to do PageUp and Ctrl-Down to do PageDown. The behavior of Up and Down when they are pressed alone must not be changed.

How do you do that in linux?

I have been able to do it with a program called AutoKey. Unfortunately AutoKey is very buggy, and hangs when you press and hold a key for which you have defined a new behavior. So it's not an option.

I have tried to write a C program to do just that, using X11's Xrecord extension, just to discover that you can intercept key presses, but not remove key presses from X11's input queue. Doing so would actually require messing with DBus or patching some system drivers.

Long story short: please don't hype linux or FreeBSD's ability to remap the keyboard, because it's 20 years behind Mac and Windows in this regard.

It is actually easier to hook a microcontroller to your keyboard to remap it than to do it inside the OS (that's how I do it, with Hasu's TMK firmware).

And it's coming from someone who would otherwise advocate in favor of linux.

Depending on what you're trying to do, xbindkeys or sxhkd is much nicer to work with than straight up xmodmap.

Offline spiceBar

  • Posts: 998
    • ChessTiger.com
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #130 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 19:52:20 »
I've just created an emulation for Miniguru and Tex Yoda on X11.
I can now pretend my EnduraPro is a TEX Yoda ;-)

https://github.com/frgomes/carpalx

You can also mixin Colemak, Dvorak or other custom layouts as you wish.
What is difference between this app and autohotkey? With autohotkey is possible to make much better layout than on this keyboards.

does autohotkey run on linux?
http://ahkscript.org/download/ (looks like no).

rgomes's stuff does. If you notice it helps you navigate the complicated commands for setxkbmap. I like it.
IronAHK and AutoKey. Anyway, choice is good and hope this app works well, so good luck rgomes with your app.

This is not technically an "app". It is basically a set of configuration files for X11.
The point is: X11 was designed to handle any kind of keyboard without external assistence (device drivers). It can even emulate a mouse with the keyboard. You just need to configure X11 properly, which is not always trivial.

You don't need AutoKey on Linux, IMHO. I suppose there's no AutoKey for Linux since it is not needed, really.
X11 allows you to redefine Win-F, Win-R and Win-E for example, among others. In Linux you can do whatever you wish in regards to keyboard configuration. You just need to know the scan code associated to a key and that's all.

I guess this configuration (provided by this package) works well with FreeBSD too (which is not technically Linux) since package 'xkb' was initially written for FreeBSD. If it works in FreeBSD, it will possibly work just fine on MacOS too, since MacOS is based on FreeBSD. But I haven't tested any of these things :(

Chances are that working for any flavor of linux, FreeBSD and MacOS is a matter of just adjusting the path where the configuration files are installed. The installation script was tested on Debian and Ubuntu; and it will send an email to me when it find troublerunning on a different distribution. I will contact people trying to install in other distributions so that I will get some help adjusting the script for other distributions. It must be a matter of adding one line for a given distribution and that's it!

I hope it helps. Cheers :)

No it does not help.

Linux user here. I have been using linux as my main OS since 2003.

Your point about linux or X11 having been designed to handle any kind of keyboard is true, but only in theory.

In practice, it is very difficult or even impossible to do on linux things that are easily done on the Mac or on Windows.

On a Mac, you use Karabiner (formerly known as KeyRemap4MacBook) to write relatively simple scripts that allow you not only to change key assignments, but also to change the behavior of key combinations, and much more.

On Windows, you have AHK (AutoHotKey). It does the same thing. You write scripts to change the keyboard's behavior. And you can do pretty much anything.

On linux you have... NOTHING.

True, you can change xmodmap and use xkb and fiddle with various system-wide configuration files.

But it's a horrible mess. Most of the time you have to close and re-open your session to test your changes, or even reboot.

Some of your changes will affect X sessions (graphical sessions), other changes will affect the console (outside of the GUI).

Some things are extremely difficult or maybe impossible to do. Doing something simple may require changing several system files.

Just an example: I want Ctrl-Up to do PageUp and Ctrl-Down to do PageDown. The behavior of Up and Down when they are pressed alone must not be changed.

How do you do that in linux?

I have been able to do it with a program called AutoKey. Unfortunately AutoKey is very buggy, and hangs when you press and hold a key for which you have defined a new behavior. So it's not an option.

I have tried to write a C program to do just that, using X11's Xrecord extension, just to discover that you can intercept key presses, but not remove key presses from X11's input queue. Doing so would actually require messing with DBus or patching some system drivers.

Long story short: please don't hype linux or FreeBSD's ability to remap the keyboard, because it's 20 years behind Mac and Windows in this regard.

It is actually easier to hook a microcontroller to your keyboard to remap it than to do it inside the OS (that's how I do it, with Hasu's TMK firmware).

And it's coming from someone who would otherwise advocate in favor of linux.

Depending on what you're trying to do, xbindkeys or sxhkd is much nicer to work with than straight up xmodmap.

The programs you have mentioned allow to bind some key or key chord/sequence to the execution of a program.

We are not looking for that. We are looking for a way to convert some input sequence into another one. For example we would like to remap the Control key to the CapsLock key, or remap Ctrl-Up to PageUp without changing the behavior of the Up key when it is pressed alone.

While it is possible to launch a command that would, in return, simulate some key presses, it would be a very awkward way of binding some key to another one. Also, very often it does not work because when you launch another program, your current window loses the focus. The simulated key presses are not received by your window because it has lost the focus. It's a problem I have experienced when trying to use xbindkeys for example.

Offline kyb

  • Posts: 40
  • Location: Germoney
  • i love the smell of nopsleds in the morning
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #131 on: Tue, 21 October 2014, 06:37:47 »
So I got a Unicomp with a track nipple - and while it looks great on paper (yay no mouse!) in practice it sucks because there's no scroll wheel. So unless the keyboard has some kind of a scroll wheel in the vicinity of the track nipple it's just a gimmick and you won't use it at all.
Ergodox :o

Offline Vitaly

  • Posts: 146
  • Location: Russia
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #132 on: Tue, 21 October 2014, 07:49:41 »
So I got a Unicomp with a track nipple - and while it looks great on paper (yay no mouse!) in practice it sucks because there's no scroll wheel. So unless the keyboard has some kind of a scroll wheel in the vicinity of the track nipple it's just a gimmick and you won't use it at all.
On yoda we have middle button, no problem with scroll. I planned to buy unicomp for office, but after your comment I look at keyboard picture more carefully and don't see middle button...

Offline gcb

  • Posts: 109
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #133 on: Tue, 21 October 2014, 16:33:34 »
can i get the three indicator leds on this?

i'm assembling mine and i could only find the caps lock led pads.


Offline gcb

  • Posts: 109
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #134 on: Tue, 21 October 2014, 17:52:58 »
Is anyone aware if there will be possible to buy this kit again? I really really really want one. Unfortunately I didn't know about the last Massdrop. :(

Don't mind !! If you have any question , that you can ask me :)
Hi, Justin
why horizontal scrolling not working with pressed middle button? Is it possible to add horizontal scrolling in next firmware update (if it will be)?

Sorry , this firmware only vertical scrolling , maybe next firmware :)

please keep it that way. a mouse only have button 4 and 5, which in software it is meant as vertical scrolling. anything else requires hacks.

also most apps that use horizontal scrolling support Shift+mouse4,5. you can try that, Vitaly.

Wu, any word on that keyboard being programmable? or releasing the source? I confess i bought it only on that expectation :)


Offline gcb

  • Posts: 109
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #135 on: Tue, 21 October 2014, 17:59:16 »
You don't need AutoKey on Linux, IMHO. I suppose there's no AutoKey for Linux since it is not needed, really.

true. but i had to implement one thing i do with autoHH easily on a keyboard driver. and that was the PS/2 one... sigh... i still miss that when i use linux:

caps lock down = nothing. set flag.
any other key down = trigger control down, trigger ctrl+key down.
caps lock up = trigger control up.
caps lock up, without any other key press between capslock down = trigger ESC down, delay, ESC up.

so basically it turns caps lock into ESC if pressed and released. or control if pressed with any other key.

is there anyway to do that easily on modern distros?

Offline spiceBar

  • Posts: 998
    • ChessTiger.com
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #136 on: Tue, 21 October 2014, 18:15:07 »
You don't need AutoKey on Linux, IMHO. I suppose there's no AutoKey for Linux since it is not needed, really.

true. but i had to implement one thing i do with autoHH easily on a keyboard driver. and that was the PS/2 one... sigh... i still miss that when i use linux:

caps lock down = nothing. set flag.
any other key down = trigger control down, trigger ctrl+key down.
caps lock up = trigger control up.
caps lock up, without any other key press between capslock down = trigger ESC down, delay, ESC up.

so basically it turns caps lock into ESC if pressed and released. or control if pressed with any other key.

is there anyway to do that easily on modern distros?

"You don't need AutoKey on Linux, IMHO. I suppose there's no AutoKey for Linux since it is not needed, really."

So what you want to do must be a piece cake, right?

It turns out you need to write a daemon in C to do that. Or use one that has already been written.

It's called Xcape and you can find the sources on github. You will need to modify it or start it with a command line option, because by default it does not use the CapsLock key.

Who needs AutoHotKeys when we can do that so easily with a daemon written in C? After all we are the command line machos, right? :)

Disclaimer: I have been using linux since 2003. Don't trust the linux fanboys. Most of the time they do a disservice to the OS.

Offline Ascaii

  • Posts: 415
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #137 on: Wed, 29 October 2014, 19:03:01 »
hmm, I missed this entirely. Looks like I may have finally found a board to use my trackpoint doubleshots on :D
Anyone else interested? I've got spare sets.

"Mechanical keyboards are like pokemon:
you start with one, and then you wanna catch em all."

Offline justin.wu

  • * Commercial Vendor
  • Posts: 92
  • Location: Taiwan
  • Less is more
    • TEX
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #138 on: Wed, 29 October 2014, 22:53:53 »
hmm, I missed this entirely. Looks like I may have finally found a board to use my trackpoint doubleshots on :D
Anyone else interested? I've got spare sets.

WOW !! so nice keycap , but I think maybe trackpoint stick will be a little higher than keycap

make different

Offline dorkvader

  • Posts: 6288
  • Location: Boston area
  • all about the "hack" in "geekhack"
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #139 on: Wed, 29 October 2014, 23:03:18 »
I guess this configuration (provided by this package) works well with FreeBSD too (which is not technically Linux) since package 'xkb' was initially written for FreeBSD. If it works in FreeBSD, it will possibly work just fine on MacOS too, since MacOS is based on FreeBSD. But I haven't tested any of these things :(

Mac OS X doesn't use the X windowing system so this definitely won't work on OS X directly.
It's not used for native apps of course but I believe they had support for it at least until OSX 10.6
Is anyone aware if there will be possible to buy this kit again? I really really really want one. Unfortunately I didn't know about the last Massdrop. :(

Don't mind !! If you have any question , that you can ask me :)
Hi, Justin
why horizontal scrolling not working with pressed middle button? Is it possible to add horizontal scrolling in next firmware update (if it will be)?

Sorry , this firmware only vertical scrolling , maybe next firmware :)

please keep it that way. a mouse only have button 4 and 5, which in software it is meant as vertical scrolling. anything else requires hacks.

also most apps that use horizontal scrolling support Shift+mouse4,5. you can try that, Vitaly.

Wu, any word on that keyboard being programmable? or releasing the source? I confess i bought it only on that expectation :)



Middle click is very useful in linux as the second paste buffer. I use it much more than click-to-scroll. I think having the option of either is good because for windows I'd much rather have a center scroll button than a middle click, but for linux I'd rather have middle click. It's not too big a deal either way, because linux can be configured to accept both buttons as middle click, and many windows apps can scroll many pages with a middle click, so it's good either way.

hmm, I missed this entirely. Looks like I may have finally found a board to use my trackpoint doubleshots on :D
Anyone else interested? I've got spare sets.


Are they from a desko?
« Last Edit: Wed, 29 October 2014, 23:09:21 by dorkvader »

Offline Ascaii

  • Posts: 415
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #140 on: Fri, 31 October 2014, 01:50:20 »
Yeah. A few months back i bought 200 desko boards and spent several nights pulling the caps. Ive still got 25 boards in my cellar I never got around to pulling the caps from. Most of them were without trackpoints, but a decent amount had them. Looks like I am sending nuclearsandwich a set, so we should know if they fit as soon as he gets them.
"Mechanical keyboards are like pokemon:
you start with one, and then you wanna catch em all."

Offline gcb

  • Posts: 109
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #141 on: Mon, 03 November 2014, 21:47:52 »

Offline sdiearly

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 178
  • Location: Taiwan
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #142 on: Wed, 03 December 2014, 20:28:53 »
My favorite 60%:  TEX-Beetle
                 80%:  KBtalKing Race
                100%: Cherry G80-3494, Zowie Celeritas

Offline blackbox

  • Posts: 725
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #143 on: Thu, 04 December 2014, 08:23:37 »
Keyboards: Dell AT102W (matias standard clicky), Maltron two-hand 3D fully ergonomic keyboard (Vintage MX Black). CM QF XT (MX Grey) IBM model M

The LAN table!
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=62536.0

Offline Steveenn

  • Posts: 27
  • Location: Northwest Florida
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #144 on: Thu, 18 December 2014, 19:25:22 »
If I got one of these and used a different plate, such as GON's Universal 60% Plate, would I be able reprogram the board with my own layout?
F107 | 1976 'Dox 62g TGreys | TA KÛL ES-87 Clears | '87 SSK

Offline nuclearsandwich

  • Posts: 752
  • Location: Santa Clara Valley, CA
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #145 on: Thu, 18 December 2014, 22:08:50 »
If I got one of these and used a different plate, such as GON's Universal 60% Plate, would I be able reprogram the board with my own layout?

Not without some reverse engineering. The controller isn't open. I think most folks who've got one and want a custom layout are doing it in software through their OS.

Offline Steveenn

  • Posts: 27
  • Location: Northwest Florida
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #146 on: Fri, 19 December 2014, 10:43:16 »
uthor=nuclearsandwich link=topic=58458.msg1566707#msg1566707 date=1418962130]
If I got one of these and used a different plate, such as GON's Universal 60% Plate, would I be able reprogram the board with my own layout?

Not without some reverse engineering. The controller isn't open. I think most folks who've got one and want a custom layout are doing it in software through their OS.
[/quote]

I also just noticed that the screw's holding the thing together go through the case and PCB into the original plate, so I wouldn't be able to do anything without some fairly heavy modifications.
F107 | 1976 'Dox 62g TGreys | TA KÛL ES-87 Clears | '87 SSK

Offline sdiearly

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 178
  • Location: Taiwan
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #147 on: Thu, 15 January 2015, 19:17:28 »
My present: sissy Yoda





My favorite 60%:  TEX-Beetle
                 80%:  KBtalKing Race
                100%: Cherry G80-3494, Zowie Celeritas

Offline nuclearsandwich

  • Posts: 752
  • Location: Santa Clara Valley, CA
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #148 on: Thu, 15 January 2015, 20:09:06 »
I'm really enjoying the Yoda, in spite of the difficulties I've had with it, but I'm curious if anyone else is starting to feel the weight of the aluminum case. I carry the thing around all the time and it weighs as much as the rest of my backpack some days.

Offline Joey Quinn

  • Posts: 4543
  • Location: Houghton
  • "..."
Re: TEX Yoda, mini keyboard with trackpoint
« Reply #149 on: Thu, 15 January 2015, 20:51:19 »
My present: sissy Yoda

Show Image


Show Image


Show Image


Did you re anodize that case or does Tex do a pink case? That thing is gorgeous!
People in the 1980s, in general, were clearly just better than we are now in every measurable way.

The dumber the reason the more it must be done