I started using a nordic dvorak variant (svorak) about a year and a half ago and after the brutal learning curve, I find it far more comfortable than QWERTY. But even my more effeciency and productivity focused friends have really been confused that I’d go through all that effort and that nobody really does it anymore.
So that got me curious; aside from usual regional variants used in different regions, do a lot of us use some form of non-default keyboard layout and how do you find it?
At one time, I was tempted to learn a different keyboard layout, but that turned out futile, since I have to work on so many different machines, and they usually have the same standard German layout.
some time ago now when I had to write a lot in LaTeX I modified the common German keyboard layout in a way, that the Umlaut-keys got all the TeX-required keys {, }, [, ] and \ (and maybe @). At these times (under X) this was done with the ~/.xmodmap-file.
Maybe, I can find that file somewhere. And I do not know, how to do this with Wayland in our days.
That modified layout was fine - BUT any time, I had to write something on a “different” keyboard it was a pain
My daily driver is the US English Dvorak layout, with International English Dvorak as an alternate (on a French AZERTY laptop, yet). I even use the International Engish Dvorak when I type French.
My choice of layout got me in a little trouble when I adopted EOS Sway. For some reason the login screen didn’t respect my layout setting, so I was stuck with 4-character passwords. I uninstalled the graphical login and now everything is fine using the terminal login.
I need to type quickly in my native language , but for all IT-related tasks, the keyboard is worse that the standard QWERTY one. It’s awkward to type [ ], { }, #, ~, ^ and \. Unfortunately, you need to type them all the time if you sysadmin or program. If you are a touch typist, this really adds up.
EURkey solves this by assigning the umlauts to a AltGr-vocal combination and the German eszett (ß) to AltGr-s. This is easy to learn, easy to type and solves the issue of combining the language-specific stuff with a programmer’s keyboard layout for me.
The only character I miss here is the paragraph (§) symbol, the author of this layout must hate lawyers.
But I need to type this once in a blue moon, so I can get by just by using the unicode entry method of Ctrl-Shift-ua7⏎. Looks daunting, but it’s quickly typed.
Maybe I can do something with Xcompose – @Moonbase59, how well does this work with Wayland and without X? I tried once to use Xcompose, but quickly forgot about it and mainly restrict myself to vim’s digraphs. Since vim editing of the command line is just a ESCv (in bash vi mode) away, easy enough for me.
Sorry, don’t know, I still use X11 on all my machinery, for a multitude of reasons. I suspect that maybe XWayland can handle it? Couldn’t live without my .XCompose and CapsLock being the Compose key…
I dimly remember someone saying he used a .XCompose with Wayland successfully.
Oops, just realizing I should edit my post with the keyboard layout! Meanwhile, since several months, I use a modified German E2 keyboard layout, since the original German deadtilde was too restrictive for some things I have to write.
This adheres to the current DIN 2137-01:2023-08 standard, with the addition of a (non-latch) level 5 shift (“Ex”) on the </> key. It’s far too dumb having to press AltGr+F every time before being able to access any of the special keys (top right on keycaps, red). (Stems from some darn Windows compatibility thing.)
Having an extra “Shift” key next to the real Shift to access all characters on the top right of the keycaps increases typing speed enormously. Like a horizontal ellipsis … is now just Ex+. instead of AltGr+F., or a right arrow → (German Pfeil) Ex+P instead of AltGr+FP.
The additional advantage of using the E2 instead of E1 variant is that you can use it seamlessly on US-like keyboards that typically don’t have the extra </> key, like on a 104-key keyboard. You’ll then of course have to use AltGr+F instead of Ex, but the placement of all other keys doesn’t change and thus “finger memory” be kept.
Fortunately, we already have one supplier that sells an actual E1 keyboard. I’m hoping they’ll come up with the E2 layout as well… All nice DIN standards don’t help much without actual hardware and people using it…
Hee, hee, yes. Me mentioning good old German DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung)—guilty as accused!
I must have been living in this country for too long… far from home. Then again, I love good microtypography—would try the same on the keyboard with the £ on it.
The missing black/gold picture is a pity—could well be my favourite.
Dunno… looks rather “ugly-brown”, not “gold” to my eyes. Not even on the original kickstarter they have an image.
But looks like you’re right, a quick look at the Cherry KC 200 MX shows it’s one of the available colors. Well, at least black keycaps…
Next big problem: Where do I get compatible keycaps for my backlit Thinkpad? Haven’t yet memorized all the seldom-used ones, so having a look would be nice…
Should anyone wish to try “my” layout:
Set the keyboard layout to Deutsch (E2), and then…
# Written by systemd-localed(8), read by systemd-localed and Xorg. It's
# probably wise not to edit this file manually. Use localectl(1) to
# update this file.
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "system-keyboard"
MatchIsKeyboard "on"
Option "XkbLayout" "de"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbVariant" "e2"
Option "XkbOptions" "lv5:lsgt_switch,compose:caps,keypad:future,nbsp:level2,terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp,grp:win_space_toggle"
EndSection
Enjoy!
N.B.: If you’re working on more than one machine like I do, it pays to switch layout on all of them. I was constantly typing the wrong keys on my Linux Mint machines, especially since <, > and | have moved to different places with the E2 layout.
A real problem when working in the shell, but now I’m happy again. ssh access to all your remote machines of course just works without any changes on the servers.
Nice demonstration of the superiority of CLI conf editing vs GUI conf editing – 5 huge screenshots vs 11 lines of text.
But there’s one other thing I’m curious about:
What exactly is the use case of a E2 keyboard?
For me, using EURkey, my use case is the easiest access to characters I use daily. Examples are the brackets and all bash special characters. I also need being able to type umlauts and ß relatively quick. With EURkey, there’s AltGr prefixed, no dead keys like in US international which slow everything down.
As tradeoff, I don’t mind that I need to type a ‘§’ with an incantation of Ctrl-⇧-ua7⏎, since I use it once every three months. Same for other rarely used stuff.
E2 layout, on the other hand, gives you moderate ease of access to all characters which can be typed in the latin alphabet, all names of every language group are possible.
What do I have to do as a job/hobby to need this?
Linguist? My gut feeling tells me that they specialize mostly in one area, where they can get by with a localized keyboard.
So, what else? Data entry clerk at the local citizen registration office? Project work on a lexicon? Wikipedia author?
when I had to write a lot in LaTeX I modified the common German keyboard layout in a way, that the Umlaut-keys got all the TeX-required keys 
, but for all IT-related tasks, the keyboard is worse that the standard QWERTY one. It’s awkward to type [ ], { }, #, ~, ^ and \. Unfortunately, you need to type them all the time if you sysadmin or program. If you are a touch typist, this really adds up.
