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Comment by Arainach | Hacker News Reader

I like keyboards with layers support, but layers aren't a replacement for sufficient keys. Holding down the layer button means another finger unavailable for hotkeys. For instance, on my keyboard (ZSA Moonlander) I have the function keys in an alternate layer. This isn't a problem for a normal press (layer shift + 2 => F2), but it makes pressing something like Ctrl+Shift+F2 rather painful.

Yes, for such shortcuts that I use frequently I can create special custom keys in layers, but when using new apps or particularly complicated apps with lots of hotkeys (IntelliJ) that doesn't scale.

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I eventually went with home-row mods and a miryoku based layout. I've found home-row mods to be quite finicky with respect to timing, but I think overall they are better than not.

https://configure.zsa.io/moonlander/layouts/b7yOD/latest/0

You should try to use OSL instead of MO (or TT) as the layer key action: https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/docs/one_sho...

I have a ZSA Moonlander but it makes me want to make a Dactyl Manuform of some of the larger sizes just for those extra keys.

https://wylderbuilds.com/all-sizes

I have a Moonlander and regret listening to all of the enthusiast reviews about it. It feels great to type on, but the missing keys and blank keycaps for a lot of keys is slowly driving me crazy. I dabble in a lot of things but don't really code anymore for my job. So it's not worth it for me to customize my keyboard and layers for whatever IDE today that I won't use for long. And I switch from PC to Mac to Linux a lot, so the having to keep all the keyboard shortcuts straight in my head while using a minimal, somewhat unlabeled keyboard is impossible.

Sounds like it ain’t worth much at all. Wanna trade?

I got a dell media keyboard I bought at Goodwill. No lie it has a lot of pointless keys dating back to the dinosaurs and comes with extra skin cells. You can tap Scroll Lock until ya ded.

Crazy idea I've always wanted to try: somehow hack a USB foot-pedal to act as a layer key.

(Hard, because usually the layers are implemented inside the keyboard's firmware, rather than being processed by the OS. Maybe the foot-pedal would need to plug into the keyboard.)

Layers in software are thing with eg. kmonad or kanata

Doesn't work for keys that don't send keysyms by default but instead act as e.g. media keys if you're not holding a modifier. (Media keys are their own USB HID usage page; the OS keyboard driver doesn't see them.)

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