Unofficial Keyboard Layouts


The rest of them can be mapped by the user, e.g. if you want a key for € then you could map Fn+E to that; other may want Fn+E to be Ë or É or È or whatever. There are enough keys to remap this to any layout you want, e.g. if you want dedicated keys for Å, Ä and Ö.
Ayep. I think a Good Thing would be to include a simple-to-use keyboard remapping tool in the basic OS, and a keymap switcher/viewer widget. To have both a simple way to see where an uncommon glyph is mapped, and a simple way to customise the mapping for different use cases or languages (I'd probably have one "programming" keymap and one "writing" keymap, and switch when necessary).
 
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^ That's actually a good point. As I'm currently halted on pewpewtris since I can't find anyone to do graphics for me, I'm reworking my old PND's I've released. A keyboard remapper wouldn't be a bad improvement on the layout changer...
 
The rest of them can be mapped by the user
This was proposed for the original Pandora keyboard as well. The counter argument was that for the infrequently used keys that would go on them it would be hard to remember what each one was without a label. I'm not sure if I agree with that or not.
 
There will always be Compose mode for the user. A dedicated key is nice but Shift-Enter is hardly difficult to do. Like I asked _wb_, do you have any specific characters that are universal you'd like on the layout? Keep them in the realm of needed once a month by users and not once a year.
 
This is typical for such a confusion. B-zar isn't asking for specific diacritics or characters, he is asking for good access to modifier keys so that we can offset the smaller number of keytops. Different thing, irrelevant followup question.
Yes. I'm asking for a "second shift" if that makes more sense to you. Using a compose key might not seem like a big deal, but try writing "Äänekäs känni-ääliö häiriköi hääyön päämäärään kävelyä" (translation: "The loud drunken idiot distracted the walk to wedding night's destination") using those.


shift-enter fn-s shift-a shift-enter fn-s a n e k shift-enter fn-s a s k shift-enter fn-s a n n i - shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a li shift-enter fn-s o h shift-enter fn-s a i r i k shift-enter fn-s o i h shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a y shift-enter fn-s o n p shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a m shift-enter fn-s a r shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a n k shift-enter fn-s a vely shift-enter fn-s a.

Compose key may be a solution for a few odd accents, but especially ä is surprisingly common letter in finnish. According to wikipedia, ä is about as common in finnish as c or f is in english.

Now, I'm not saying any specific non-english layout should be pandered to. By having an unmapped shift-type key in the layout the users can map all their non-ascii stuff behind it. Everyone wins :)
 
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Here is a variant of the layout I proposed above:

layout.png


http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/ac06aceb440f999ce85a899eacae85c6

Here's a mockup of how my ideal Pyra would look like:

mockup.png


(except with the status leds somewhere else, either in the hinge like on the Pandora, or in the front)
 
The main problem is that people are discussing different things, and then mistakes arguments in one part of the thread to be about another part. There are at least two main strains of this thread:

* What number of keys ought the keyboard to have, and in what configuration. That is, keytops.

* What characters are important enough to be printed on the keytops, and in what positions and colours.

These are two very different things, and when these are confused, as for instance when Slaeshjag remarked that he wanted keys between P and Enter (keytops) and got criticized for wanting to print strange swedish characters there (which he said nothing about), things get confused. And when people get confused they raise their voices, and everything gets progressively worse. Relax, breathe and read again is, I think, a good advice for many :D

There will always be Compose mode for the user. A dedicated key is nice but Shift-Enter is hardly difficult to do. Like I asked _wb_, do you have any specific characters that are universal you'd like on the layout? Keep them in the realm of needed once a month by users and not once a year.
This is typical for such a confusion. B-zar isn't asking for specific diacritics or characters, he is asking for good access to modifier keys so that we can offset the smaller number of keytops. Different thing, irrelevant followup question.
I know what B-zar was asking and I disagreed with him that we need another modifier key added to what we already have available. I did want his opinion on what could be put on the row I mentioned. From that prototype(or whatever) board, I'm basing my layout on it as I don't see where extra keys would fit on a 1-2mm expanded lengthwise Pandor-ish handheld. Not between the center nor the sides without severe compromises to the physical key sizes.

As for voices being raised and such, we have all remained civil to one another in this thread. No need to presume otherwise. The old saying "too many cooks spoil the broth" could apply here. 

You don't need $ just for programming, it's also used in LaTeX, spreadsheets, shell variables, regular expressions, and so on.

We need the keys ' " ` , . - = ~ / anyway, all I was saying is that they should be put in relatively good positions because they're also used in compose combinations.

Shift-enter is not an ideal key for compose if you use compose a lot. It's better to have a single key.

Here's a proposal. It requires 4 rows of 13, 14, or 15 keys:

` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = [DEL] [bACKSPACE]

[TAB] Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ] \

[sHIFT] A S D F G H J K L ; ' [ENTER]

[CTRL] [ALT] Z X C V B N M , . / [sPACE] [Fn]

Shifted keys just like on a normal keyboard:

~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + [DEL] [bACKSPACE]

[TAB] Q W E R T Y U I O P { } |

[sHIFT] A S D F G H J K L : "  [ENTER]

[CTRL] [ALT] Z X C V B N M < > ? [sPACE] [Fn]

Some Fn keys:

[ESC] F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 [iNSERT]

[CAPS LOCK]

and maybe some for things like wifi toggle, brightness etc. The rest of them can be mapped by the user, e.g. if you want a key for € then you could map Fn+E to that; other may want Fn+E to be Ë or É or È or whatever.

There are enough keys to remap this to any layout you want, e.g. if you want dedicated keys for Å, Ä and Ö.

This is just a standard QWERTY keyboard, reduced to 4 rows instead of 6. With a slightly wider device and/or slightly smaller or less spaced out keys, it should be possible.
I don't believe the physical number of keys in the layout will change from the video ED posted. No need to as I've illustrated.

The rest of them can be mapped by the user, e.g. if you want a key for € then you could map Fn+E to that; other may want Fn+E to be Ë or É or È or whatever. There are enough keys to remap this to any layout you want, e.g. if you want dedicated keys for Å, Ä and Ö.
Ayep. I think a Good Thing would be to include a simple-to-use keyboard remapping tool in the basic OS, and a keymap switcher/viewer widget. To have both a simple way to see where an uncommon glyph is mapped, and a simple way to customise the mapping for different use cases or languages (I'd probably have one "programming" keymap and one "writing" keymap, and switch when necessary).
I'd like that to happen as an alternative to others of course.

The rest of them can be mapped by the user
This was proposed for the original Pandora keyboard as well. The counter argument was that for the infrequently used keys that would go on them it would be hard to remember what each one was without a label. I'm not sure if I agree with that or not.
I Agree.

There will always be Compose mode for the user. A dedicated key is nice but Shift-Enter is hardly difficult to do. Like I asked _wb_, do you have any specific characters that are universal you'd like on the layout? Keep them in the realm of needed once a month by users and not once a year.
 
This is typical for such a confusion. B-zar isn't asking for specific diacritics or characters, he is asking for good access to modifier keys so that we can offset the smaller number of keytops. Different thing, irrelevant followup question.
Yes. I'm asking for a "second shift" if that makes more sense to you. Using a compose key might not seem like a big deal, but try writing "Äänekäs känni-ääliö häiriköi hääyön päämäärään kävelyä" (translation: "The loud drunken idiot distracted the walk to wedding night's destination") using those.


shift-enter fn-s shift-a shift-enter fn-s a n e k shift-enter fn-s a s k shift-enter fn-s a n n i - shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a li shift-enter fn-s o h shift-enter fn-s a i r i k shift-enter fn-s o i h shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a y shift-enter fn-s o n p shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a m shift-enter fn-s a r shift-enter fn-s a shift-enter fn-s a n k shift-enter fn-s a vely shift-enter fn-s a.

Compose key may be a solution for a few odd accents, but especially ä is surprisingly common letter in finnish. According to wikipedia, ä is about as common in finnish as c or f is in english.

Now, I'm not saying any specific non-english layout should be pandered to. By having an unmapped shift-type key in the layout the users can map all their non-ascii stuff behind it. Everyone wins :)
As I've said above, we already have a plentiful amount of options handy. Shift-Enter and a remap app should suffice. Too bad custom keymats can't be made this time around(or could they?).
 
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Here is a variant of the layout I proposed above:

layout.png


http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/ac06aceb440f999ce85a899eacae85c6

Here's a mockup of how my ideal Pyra would look like:

mockup.png


(except with the status leds somewhere else, either in the hinge like on the Pandora, or in the front)
Your mockup will make the keys super tiny. We're talking Blackberry territory and those keys in the second picture crowded into the center will likely be difficult to press individually. :mellow:
 
Even having to use fn is a pain if you use that character a lot.

I would probably end up mapping away q, w, z or some other useless keys that I use once a blue moon when typing normal text that isn't english.
 
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Even having to use fn is a pain if you use that character a lot.

I would probably end up mapping away q, w, z or some other useless keys that I use once a blue moon when typing normal text that isn't english.
Seems to be the unanswerable question but I'll try here. What keys do you need that are cumbersome under Compose that might show up on the Tab-/ with Fn row? Thoughts?
 
What about including a small LCD in each key which can be used to display any labels you want?

*duck*

(for me: as many keys as possible, I don't mind if they are significantly smaller than the current ones. Sticking to qwerty with lots of modifiers seems to be a good idea to me)

I also had this crazy idea once and wonder whether this would actually work: Would it be possible to have a capacitive touch foil (like on a screen, but without the screen) where the keyboard is now and then mount a modular rubber key mat on it? So when you press a key it moves down a tiny little bit to touch the foil. Then you have software which interprets presses on certain locations of that touch foil as key presses? It should work in theory, shouldn't it? But the touch foil would need to be not "multi" but "as many as you want" -touch.
 
On my pandora, I had already mapped away F11, F12, ¥. This made it slightly less annoying to type than with compose, but it was still annoying.
 
F11 for example is one of the most important keys for me.

It makes lot's of programs to be full screen.
 
Here is a variant of the layout I proposed above:

layout.png


http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/ac06aceb440f999ce85a899eacae85c6

Here's a mockup of how my ideal Pyra would look like:

mockup.png


(except with the status leds somewhere else, either in the hinge like on the Pandora, or in the front)
Your mockup will make the keys super tiny. We're talking Blackberry territory and those keys in the second picture crowded into the center will likely be difficult to press individually. :mellow:
Would the keys really be that much smaller, provided the device is slightly wider (maybe 0.5 or 1cm) and the spacing between the keys would be reduced a tiny bit? On the current Pandora, there are 11/10/11/12 keys per row, but you can easily imagine 12/12/11/12 keys per row. My proposal has 15/15/14/15 keys per row, which means the keys would need to take 20% less horizontal space than they do now, if you keep the total width and spacing identical.
 
What keys do you need that are cumbersome under Compose that might show up on the Tab-/ with Fn row?

That is highly language-dependant, of course. For me, it'd be åäö  (and fn-shift to get ÅÄÖ). For others, it'd be something else. 
 
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Here is a variant of the layout I proposed above:

layout.png


http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/ac06aceb440f999ce85a899eacae85c6


Here's a mockup of how my ideal Pyra would look like:

mockup.png



(except with the status leds somewhere else, either in the hinge like on the Pandora, or in the front)
 
Your mockup will make the keys super tiny. We're talking Blackberry territory and those keys in the second picture crowded into the center will likely be difficult to press individually. :mellow:
 
Would the keys really be that much smaller, provided the device is slightly wider (maybe 0.5 or 1cm) and the spacing between the keys would be reduced a tiny bit? On the current Pandora, there are 11/10/11/12 keys per row, but you can easily imagine 12/12/11/12 keys per row. My proposal has 15/15/14/15 keys per row, which means the keys would need to take 20% less horizontal space than they do now, if you keep the total width and spacing identical.
My impression is the Pyra will be 1-2mm longer than it's precursor. That's not much room for adding two columns of keys to an already mildly awkward spot(I found Start and Select weren't the most reachable keys to press). Reducing them to tic-tac dimensions adds to the nuisance.

So, I reluctantly submit Spacebar becomes a normal sized key. This will allow the migration of all symbols to the east of the letter "P" onto the key right of the letter "M". Then you can use the vacancy for whatever braces or slashes you'd want. If ED and the current Pandora users think it viable to shorten the Spacebar without undermining key inputting, I'd encourage the change only if with certainty it's determined to be too difficult to press Fn+d,f,x or c for [, ], {, and } as I have it now on my first page proposal.
 
Here is a variant of the layout I proposed above:

layout.png


http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/ac06aceb440f999ce85a899eacae85c6

Here's a mockup of how my ideal Pyra would look like:

mockup.png


(except with the status leds somewhere else, either in the hinge like on the Pandora, or in the front)
That is very close to ideal.  I particularly like the black letters on whitish keys.  The user configurable color LED backlighting should look very cool coming up through those translucent key tops.  The central 12 key pad needs to be made whitish - and same with the game controller pads.  Everything but the nubs themselves should glow under backlight - and those should have glowing circles around them.

Speakers:  Needs speaker grills on the lower half.  Either on the back corners or spine between the nubs & game pads - or... both?  I.e. put in 4 speakers - 2 per side?  It would be a short cut to getting quantitatively more sound out of the box.

The lettering on  your keys sits in the far top left of each key.  I would like to see each key have up to 4 mappings - each on a different quadrant, each with a different color.  Red, blue and green.

While we're talking color - I loved the red case that was used in that animation.  I didn't think I'd like colored cases - but that one looks awesome.  Red case.  White keys that can color shift on whatever the user sets the LED back lighting to.  Black nubs.  Using red backlighting - that would look quite evil indeed.
 
I reluctantly submit Spacebar becomes a normal sized key. This will allow the migration of all symbols to the east of the letter "P"
/me thinks the space-bar should be al least twice as wide as other keys.
 
Here is a variant of the layout I proposed above:

layout.png


http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/ac06aceb440f999ce85a899eacae85c6


Here's a mockup of how my ideal Pyra would look like:

mockup.png



(except with the status leds somewhere else, either in the hinge like on the Pandora, or in the front)
 
While we're talking color - I loved the red case that was used in that animation.  I didn't think I'd like colored cases - but that one looks awesome.  Red case.  White keys that can color shift on whatever the user sets the LED back lighting to.  Black nubs.  Using red backlighting - that would look quite evil indeed.
Crimson or Chrome. Lovely.
 
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