Hello,
I recently assembled an ergodox for a Japanese friend(which was really fun!) from parts all over the web (which wasn't so much fun, shoulda waited for a group buy)and am programing it now.
I used the massdrop configurator and it works okay, but it doesn't have something needed: Japanese input keys. I could just give my friend the ergodox with an english layout and say "deal with it", but this is kind of interesting stuff and I would like to figure it out.
The tmk_keyboard seems to do what I want, but is way over my head.
I am going to try to explain now what I want to do, but I don't know what the proper name for half of what I want is, so please bear with me if I get something wrong or ask a stupid question.
Now, for those of you who are not familiar with Japanese, what I need is not actually kana input (which no one ever really uses) but romaji input with the special Japanese function keys. For example, if you want to type the word "日本語", you would type out its reading "にほんご". But since they keyboard has none of those keys you type our the romajinization of that reading, "nihongo", as you type it gets automatically converted to the reading, and then when you hit space or the change key, it automatically converts it to the computers best guess of the kanji.
To give a visual explanation, what I would like is something like the Filco Minila.
http://www.diatec.co.jp/products/det.php?prod_c=1316The ideal layout would be, symbol keys like this keyboard, the japanese input keys (KC_RO, KC_KANA, KC_JYEN, KC_HENK, KC_MHEN according to the keycode.txt), and a "function key" that would turn the number keys into F1-F12 keys and the right board into a numpad.
The problem is, I don't know how to do this.
From reading the build firmware guide on the github for tmk_keyboard, I assume I download the ergodox files, create my own keymap_whatevernamehere.h file, and then compile it.
My questions are:
1. How do I make the keymap file? Just edit one like this, changing the keymap to what I want?
https://github.com/grota/tmk_keyboard/blob/master/keyboard/ergodox/keymap_cub.h2. How do I make symbol keys match those on a Japanese board? Do I have to define the board as a Japanese one somewhere?
3. For layers, do they work as a switch between them? or on a hold? If not hold, how can I set them to do this.
4. How do i do the actual compiling? I need the source and my layout correct? Do I just put them in the same folder(tmk_keyboard/keyboard/ergodox) and follow the build firmware instructions here?
https://github.com/grota/tmk_keyboard/blob/master/doc/build.mdThank you for any assistance you can give.
