The TrulyErgo vi/vim support group

[kuato]

Hey all,

Since I'm a vim guy, I decided to start a thread for folks with the new TrulyErgonomic board that also happen to be heavy vi/vim users. I also didn't want to hijack any of the other threads floating around for this 'board.

Out of the box, I disliked many of the key placements for frequently used keys when using "C family" of syntices/syntaxen/syntaxes (never occurred to me to try and pluralize this word). So I've decided to suggest some keymaps here and maybe some scripts/configs to get the ball rolling. I performed the majority of my experimentation using AutoHotKey and GVIM on Windows while typing something syntactically ugly (think C++ templates) and then re-adjusting to taste. I tried some odd remaps like using left space for tab and center tab for escape but that eventually melted my brain.

Here's a copy of the AHK for those interested:

Code: [Select]


;
; Truly Ergonomic Computer Keyboard
;
; A biased remapping of the TECK 'board for vi/vim users
; and C-style languages
;

LShift::Escape
LCtrl::LShift
LAlt::LCtrl

; Map the right shift to close brace
RShift::SC01B

; Map the close brace to [_-]
SC01B::SC00C


Once I fiddle with this further and get TrulyComfortable(tm), I'll distribute some console-tools and/or xmodmap configs via pastebin so that they'll actually be useful where vi/vim are actually used

Happy hacking!

[metafour]

Use gist so people can fork!

[Tracer]

Thanks for this. I finally got my tracking number and will be VIMing shortly.

[heuristicist]

Thanks for starting this thread. Keep us up-to-date with how you progress. I just got mine today and since the machine on which I'm using it doesn't have Windows I will be mucking around with xmodmap quite a bit once I get a chance to play around with it.

[heuristicist]

BTW, which TECK did you get? 104/105/109? Which switches?

[kuato]

Use gist so people can fork!

Haha, good point!

Thanks for this. I finally got my tracking number and will be VIMing shortly.

Definitely. I live in New York and the package got to me surprisingly quick from Vancouver. They did a stand up job with the packaging and the build quality is immediately noticeable. However, I'm curious why they couldn't take the extra step of actually printing the quick start guide they have online to go along with the 3 identical copies of the invoice I received...

Thanks for starting this thread. Keep us up-to-date with how you progress. I just got mine today and since the machine on which I'm using it doesn't have Windows I will be mucking around with xmodmap quite a bit once I get a chance to play around with it.

BTW, which TECK did you get? 104/105/109? Which switches?

Nice. Please share your xmodmap configs here when you have the chance! I've yet to have enough time to try this thing on my other systems (I also have a Debian laptop and a Mac).

To answer your question: I got the 104 with MX Browns. I wish I put some more forethought into this though...

For one, I should've gotten it blank since I will be remapping quite a few keys and it irks me to see a printed key not reflect the reality of its function. Secondly, the 109 offers far more options to map things to.

So far, the remapping I created in the original post has been making it easier to acclimate to this keyboard from a standard keyboard. I want to avoid the mistake of trying to force the TECK to be more like a normal keyboard layout and cancel out any ergonomic benefit from the default TECK layout. While the default seems almost fine for normal typing, some of their choices really blow away years of code monkey muscle memory...

[hashbaz]

I don't have a Truly Ergo board, but I support anything vim-related.  Thanks for posting.

[djcybermyth]

While I'm not really using vim for anything more than the odd git commit message, I do use the TE for C programming extensively.  Do you still have the shift keys remapped off of the home row?  I definitely agree that it makes switching to (and from) the TE much easier, but having the shift on the home row does seem to have some merit.

[kuato]

I still have it mapped off the home row. I can understand the decision now since it's an oft-used key and less awkward for the pinky. But yes, for transition purposes, it's ideal.