New Owner's Thoughts, Key Remaps, and whatever else

Help and Getting Started
1

This is not to gloat that some have and some are waiting to have… Perfect english, I know.

Its like Christmas came early this year, October instead of December. 2 years is two years worth waiting for this. Thanks jesse and kaia. For those that have yet to receive theirs, its worth it, patience grasshopper.

What I love:

function arrow keys, who knew they’d be so useful and used all the time!
function mouse, ridiculous fun
function space = (secondary enter)

What’s gonna take getting use to:

chording with shift
reaching for tab/escape
hitting pg up/pg dn because of muscle memory
function keys, I keep hitting them by accident

My initial/potential remap (left to right):

shift, f-shift = tab
bksp stays, f-bksp = del
ctrl, f-ctrl = enter; may remap this to something else later…
alt, f-ctrl = right alt

cmd, f-cmd = pg up
ctrl, f-ctrl = pg dn
space stays, f-space = enter
shift, f-shift = esc

I’ll be flashing my kbm01 on Friday when I get my key puller from Amazon. Looks very straight forward. Special thanks to Jennifer Leigh for writing the how to, and thanks Algernon for writing Kaleidoscope (firmware that powers kbm01), and congrats on the twins.

TL:DR

I love it.

Your turn - what you love, what’s gonna take getting used to, what are you gonna remap, whatever else…

2 Likes
2

The problem with making fn+modifier into a non-modifier key is that you can’t then use modifiers with keystrokes that need fn to access. So for example if some application you use needs ctrl+end for something but fn+ctrl does something else, then you can’t generate ctrl+end by doing ctrl+fn+pgdn.

Unless of course you make the order in which the keys are pressed significant. But I can’t (yet) see how to make that work with the default firmware.

1 Like
3

haha.

You’re right. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Just too excited. Guess I’ll have to leave those out.

4

A small correction, if I may: I didn’t write Kaleidoscope, @jesse did. I just contributed a bunch of plugins and code. A lot of my work was possible only because Jesse gave very good advice, and welcomed all the silly stuff I came up with, and helped turn them into something vaguely useful.

4 Likes
5

Oh, double thanks to Jesse. Kaleidoscope and RT. I’m not gonna name my kid after you. But I’ll see if someone else wants to name their kid after you.

4 Likes
6

Something I definitely recommend doing is using the OneShots plugin for your modifiers. It is life-changing not to need to chord…

1 Like
7

I think the palm key is unique to the Model 01, I’ve never seen anything like it on another keyboard, it’s a game changer. In my unboxing video I say that it’s the kind of thing I want the next generation to be able to take for granted.

The ability to customize everything in the firmware is the other radical thing that makes me rethink every other input device. After I get my basic general-use layout down solid I plan to learn Steno or Half-qwerty one handed board next.

The biggest challenge is experimenting with changes and finding (usually the hard way) the pitfalls and ramifications. I tried OneShot modifiers for example, but am so sloppy a typer that a few mistypes had hilariously bad results. In the past I tried making Shift keys be parens when typed alone and found that my bad habits had me typing “(” all over the place! The smallest change on a keyboard can have huge consequence or reward.

I love this keyboard.

4 Likes
8

I love the palm key “idea” but I’m clumsy and my paws are always hitting it inadvertly. I think I’d prefer a 5th thumb key under the 4 thumb keys.

Also as far as remapping/customizing the kb and the layers, yeah. If j and k wanted to sell me flavored ice cubes, I’d probably buy it from them before anyone else.

I’m already using the fn-hjkl arrow keys like they’re second nature, genius.

2 Likes
9

That product is not something on the roadmap today. We’d have to get much better at logistics.

(We’d also be more likely to sell you the powdered flavoring, which, I presume, is what you were alluding to.)

3 Likes
10

Just renamed my two cats Algernon and Jesse.

Edit: Sorry, don’t have kids to rename.

5 Likes
11

thanks NG. I’d rename my dog but after calling him by one name for 14 years, I didn’t
want to confuse him or have him look at me like I had two heads.

1 Like
12

What flavors? haha. But in all seriousness, thanks for committing two years of your life to improve ours.

4 Likes
13

-rw-rw-r-- 1 jesse jesse 113746 Dec 8 2012 keyboard-matrix.jpg

Five. :wink:

And it was supposed to be a one-month project to make one keyboard.

I’m glad I had no idea what I was getting into at the time.

12 Likes
14

Five! Right, the idea came first, then kickstarter, then it just snowballed. You are truly a pioneer.

Now I really need to find expecting parents.

15

As I stated before on the kickstarter comments, the palm keys are not unique to the Model 1, but also exist on the Velotype/Veyboard. They are very comfy though, I must admit.

My main bugbear with the Model 1, other than bad habits is that I have fairly big hands, and therefore tend to hit <Esc> when I mean to hit <b>. That’ll probably pass though as I get used to the keyboard.

I do adore the feel of the Mattias switches; they take me back a long ways, as they feel and sound highly familiar from the late '80s/early '90s.

Is anybody else training without actively looking at the keyboard? I’ve noticed that the 10-fingered qwerty-training I’ve had over the years mostly transfers, so I can mostly type without so much as a second thought when it comes to most regular typing.

16

Yup. And digging through our notes, I did find that I’d seen the Veyboard, though wasn’t actively copying it when we added the palm keys.

There were also some hobbyists who added arcade buttons to their kinesis keyboards to act as modifiers.

17

Oh, even if you would have been actively copying it, they’re still a great idea, plus your implementation is way more comfortable. This is only my second evening with the keyboard and I can manage up to 60 wpm, so you’ve clearly done things right!

3 Likes
18

Yeah, with the way my desk is set up, I can’t see my hands while I’m typing and my transition has been pretty good; mostly getting used to modifiers on the thumb keys.

19

When I switched to ErgoDox and Planck, I got both with blanck keycaps. Thus, even when you peek at the kb, you still have to remember the keymap. This trains your brain alot.
Just as an idea for those who haven’t ordered their 01 yet. It is also available with blank keys.

20

Slight clarification: All Model 01s ship with QWERTY caps. Extra blank keycap sets will be available.

1 Like