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CharaChorder / CCOS-firmware

CharaChorder Operating System
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Enhancement: More layers (eg: to support OSX and PC) #88

Open graemeg opened 3 months ago

graemeg commented 3 months ago

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. My daily driver keyboard is still my Ergodox, because CC1 doesn't fit my use case perfectly yet. I use MacOS for work, and a PC (FreeBSD) for personal use. More layers will help me keep muscle memory without having to think of different keys, based on my OS i'm using at the time.

Describe the solution you'd like Can we get more layers? For example, my Ergodox keyboard supports up to 32 layers. I use 8 in my standard layout, seen here: https://configure.zsa.io/ergodox-ez/layouts/APGaG/latest/0

I know with my CC1, I achieve most of that with the standard 3 layers, but I can see situations where you might want more.

To give one example, when I'm working, on my work (MacOS) laptop [vs my home FreeBSD desktop], I toggle the OSX layer, so it switches my Ctrl & Cmd keys. So Ctrl+S or Cmd+S is always the same action and muscle memory - I simply had to toggle the default layer at the beginning and end of day.

Another example is my "Layouts" layer, which I use to manage windows on my desktop. So I can easily position windows with keyboard shortcuts.

Other users would find this useful too, as discussed on Charachorder's discord here: https://discord.com/channels/861730583092658206/1260643008353665045/1260643008353665045

Describe alternatives you've considered My CC1 has very limited layers. Only 3.

Additional context See my Ergodox layout in Oryx, linked above.

jdestgermain commented 3 months ago

I think an important question that comes up when we talk about layers are... do they behave like Num Shift/Function layers on the CC1 (meaning they are activated by pressing and holding a key)? Or are they more like... profiles that you activate and are toggleable/switched between on the fly?

(to be clear...I see you say toggle in your post above, but I want to make sure it's clear)

And maybe we need to support both, but I just want to make sure I am following.

Do you need access to 8 layers that are accessible with a keypress? or would having 3 profiles, each with 3 layers, allow you to do what you want?

graemeg commented 3 months ago

Actually I'm referring to both, as I use both daily. Toggle layers (TO) and Momentary-Toggle layers (MO). I use TO for example for switching between MacOS and PC "mode" (where it switches the Cmd & Ctrl keys). I do this at the beginning and end of my work days.

MO layers I use throughout the day, for accessing Arrows or Symbols without having to move my fingers off the home row [of my Ergodox]. This latter one is slightly less of an issue on the CC1, due to 5 directional keys, but I think they could still be useful if they were available. I could see myself doing similar to my Ergodox layout. Use a thumb to temporarily switch (MO) to the Symbol layer and the use 3 fingers on each hand, to get access to all symbols (without needing to type Shift). This would be excellent for programming, and much less hand movement than I currently have to do on the CC1.