Re: vterm and Meta?

[hw]

On Thu, 2023-08-03 at 18:29 -0400, tpeplt wrote:
> hw <hw@adminart.net> writes:
> 
> > > 
> > > Here is a keyboard remapping suggestion (bottom row of keyboard):
> > > 
> > >    [alt/meta] [ctrl] [      space      ] [ctrl] [alt/meta]
> > > 
> >  [...]
> > 
> > [1]:
> > https://www.pckeyboard.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=UB40B5A
> > 
> 
> If I am seeing this photo correctly, there are <Alt> keys immediately to
> the left and right of the space bar.  These are the ones to swap with
> the <Ctrl> keys (which I cannot locate in the picture).

The Ctrl keys are left and right to the Alt keys.

> The ‘[’ key is immediately to the right of the ‘P’ key.  Those are
> the same locations as I am referring to.  Use the left thumb to
> press and hold the <Alt> key while the right pinkie presses the ‘[’
> key.  This is a minimal amount of reach and does not contort either
> the left or right hand.  The combination is used the same way that
> the <Esc> key is used: Press and release the two keys (think <Meta>)
> and then press the next key in the combination.  This avoids having
> to press and hold the <Alt> key in combination with the <Ctrl> key.
> 
> This might not be to your taste (just as Emacs’s key combinations drive
> some people to use vi).  It can work very well and until I had moved to
> this arrangement years ago, I routinely had RSI problems.

Well, it surely is a possibility.  For me, it would be much easier to
just press ESC like I have done for about 30 years.  ESC always worked
while Alt never did, and it has the big advantage that it doesn't
require configuration.

When you use emacs on different computers only one of which has an US
keyboard while the others have German keyboards, one of them being a
laptop (and laptop keyboards suck in multiple ways), you'd have to do
too much configuration.  Add to that a bunch of remote machines on
which you also have to configure things and it becomes too tedious.
It's not only the keyboard that needs work.

It would be great progress if I can get the Alt key to work as Meta
everywhere.

When you unexcpetedly find yourself thrown into vi, its key bindings
have the killer problem that you have to press ESC to get out of
editing mode, and that doesn't always work, mostly with no indication
weather it did work or not.  And since I'm not used to the key
bindings in vi, chances are that I accidentially edit something and
mess things up.  So I quit vi and use emacs instead in case I suddenly
end up in vi.

I tried to learn vi a while ago but it's lacking basic things like
indent-region and about everything else I have in emacs out of the
box.  After that, I can't even say anymore that there are only two
good editors and that everyone should pick whatever they get along
with better.  Vi is a raw and rudimentary implementation of an editor
like so many others while emacs is the tool you ultimately want.  If
you want raw and rudimentary, why would you use vi?  Geany is nice,
too, like many others.

> > > The advantage of this approach is that the long thumb reach for either
> > > <Alt> key is avoided except for rare instances, while the short thumb
> > > reach is used for frequent instances of <Ctrl> or <Ctrl>-[.  There is
> > > also an extra benefit for touch typists -- it is much more rare that
> > > unused fingers need to be lifted from the home keys.
> > 
> > I always take my fingers off the home row for moving around, except
> > for Ctrl-a and Ctrl-e.  That way I can use the cursor keys and
> > PgDown/PgUp keys --- it's what makes sense to me.
> > 
> 
> If you move the <Ctrl> keys to the sides of the <Space> bar, then many
> Ctrl sequences become available.

I'm finding it much easier to slightly move my left hand to press left
Ctrl where it is with my little finger.  With Ctrl and Alt swapped, I
can't really bend my right thumb to reach right Ctrl whereas I can
press it with my little finger when the keys aren't swapped.

> <Ctrl>-n/<Ctrl>-p can quickly replace the Up/Down arrow keys.

The dedicated movement keys replaced the ideosyncratic movement keys
the emacs tutorial suggested not only quickly but right away (see
below) :)

> <Ctrl> becomes a second <Shift> key, but more easily reached than
> <Shift>.

Shift is easier to reach than Ctrl, especially when you swap Alt and
Ctrl, unless you configure CapsLock as Ctrl, which I have.  You could
also configure CapsLock as Alt so it becomes Meta and use CapsLock-a
instead of M-x, and so on.

Hm, thinking of it, CapsLock as Alt seems to make way more sense since
I almost never use that anyway ...  But how do I configure CapsLock as
Alt in wayland?

Shift needs to be easy to reach, you'll notice when you write German.

> > Ctrl and Alt are special keys for me which aren't included in
> > 10-finger typing.  Typewriters don't have these keys, and they are
> > very awkwardly positioned ...  I'd be impressed if you can use these
> > keys just like all the others.
> > 
> 
> Once re-positioned, the <Ctrl> keys are not much more difficult to reach
> for your thumbs than the <Space> bar

That's not true, I have to bend my left thumb, and on the right I have
to raise my whole arm to bend my thumb that far.  Pressing the space
bar doesn't require bending.

> and easier to reach than the <Shift> keys (using your stronger
> thumbs rather than your weaker pinkies).

Shift is easier to reach, even if only because I'm more used to that.

The springs buckle easily enough to press keys with my little fingers.
Even when the keyboard is worn out, it's not the springs that hinder
the movement of the keys but the debris that got into them (you can't
really get that out anymore at that point, so you never turn a
keyboard upside down) and the wobblyness of the key stems which makes
them rub inside their holders once they're angled too much.  That gets
only worse over time but the springs remain fine :)  That is how even
a Model M wears out eventually.

> > > If it is available to you, the ‘gnome-tweaks’ package can be used to
> > > remap the Alt and Ctrl keys.  Within the gnome-tweaks application, see
> > > the "Keyboard & Mouse" settings and then select the "Additional Layout
> > > Options".
> > 
> > Right --- yet what makes Alt for Meta so great is that you can do
> > stuff directly, like M-x right away puts you into the minibuffer where
> > you can enter the name of the function you want to call.  Having to
> > use ESC or Ctrl-[ makes this awkward because you have to press ESC
> > first and then x.  That has always been weird.
> 
> It should be less weird if you reposition the <Ctrl> keys next to the
> <Space> bar.

That would be totally weird.  And it would create issues, like how am
I supposed to press Cltr-l without bending my hand when the Ctrl key
is misplaced?

> It puts them within reach of some of your strongest fingers -- your
> thumbs.

Not eactly, and only on the left.  Right Ctrl would be become
inaccessible.

Have you ever used a Model M keyboard (or the 122 key variant)?  They
are reasonably --- i. e. like perfectly --- sized and the key spacing
is perfect.  On all other keyboards I've tried, the spacing is too
small and they give me a cramped feeling.  But when your hands are
larger or smaller than mine, you may see that totally different.

If you want to get a Model M, go for it.  It's still overall the best
keyboard you can get.  The original ones have become expensive and
hard to find and may be worn out after 30 years.  Fortunately, you can
get a new one from Unicomp, and that's very likely the better deal.

> Once done, it becomes a touch-typing exercise where you learn to
> think <Meta> when reaching for <Ctrl> with your left thumb and [
> with your right pinkie.  Touch typing requires repetitious
> practicing, as you likely know well.

Yes, and it also requires that you find the keyboard that is best for
you and is configured for your needs and that you use nothing else.
When you come across different keyboards made for different languages
and not configured for your needs, this approach doesn't work so well.

And my thumbs are pretty much the last fingers I'd use to press Ctrl
when the rest of my fingers are at the home row.  The home row is
great for typing, not for moving around.  I either type or move
around, and for moving around, the dedicated movement keys are very
convenient.  How much do you move around on a typewriter?

> A suggestion to try is to reposition the keys and go through the Emacs
> Tutorial (C-h t).  That would provide practice using many Ctrl key
> combinations and could help you decide whether this new approach is to
> your liking.

I did that in the 90ies on my Atari ST.  You can still find pictures
of the keyboards they used.  How much sense do you think that tutorial
made with these keyboards (their German version) --- and no, Alt
didn't work for Meta but ESC did.

It has been like that since then, the only Meta key was ESC.  Using
the dedicated movement keys made total sense and all the key bindings
for movement in the tutorial have never made sense, and they still
don't make sense today.  The only exception is Ctrl-a and Ctrl-e which
I must have learned back then, from that very tutorial, and it always
annoys me when that doesn't work somewhere.  Hm, ok, Ctrl-l is another
one, if you want to call that movement.  But that's all.

Key bindings like C-b, C-f and a lot of others are still useless today
because pressing the Ctrl key --- doing it the easiest way ---
requires me to move my right hand over to the right to press Ctrl with
my little finger.  And when I do that, it's much easier to use
dedicated movement keys instead, and it doesn't require
thinking.  (CapsLock for Ctrl is easier to reach but requires
configuration and big relearning.)

However, it seems I'm accidentially learning M-a and M-e ---
acciditentially because I pressed M-a when I wanted to press M-q a few
times and figured out what that does.  You never do that when you only
have ESC for Meta.

Your suggestions are good, only they don't work for me.