How to type home, end, insert, delete on the Reform keyboard?

MNT Reform
1

Hey all,

I’m new to Reform and wondering if it’s possible to type certain keys on the keyboard, namely: HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE, and PrintScreen/SysRq (including the Alt+SysRq commands for Linux kernel)? Or how do I create new key combinations to emulate those keys? Thanks!

2

Welcome! There are two possibilities:

  1. Use xkb to modify the keymap, see: https://community.mnt.re/t/compose-umlauts-on-us-keyboard/153/3\

  2. Change the keycodes/matrix itself, which requires rebuilding and flashing the keyboard firmware (it’s pretty easy though): reform2-keyboard-fw/Keyboard.c · master · Reform / reform · GitLab

For 2, there is no code yet to allow for different layers yet, i.e. it’s not possible to send a different scancode when a modifier is pressed. So 1 is the cleaner method. I wish there was a good config tool for xkb, that would make it much easier.

1 Like
3

Will udev remap work?
eg. like I’ve remapped keys on my mouse:

$ grep -Ev '^(#|$)' /etc/udev/hwdb.d/604-g-remap.hwdb 
evdev:input:b0003v046Dp4085e0111*
 KEYBOARD_KEY_7001e=f7
 KEYBOARD_KEY_7001f=f8
 KEYBOARD_KEY_70020=f9
4

It will work with the keyboard, but it looks like it’s not possible to add new key combinations to enter missing keys using this method, or am I missing something?

5

Well, you have plenty of keys defined in /usr/include/linux/input-event-codes.h, any of those could be mapped. So yes, you cannot do combination, but you can generate any suitable keycode and handle it then by sway, mapping to a script (a hotkey effectively). Hotkeys won’t help when sway is not available of course (eg hangs or died).

1 Like
6

So, after following the XKB configuration rabbit hole for a while, I’ve ended up with the following settings:

xkb_keymap {
    xkb_keycodes { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };

    xkb_types {
        include "complete"
        virtual_modifiers Hyper;
        type "HYPER" {
            modifiers = Hyper;
            map[Hyper] = Level2;
            level_name[Level1] = "Base";
            level_name[Level2] = "Hyper";
        };
    };

    xkb_compat { include "complete" };

    xkb_symbols {
        include "pc+us+inet(evdev)"
        include "compose(menu)"
        
        key <RWIN> { [ Hyper_L ] };
        modifier_map Mod5 { <HYPR> };
        
        key <LEFT> {
            type = "HYPER",
            symbols[Group1] = [ Left, Home ]
        };
        
        key <RGHT> {
            type = "HYPER",
            symbols[Group1] = [ Right, End ]
        };
        
        key <RTRN> {
            type = "HYPER",
            symbols[Group1] = [ Return, Insert ]
        };
    };

    // xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc105)" };
};

This maps Hyper+Left/Right to HOME and END and unmaps Hyper from existing Super keybindings by remapping it to Mod5. Additionally, compose key on the «…» key next to Ctrl is enabled.

Unfortunately, I could only bind Hyper combinations with an extra virtual modifier defined in xkb_types section above - this either requires an additional types file along with the symbols file or saving XKB settings in a single xkbcomp-like keymap source file as above.

This file can also be loaded in sway using xkb_file input command as follows:

input "1003:8258:MNT_Reform_Keyboard" xkb_file /path/to/reform.xkb
1 Like
7

Thank you for your research. Could you please help me? Is there any way to modify this .xkb file to add multiple languages layouts and toggle combination?

For example, if I change
include "pc+us+inet(evdev)"

to
include "pc+us+ru:2+inet(evdev)"

Where can I add a layout toggle combination (like in "setxkbmap -optioon “grp:alt_shift_toggle”)?

1 Like
8

It should be enough to add the following statement to xkb_symbols section:

include "group(win_space_toggle)"

or similar. The complete list of available toggles can be found in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/group.

2 Likes
9

Yay, it works! Thanks a lot.

2 Likes