geekhack Community > Ergonomics
Alternatives for TouchCursor (for PC)?
Lunatique:
I have been using TouchCursor for over a decade and it's been completely integrated into my muscle memory when typing. I love being able to do all kinds of stuff without ever leaving home row. It's also been fairly reliable over the years.
If you're not familiar with TouchCursor, it basically allows you to turn your home row into navigation keys, which makes typing much faster and intuitive, as you can move the cursor (or highlight) one letter, one word, one line, one paragraph, etc., at a time, as well as map other functions to the home row--all activate by simply holding the spacebar (or whatever key you assign).
http://martin-stone.github.io/touchcursor/
Here's what my layout looks like:
(C stands for Ctrl, and S stands for shift)
But very recently, the main writing software I use, Scrivener 3, released its latest update and it now does not work with TouchCursor anymore. So I'm on the lookout for an alternative.
I did some searches and found this list of alternatives (https://www.tpsort.com/similar-to/17248-top-15-touchcursor-alternative-and-similar-softwares). I tried a few but none did exactly what TouchCursor could.
nevin:
you could probably accomplish something very similar with QMK firmware on a board that supports that firmware like the GH60 or any of the many custom boards talked about here on the forum. this solution would be built into the keyboard and wouldn't work with the built in keyboard of a laptop. (programming in the keyboard, not an app running on the computer)
- watched part of the video on the touchcursor site, looked like holding multiple keys to activate the alternative keymap... there are a number of ways to activate "layers" in QMK and being in the alpha block, you could use dual role keys. when tapped you get the key...we'll say... "f", when held it can activate an alternate layer and change the keymap for part of the board or the entire board.
i'll help you try to figure something out.
- what keyboard do you use?
- does it support QMK, TMK, or some other programmable tool?
QMK on github: https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware
QMK docs: https://docs.qmk.fm/#/
TK0:
As nevin post it, you probably could accomplish it with QMK, if your keyboard supports it. As it modifies the firmware of your kb, you will not be dependent on a software solution and another software should accept it, if it supports regular mouse keys/movement. It will work on basically anything you plug your kb in. On the other side, it doesn't solve your problem if you are using the laptop keyboard, or something else that doesn't support QMK.
I'll just add the QMK documentation for mouse keys/movement: https://beta.docs.qmk.fm/using-qmk/advanced-keycodes/feature_mouse_keys. As you can see, it gives you a lot of granularity for mouse movement (delay, interval, speed, etc).
In QMK configurator (https://config.qmk.fm/#/), you can find a list of keyboards that support it (not sure if the list is exhaustive, i.e., includes all kbs that have QMK support), and the mouse keys are under the tab "App, Media and Mouse".
And, of course, if you have any trouble with it, I'm sure someone here will help.
Lunatique:
Software solution is more ideal, since I won't have to be tied to any specific keyboard and can use whatever I want. I also don't seem to own any of the keyboards on that list. I mainly use these keyboards:
RealForce 87
Royal Kludge RC930-87
KBParadise V80 TKL x2 (Cherry MX and Matias Quiet key versions)
Ducky One White TKL
So there are no other viable alternatives to TouchCursor?
nevin:
what about hasu's usb to usb adapter? https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=69169.0
it runs TMK firmware and can turn just about any keyboard into a programable one.
your keyboard plugs into this little device, then that gets plugged into the computer. it takes the input from your off the shelf keyboard and remaps it to the firmware that's running on the adapter. it's a genius little trick.
there are various remapping softwares, but i don't know if any of them do what touchcursor does. to me, it seems like almost acts like keyboard firmware that runs on the computer.
some other software things to look at? (not sure what OSs you use)
- AutoHotKey - pc
- SharpKeys - pc
- KeyTweak - pc
lifehacker article https://lifehacker.com/the-best-key-remapper-for-windows-5883003
- Karabiner - mac
- controller mate - mac
- KeyRemap4MacBook - mac
- Ukelele - mac
....there are probably others. these are just the couple i know or came up in a search.
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