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Comment by asimovDev | Hacker News Reader

being scared of emacs pinkie was a major contributor for me back as a student to learning vim. I remap ctrl to CAPS LOCK on all my computers as one of the first things but I still end up using my pinkie. I've been playing with the idea of switching ctrl to the spacebar at least in non insert mode though because I still end up using my pinkie a lot when scrolling with Ctrl+E for example

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On my MacBook I map the right hand command key to “ctrl” and the right hand option key to “meta”. Since the command keys are right next to the space bar that puts the ctrl key on a thumb position most of the time, and for the times when that isn’t a good key for a given combo I still have caps lock bound to “ctrl” as well. Seems to work reasonably well and lets me keep the usual command and option keys on the left side for “super” modifiers and for typing accented and other characters.

For my desktops, I use an Ergodox EZ keyboard and mapped ctrl and meta into the thumb clusters there.

Use Spacemacs? What I was recommended by a power user is doom emacs Uses the space bar by default

I don't use actual vim for much, most of my time is spent in JetBrains IDEs and sometimes Xcode. Both with vim emulation. Setting up Spacemacs would take hours of my time for questionable gain. If I was still a student I'd jump on it but alas

Don't use your pinkie or any finger. Use the meat of your hand to hit the control key.

This works especially well on an IBM Model M because there's nothing in the vicinity of either the left or right ctrl, you just chop your palm down and can't go wrong. I could also pretty reliably M-x in one hit by flipping my left hand over, curling my pinkie finger, and hitting the keys with the knuckles. On more crowded keyboards I remap ctrl:nocaps and use thumb and forefinger for M-x. I actually deliberately got rid of my Model M to teach myself to do it this objectively worse way, because context switching between my docked workstation setup and laptop keyboard on the go was difficult. If only someone would make a laptop with a proper keyboard...

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