I am using the Silakka54 keyboard with great pleasure. I configured the keyboard in such a way that I am using the Colemak-DH layout for English. However, I also speak other languages which do not use the Latin alphabet. For those languages, the operating system deals with translating the key presses. The problem is that my keyboard sends key signals according to the Colemak-DH layout while the system expects the QWERTY layout. Ergo, I get nonsense when I type.

To illustrate what I mean, let’s say that pressing “L” on the QWERTY keyboard corresponds to the letter “Λ” being typed out. Since Colemak-DH moves the location of “L” to the “U” key, in order to type that character again, I’d have to press “U” on QWERTY, not “L” anymore. This breaks the layout.

One of the solutions I can think of is to make a macro that switches the keyboard over to a QWERTY layout and toggles the language change in the system. However, that would require me to reconfigure home row mods and other keys twice. Is there a more elegant solution for this problem, such as allowing the keyboard to send Unicode symbols? My keyboard uses VIAL for the firmware, by the way.

  • cerement@slrpnk.net
    3·
    1 month ago
    • assuming you are allowed to change things on the computer (ie. not work or library computer):
      • change keyboard firmware back to QWERTY
      • change OS English keyboard input to Colemak-DH (or Colemak-DH-Ortho)
    • for Unicode characters, it is possible but fiddly through keyboard firmware, usually easier to use whichever method the OS uses – and generally through QMK directly rather than through VIAL
      • Linux, one of:
        • ComposeKey plus compose sequence – Compose, --. will give you en-dash –
        • DeadKey, accent, char (similar to Option key on Mac or setting keyboard to “US International”)
        • Ctrl-Shift-U then Unicode codepoint – Ctrl-Shift-U, 1F517, space gives you 🔗
      • in VIAL, you can set up macros to send the right sequence, but you’ll have to have one macro for Linux and a different macro for Windows
      • Typing non-English letters