[v5.2.0 now out] Conkey keyboard layout

[Travis B.]

I tried using sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration to no avail...

[Travis B.]

Yes, I did it, by making the keyboard layout under XFCE under Settings > Keyboard > Layout be English US - English (intl., with AltGr dead keys).

[Travis B.]

And it only lasted until I switched back to the English (US) mode and back, after which it worked incorrectly as before...

[Richard W]

And it only lasted until I switched back to the English (US) mode and back, after which it worked incorrectly as before...

Yep, it seems to be the last X keyboard that counts. It used to be worse - it would always be based off the US Keyboard, and regardless of locale. Or perhaps I'm thinking of Keyman for Linux keyboards.

[Richard W]

(Scrubbed.)

[bradrn]

Out of curiosity, is there anything I can do with Conkey itself to make it work better on Linux? Or is it a futile endeavour as long as ibus is buggy?

[Richard W]

One solution would be a systematic alternative to Alt-Gr. As I said, my keyboards now allow '!' to be prefixed as an alternative to Alt-Gr, rather like the Emacs use of <ESC> as an alternative to meta-.

[bradrn]

One solution would be a systematic alternative to Alt-Gr. As I said, my keyboards now allow '!' to be prefixed as an alternative to Alt-Gr, rather like the Emacs use of <ESC> as an alternative to meta-.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with making keys like ‘!’ dead keys in Conkey — this is even in the README:

All special characters are to be accessed using AltGr only. The base US layout is inviolate …

However, <ESC> — or some similar non-printable key, though <ESC> seems best-suited here — could actually work pretty well in this application. Do you know how good ibus’s support is for this situation?

[Travis B.]

One solution would be a systematic alternative to Alt-Gr. As I said, my keyboards now allow '!' to be prefixed as an alternative to Alt-Gr, rather like the Emacs use of <ESC> as an alternative to meta-.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with making keys like ‘!’ dead keys in Conkey — this is even in the README:

All special characters are to be accessed using AltGr only. The base US layout is inviolate …

However, <ESC> — or some similar non-printable key, though <ESC> seems best-suited here — could actually work pretty well in this application. Do you know how good ibus’s support is for this situation?

To me the best solution would be to repurpose Caps Lock, as I always remap Caps Lock to Compose in traditional English (US) key maps anyways.

[bradrn]

One solution would be a systematic alternative to Alt-Gr. As I said, my keyboards now allow '!' to be prefixed as an alternative to Alt-Gr, rather like the Emacs use of <ESC> as an alternative to meta-.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with making keys like ‘!’ dead keys in Conkey — this is even in the README:

All special characters are to be accessed using AltGr only. The base US layout is inviolate …

However, <ESC> — or some similar non-printable key, though <ESC> seems best-suited here — could actually work pretty well in this application. Do you know how good ibus’s support is for this situation?

To me the best solution would be to repurpose Caps Lock, as I always remap Caps Lock to Compose in traditional English (US) key maps anyways.

I considered this, but other people do actually use Caps Lock — repurposing that key definitely feels like a minority preference to me, moreso than Esc does. (And indeed, switching Caps Lock and Esc is also pretty popular.)

[Travis B.]

I’ve always been uncomfortable with making keys like ‘!’ dead keys in Conkey — this is even in the README:



However, <ESC> — or some similar non-printable key, though <ESC> seems best-suited here — could actually work pretty well in this application. Do you know how good ibus’s support is for this situation?

To me the best solution would be to repurpose Caps Lock, as I always remap Caps Lock to Compose in traditional English (US) key maps anyways.

I considered this, but other people do actually use Caps Lock — repurposing that key definitely feels like a minority preference to me, moreso than Esc does. (And indeed, switching Caps Lock and Esc is also pretty popular.)

I would much prefer repurposing Caps Lock over repurposing Escape, as there are programs that really do use Escape in my experience.

[bradrn]

To me the best solution would be to repurpose Caps Lock, as I always remap Caps Lock to Compose in traditional English (US) key maps anyways.

I considered this, but other people do actually use Caps Lock — repurposing that key definitely feels like a minority preference to me, moreso than Esc does. (And indeed, switching Caps Lock and Esc is also pretty popular.)

I would much prefer repurposing Caps Lock over repurposing Escape, as there are programs that really do use Escape in my experience.

I know. (I use Vim keybindings constantly, for reference.) What I was thinking is that normal Escape could be simulated by pressing the key twice. It just seems less invasive to me than taking over a pretty well-known key which most people don’t even consider could be rebound anyhow.

[bradrn]

Version 5.0.0 is now out! As usual, get it from the releases page. This release introduces a new port of Conkey to XCompose for Linux, which should help to work around any lingering issues with IBus — I’m slowly moving over to NixOS, and can confirm that the XCompose version works magnificently where IBus doesn’t accept input properly. Also, the documentation has been moved online to https://github.com/bradrn/Conkey/blob/v ... ntation.md, which should make it a bit easier to consult.

[Man in Space]

bradrn, much like with Travis B., it brings joy to my heart to see the passion, investment, and care you put into your coding projects.

[Travis B.]

Version 5.0.0 is now out! As usual, get it from the releases page. This release introduces a new port of Conkey to XCompose for Linux, which should help to work around any lingering issues with IBus — I’m slowly moving over to NixOS, and can confirm that the XCompose version works magnificently where IBus doesn’t accept input properly. Also, the documentation has been moved online to https://github.com/bradrn/Conkey/blob/v ... ntation.md, which should make it a bit easier to consult.

I've gotta try this now; I have used XCompose without any problems, so I should have better luck with this.

[bradrn]

bradrn, much like with Travis B., it brings joy to my heart to see the passion, investment, and care you put into your coding projects.

Thanks! I’m glad you get some joy out of it.

(Though ultimately, my reasons are depressingly selfish — I use Conkey constantly myself!)

Version 5.0.0 is now out! As usual, get it from the releases page. This release introduces a new port of Conkey to XCompose for Linux, which should help to work around any lingering issues with IBus — I’m slowly moving over to NixOS, and can confirm that the XCompose version works magnificently where IBus doesn’t accept input properly. Also, the documentation has been moved online to https://github.com/bradrn/Conkey/blob/v ... ntation.md, which should make it a bit easier to consult.

I've gotta try this now; I have used XCompose without any problems, so I should have better luck with this.

Yes, please do try it and see if it works!

[bradrn]

Don’t have any new update… but I just completely rewrote the documentation for installing on Linux, and hopefully it should now be a lot clearer how to set up Conkey on a Linux machine. I’d be very interested to know if anyone else can get it working now!

(It turned out that it probably worked just fine all along; it’s just that you need to configure some non-obvious stuff. Most annoyingly, XKB does not configure an AltGr key by default, and figuring out exactly how to configure one is an exercise in frustration, even though it ends up being actually quite simple in the end.)

[Travis B.]

Version 5.0.0 is now out! As usual, get it from the releases page. This release introduces a new port of Conkey to XCompose for Linux, which should help to work around any lingering issues with IBus — I’m slowly moving over to NixOS, and can confirm that the XCompose version works magnificently where IBus doesn’t accept input properly. Also, the documentation has been moved online to https://github.com/bradrn/Conkey/blob/v ... ntation.md, which should make it a bit easier to consult.

I've gotta try this now; I have used XCompose without any problems, so I should have better luck with this.

Yes, please do try it and see if it works!

Oh, BTW, I've been using Conkey with XCompose for quite some time now, and it works great; my only quibble is that I haven't been able to figure out how to write proper angle brackets (i.e. not less than/greater than), but that might just be a matter of my having not looked through the docs in length.

[bradrn]

I've gotta try this now; I have used XCompose without any problems, so I should have better luck with this.

Yes, please do try it and see if it works!

Oh, BTW, I've been using Conkey with XCompose for quite some time now, and it works great; my only quibble is that I haven't been able to figure out how to write proper angle brackets (i.e. not less than/greater than), but that might just be a matter of my having not looked through the docs in length.

Glad to hear it’s working for you! Angle brackets are G-< G-< and G-> G-> for ⟨ and ⟩ respectively. I recall that key combination being particularly tricky on XCompose, since you have to release and then re-press the compose key in the middle (Multi_key < Multi_key <) — this was in fact one of the main reasons I figured out how to get it working with a proper IM.

[Travis B.]

Yes, please do try it and see if it works!

Oh, BTW, I've been using Conkey with XCompose for quite some time now, and it works great; my only quibble is that I haven't been able to figure out how to write proper angle brackets (i.e. not less than/greater than), but that might just be a matter of my having not looked through the docs in length.

Glad to hear it’s working for you! Angle brackets are G-< G-< and G-> G-> for ⟨ and ⟩ respectively. I recall that key combination being particularly tricky on XCompose, since you have to release and then re-press the compose key in the middle (Multi_key < Multi_key <) — this was in fact one of the main reasons I figured out how to get it working with a proper IM.

Just checked and G-< G-< and G-> G-> works for me in typing angle brackets.