Has anyone started work on a qwertz layout in general or a german layout in particular and is willing to share and discuss? Or just interested in getting the conversation going, like me?
I’ve searched the forum and found some interesting thoughts on keyboard layouts for swedish and french, but nothing specific to german or other european languages with lots of pesky special characters and diacritics yet. (Or maybe I’ve missed something, I’ll keep looking.)
Meanwhile I’ve started dabbling around with it, since unfortunately the Model01 does not work with a german language setting out of the box. (The Ü key is missing, as are one or two keys for special characters, the ß key is in a weird place, but Ü is the biggest problem.)
This is my first attempt at modifying a keyboard layout beyond using Xmodmap to switch Fn and Ctrl keys. At first glance remapping the Model01 does not seem too difficult, but once I’ve started drawing up a draft for a new layout, I realized that the Model01 is kind of short on keys. It seems like there is no room to put all keys typically found on qwertz keyboards near the place you would normally expect them and even when sacrificing keys like ANY, LED, NUM and PROG it’s kind of difficult to find a place for every key that is needed.
My thoughts so far:
- Ü is missing. It’s normally to the right of P on german qwertz. Putting Ü on the key right of P is not a problem, but creates the need to find a new place for the apostrophe and accent key (the key labeled = and + on the qwerty keycaps).
- So for the apostrophe/accent needs a new place.
- The key for ß and ? is in a weird place. It’s usually found right of the zero key, on the Model01 it’s to the right of the labeled / and ? and \ on the qwerty keycaps (this key correctly performs the function of the dash key when connected to a computer that uses a german layout). I’m thinking about sacrificing the NUM key (remapping it to Fn + LED or something). Another option would be to sacrifice the ANY key and shifting the 6 to 0 keys one to the left, the 6 key is too far right anyway.
- The key for < and > and | is missing. This key is usually between the left shift key and the Y key (z key on the querty keycaps). On the Model01 with qwerty keycaps that key is used for PgDn, so remapping it creates the need to find new homes for PgDn and PgUp (since those two should probably stay close together).
That’s about as far as I’ve gotten. I guess I’ll sleep on it and try myself at the keyboard layout editor tomorrow. I’d be delighted to hear what other people facing a similar problem have come up with so far.