sotte keyboard layouts

This repo contains my keyboard layouts. (It is a qmk_userspace repo, see README_qmk_userspace.md for details.)

Corne with colemak layout

See assets/ for more images.

I use colemak with some modifications. The layout is inspired by miryoku, getreuer, callum, seniply, and others. See references below.

Hardware

Corne V3 hotswap with Frood RP2040 V8 MCU, akko ocean blue switches, and random keycaps. I got the board from here.

TL;DR: Features

• 4 layers: ALPHA (colemak), NAV, SYM, NUM.
• Only uses 4 thumb keys.
• Callum style one-shot modifiers for most modifiers,. but especially useful for the modifiers on he home row in the NAV layer. ⌥⌘⌃⇧ or alt/gui/ctrl/shift or AGSC.
• CAPS WORD when tapping shift twice.
• Repeat key on right pinky bottom row
• Different characters on some shifted keys: ,?, .!, _-, and :;.
• Copy, Cut, Paste keys (via NAV layer) that work in and outside of terminals.
• Layer lock for SYM, NUM, and NAV layers via the right pinky (top row).

Thumb cluster and layers

There are 4 layers and you use two thumb switches to select them.

ALPHA: ...  ...
NAV:   ...  .■.
SYM:   .■.  ...
NUM:   .■.  .■.

Legend for special keys

• •: noop
• ␣N: Space on tab, NAV layer on hold
• ♦.: Repeat last key (or combo)
• ♦9: NUM layer on press
• ♦A: Application (context menu)
• ♦L: Toggle layer lock
• ♦S: SYM layer on press
• ♦T: Ctrl-t / my tmux prefix
• ♦c: Copy (works in and outside of terminals)
• ♦v: Paste (works in and outside of terminals)
• ♦x: Cut (works in and outside of terminals)
• ♦⇧: SHIFT one shot
• ♦⌃: CTRL one shot
• ♦⌘: GUI one shot
• ♦⌥: ALT one shot

ALPHA layer

ES qQ wW fF pP gG       jJ lL uU yY :; ⌫
♦⌃ aA rR sS tT dD       hH nN eE iI oO ↵
♦⇧ zZ xX cC vV bB       kK mM ,? .! _- ♦.
            •  ␣N ES  ♦⇧ ♦S •

This is almost a standard colemak layout. It contains different non-alpha characters (and different shifted versions) as the shifted versions are more common (ref) and useful than the original ones:

NAV layer

ES ⌃q ⌃w ⌃f ♦T •        ↥  ⌫  ↑  ⌦  ⌦  ⌫♦L
⌃  ♦⌥ ♦⌘ ♦⌃ ♦⇧ ⌃d       ⇤  ←  ↓  →  ⇥  ↵
⇧  •  ♦x ♦c ♦v •        ↧  ↵  ⭾  ♦3 ♦A ♦.
            •  ■  ES ♦⇧ ♦9 •

A fairly simple nav layer.

Note: you can use AGCS on the left side to create complex arrow movements/selections and delete behavior. AGCS are callum style one-shot keys and can be used on other layers as well.

SYMBOL layer

ES .  /  *  #  |        \  '  [  ]  :  ♦L
⌃  !  -  +  =  ~        ^  "  (  )  $  ↵
⇧  ,  <  >  %  &        @  `  {  }  _  ♦.
            •  ␣9 ES ♦⇧ ■  •

Inspired by getreuer and adjusted slightly.

• ^$ mirror HOME and END on the NAV layer and are useful for vim movements.
• Additional ., just because they are handy.
• The location of ./ is handy for navigating directories.
• ' ` " in one column to ease memoization.

NUM layer

ES .  /  *  #  |        .  7  8  9  :  ♦L
⌃  !  -  +  =  ~        0  4  5  6  0  ↵
⇧  ,  <  >  %  &        ,  1  2  3  _  ♦.
            •  ■  •  •  ■  •

The right side is the real NUM layer. The left side mirrors the keys from the SYM layer which are quite useful for entering formulas.

Issues:

• () are not as easy to use as I would like.

Symbols legend

■ pressed thumb key
• noop
↵ enter
⌫ backspace
⌦ del
⭾ tab
↥↧ page up/down
⇤⇥ home/end
←↑↓→ arrows
⌥⌘⇧⌃ alt/gui/shift/ctrl also AGSC
␣ space
ES ESC
Cc Ctrl+c, Cv Ctrl+v
♦1 special feature 1; explained in the doc

Usage

make compile
make flash

# helper to update the readme from the source code
# this is called automatically via make
./bin/update_readme.py

References

• Miryoku
• seniply
• callum
• Designing a symbol layer
• https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/custom-shift-keys/index.html
• https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/achordion/index.html