Re: vterm and Meta?

[tpeplt <tpeplt@gmail.com>]

hw <hw@adminart.net> writes:

> 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

It sounds as though you have made up your mind not to try the
suggestion, above, which is understandable because many people have
firm, fixed views about the most usable way to configure their keyboard.

For anyone reading this who wants to try it using Gnome, especially if
you have had pain in your hands/RSI, here are the steps to arrange the
bottom row of the keyboard as described above:

1. (Install and) Start the gnome-tweaks application.
2. In the application, click on the "Keyboard&Mouse" entry in the menu
on the left-hand side of the application.
3. Click on the "Additional Layout Options" button.
4. In the Additional Layout Options pane, click on the "Alt and Win
Behavior" pointer.
5. Select the "Ctrl is mapped to Alt, Alt to Win" radio button.
6. Click on the "Alt and Win Behavior" pointer a second time to close
it.
7. Click on the "Ctrl position" pointer.
8. Click on the "Left Alt as Ctrl, Left Ctrl as Win, Left Win as Left
Alt" checkbox, if your keyboard has those keys (including the
Win/Windows key).
9. Click on the "Right Ctrl as Right Alt".
10. Click on the "Ctrl position" pointer again to close it.

Those changes ought to give your keyboard the layout described above.
You can then test it to see whether the arrangement is better for you
when using Emacs.

As a bonus suggestion, move the Backspace key to the CapsLock location.
Backspace is used frequently by many people and it should be located
close to the home row rather than off in the upper right-hand corner.

To move the Backspace key using the gnome-tweaks application, click on
the "Caps Lock behavior" after step 10, above.  Then click on the radio
button labeled "Make Caps Lock an additional Backspace".  Unfortunately,
gnome-tweaks does not provide a means to *swap* the CapsLock and
Backspace keys, so this will configure the keyboard to have *two*
Backspace keys.  The CapsLock capability is moved to the two Shift keys,
which must be pressed *simultaneously* to turn on Caps Lock.  To turn
off Caps Lock, press either Shift key.

>
>> > > 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.
>

Yes, unless the <Ctrl> keys are moved to the keys immediately to the
left and right of the <SPC> key, the suggestion of using <Ctrl>-[ should
not be used.  The most typed key on the keyboard or a typewriter is the
<SPC> key, so the design should and does place it under the strongest
finger (the two thumbs).  Reaching slightly to the left and right of the
<SPC> key with the thumbs means that 1) a strong finger does the reach
and 2) like Shift keys, your hands can be used together.  For example,
to type <Ctrl>-u, press and hold the left <Ctrl> with your left
thumb while typing the "u" with a finger on your right hand.  Likewise,
to type <Ctrl>-a, press and hold the right <Ctrl> with your right thumb
while typing the "a" with your left pinkie.

The common practice of putting the <Ctrl> key on the <CapsLock> key
means that only one <Ctrl> key is used and so the left hand has to be
used to type both the <Ctrl> key and the second key.  No one would
suggest that the two <Shift> keys be reduced to a single key.
>
> 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 should be the same, nearly, as pressing the <SPC> bar with your left
thumb -- one of the most frequent key presses on the keyboard.

>
> 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.
>

Thank you for the recommendation.  It sounds like a nice keyboard and
keyboards are worth investing in for typists, including programmers.
Although those keyboards are much better than laptop keyboards, my
suggestion to move the Ctrl keys is made after using it on laptop
keyboards for many years.  In fact, a critical consideration when buying
a laptop is whether it has the <Ctrl> and <Alt> keys in the locations
outlined above (that is, to the left and right of the <SPC> key).  I
have rejected laptops that do not have that because it would lead to RSI
and make typing for programming significantly slower and more difficult.

>
> 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?
>

The point of the suggested move is to make typing easier and less
prone to RSI.  It mostly isn’t even necessary to leave the home row (an
occasional <Alt>-<Tab> or <Super> key) and use the very large number of
Emacs key combinations.  Key combinations become just like another kind
of "shift."

>> 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 didn’t make sense and it lead to RSIs.  Fortunately, since then
keyboards moved from having a single <Ctrl> key to having two, along
with two <Alt> keys.  This, plus the ability to reconfigure the keyboard
has mostly eliminated RSI and increases typing speed (including Emacs’s
commands).

>
> 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.

OK.  That was always a possibility.  It is a suggestion for you to
consider and you still could reconsider now that you have seen it as a
possibility.  (I had RSI for years because I could not see how a simple
reconfiguration could fix the problem for me, and I wished I had seen it
suggested from the beginning.  It is such a significantly better
arrangement that I wish it was documented in the Emacs Manual.  It could
help many people overcome the problem of the complicated key
combinations being difficult and driving them not to use Emacs.)  Here’s
hoping that it might be helpful for some other reader who uses Emacs.

--