"Glorious Engrammer" keymap for MoErgo Glove80

This is my Glove80 keymap featuring the Engram and Engrammer layouts with Miryoku-style layers and home row mods. Other layouts (QWERTY, Dvorak, Colemak/DH, etc.) and familiar keys (arrows, pinky shifts, function row) are also provided as "training wheels" to aid your transition to the full glory.

Keymap

Version 36 (2024-03-21)

• Changes: https://github.com/sunaku/glove80-keymaps/releases/v36
• Release: https://my.glove80.com/#/layout/user/f4372744-fce9-4678-ac4b-3d8ef8768160

Legend

See interactive layer map for overview and documentation.

NOTE: This is also available as a printable PDF document.

See release notes for a visual overview of recent updates.

Contents

• Guide
  • Factory layout
  • Operating system
  • Home row mods
    • Difficulty level
    • One-shot shifts
    • Bilateral combinations
  • Layer access keys
  • Key auto-repeat
  • Alpha layouts
  • Unicode and Emoji
    • OS-native compose
• Installing
  • Flashing
• Upgrading
• Customizing
  • Overriding the defaults
    • Reordering home row mods
    • Fine-tuning the timing
  • Compiling from source
    • Unicode/Emoji characters
    • Rearranging the base layer
• Discussion
• License

Guide

Welcome to the Glorious Engrammer keymap! 🧑‍🚀🚀✨ This introductory guide will orient you to the world of custom layouts, keymaps, and firmware. 💁

Factory layout

Before we get started, let's talk about your escape route back to familiarity.

If you're a new user (perhaps you've just unboxed your Glove80 or you haven't customized its default keymap), you might find the Factory layer to be useful:

1. Press & hold the Magic key (bottom left corner key on left half of Glove80)
2. Tap the left hand's T3 key (furthest key on the upper arc of thumb cluster)

This shortcut will toggle the Factory layer on/off and allow you to experiment with this keymap while maintaining an easy escape route to the factory default.

Operating system

First, let's configure this keymap to better suit your operating system by adding one of the following lines (just copy+paste whichever is appropriate) atop the "Custom Defined Behaviors" text box in your clone of this keymap:

#define OPERATING_SYSTEM 'L' // Linux
#define OPERATING_SYSTEM 'M' // macOS
#define OPERATING_SYSTEM 'W' // Windows

Home row mods

Next, let's become familiar with the concept of home row mods, which are dual-function keys that either send normal keycodes (such as the letter A or the number 1) when tapped or modifiers (such as Shift or Ctrl) when held.

The diagram above shows the default "GACS" order of home row mods in this keymap:

• "G" means LGUI, which is the Win key in Windows, Cmd in macOS, Super in Linux.
• "A" means LALT, which is the Alt key in Windows and Linux, Option in macOS.
• "C" means LCTL, which is the Control key in Windows, macOS, and Linux alike.
• "S" means LSFT, which is the Shift key in Windows, macOS, and Linux alike.

NOTE: If you set your operating system to macOS in the preceding section, the home row mods order will be automatically rearranged into "CAGS" because macOS shortcuts tend to use the Cmd key like Windows/Linux use the Ctrl key.

Difficulty level

In order to help ease your transition to using home row mods, this keymap provides a difficulty level setting (like in a video game) that you can set:

//
// DIFFICULTY_LEVEL specifies your level of expertise with this keymap.
// It's meant to help newcomers gradually work their way up to mastery.
// You can disable this setting by omitting it or assigning a `0` zero.
//
#define DIFFICULTY_LEVEL 0 // custom (see defaults below)
#define DIFFICULTY_LEVEL 1 // novice (500ms)
#define DIFFICULTY_LEVEL 2 // slower (400ms)
#define DIFFICULTY_LEVEL 3 // normal (300ms)
#define DIFFICULTY_LEVEL 4 // faster (200ms)
#define DIFFICULTY_LEVEL 5 // expert (100ms)

Unless you're already proficient in using home row mods, you might consider choosing an appropriate difficulty level to match your current abilities and gradually increase the difficulty level as you work your way up to mastery.

On the contrary, you can disable the difficulty level feature altogether by removing the #define DIFFICULTY_LEVEL line or by setting its value to zero. Then, you can experience the default values of all settings (representing my personal fine-tuned configuration) or directly override them per your taste.

One-shot shifts

The Lower keys on the base layer provide one-shot sticky shift functionality, whereby tapping them temporarily activates a sticky Shift that applies itself to the next key you tap. This can be useful for single letter capitalization, such as for the frequent "I" in English or when typing camel/PascalCase names.

Bilateral combinations

In order to encourage proper touch-typing technique for shortcuts (where one hand holds modifiers while the other taps keys to be modified) and for a more natural typing experience that forgives same-hand chords and lingering holds, this keymap provides bilateral combinations enforcement as an optional feature:

//
// ENFORCE_BILATERAL cancels out single-handed home row mods activation by
// releasing any currently pressed mods and replacing them with plain taps.
//
// NOTE: You may still encounter "flashing mods" where an operating system
// action is triggered by the release of mods, such as LGUI which launches
// the Windows Start Menu and LALT which opens the Microsoft Office Ribbon.
//
#define ENFORCE_BILATERAL

Why not just use one-handed shortcuts? I visualize it this way: I'm trying to reach a cookie jar that is high up on a kitchen shelf, so I place one hand on the kitchen counter (the modifier-holding hand) to stabilize myself while I reach up for the jar with my other hand (the modified-key tapping hand). 🙋✨ In contrast, one-handed shortcuts can be more strenuous as you have to contort your hand to hold a modifier and tap modified keys; plus the act of holding a modifier limits the hand's range of motion when reaching for keys to be tapped.

Nevertheless, if you still prefer using one-handed shortcuts, you can disable bilateral combinations enforcement by removing the #define ENFORCE_BILATERAL line and, optionally, deleting the bilateral combinations layers in the keymap.

Layer access keys

This keymap borrows heavily from the legendary Miryoku system, featuring:

• Six specialized layers: Cursor, Number, Function, Symbol, Mouse, System
• Layer access via thumb keys: Backspace, Delete, Escape, Enter, Tab, Space
• Home row mods on the base layer and on same-hand of all layer access keys

The idea is that you can always access modifiers with the same hand as the layer access key (which your thumb is holding down) to modify keystrokes on that respective layer. This way, you don't need to lift your hands off the keyboard or your fingers away from their home position to execute shortcuts.

Key auto-repeat

Since dual-function keys (such as home row mods and layer access keys) have a special effect when held, they won't auto-repeat when held like a normal key. Instead, you have two options for engaging auto-repeat on dual-function keys:

1. Use the "Tap then hold" method: first tap (press and release) and then hold (press and don't release until the desired amount of repetition is reached).

2. Using repetition access keys: first hold a &plain layer access key and then hold the key you want to repeat for the desired amount of repetition.

Alpha layouts

This keymap lets you dynamically switch to alpha layouts (such as QWERTY and Dvorak) other than the one you chose for your base layer during installation, by holding the Magic key and tapping the respective number key for that layer.

Shortcut	Layer number	Alpha layout
Magic+=	0	Engrammer (base layer; your choice)
Magic+1	1	Engram
Magic+2	2	Dvorak
Magic+3	3	ColemakDHm
Magic+4	4	Colemak
Magic+5	5	QWERTY
Magic+6	6	Norman
Magic+7	7	Workman
Magic+8	8	Halmak

For the first 5 alpha layouts, the respective number key for each layout will illuminate when you tap the Magic key. For example, suppose that we activate the QWERTY layout by typing Magic+5 and that we've forgotten about it after some time... 😅 how can we know which alpha layout is currently active? Well, by simply tapping the Magic key, we'll see that number 5 illuminates in pink 🚨 thereby indicating that the QWERTY alpha layout (at layer number 5) is active.

However, note that number row illumination isn't available for layer 6 onwards. That's just how the Glove80's firmware is currently implemented today; you have the option of implementing such enhancements by editing its ZMK code if desired.

Unicode and Emoji

Unicode characters (including Emoji 🔥) are typed through ZMK macros (sequences of multiple keystrokes) generated from the world.yaml and emoji.yaml files by the rake command. However, in order for these macros to take effect, you may need to enable support for Unicode hexadecimal character input in your OS:

• (macOS) https://sevenseacat.net/posts/2018/unicode-in-qmk-on-osx/
• (Linux) https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/tips-specialchars.html.en#ctrlshiftu
• (Windows) https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose

See also: the UNICODE_*_DELAY settings and the UNICODE_SEQ_* functions.

OS-native compose

If you prefer using your operating system's built-in shortcuts (rather than Unicode) to type international characters in the World layer, activate this:

//
// WORLD_USE_COMPOSE uses OS-native Compose keycodes instead of Unicode
// for characters in the "localizing" section of the `world.yaml` file.
//
#define WORLD_USE_COMPOSE

See also: the COMPOSE_KEY_LINUX setting and the COMPOSE_SEQ_* functions.

Installing

Open the keymap link above and follow these instructions:

1. Log in (account is required)
2. Clone the keymap to customize and/or build it!
3. Choose your base layout (place at top as layer number #0) via drag & drop.
4. Customize the keymap behavior in this text box.
5. Build the firmware and download the *.uf2 file.

Flashing

• For the initial flash, see "Loading new ZMK firmware onto your Glove80" and use the "Entering bootloader mass storage device mode on power-up" fail-safe on both halves. Subsequent flashes can target just the left half.

• If you're installing a different firmware version compared to what your keyboard currently has, then ⚠️ after flashing both halves ⚠️ perform a "Configuration Factory Reset and re-pair left & right halves procedure" on both halves and then turn RGB effects on, watch them illuminate, and finally turn them back off for the newly installed firmware to take effect.

Upgrading

• Copy the ZMK snippet from the "Custom Defined Behaviors" text box in either keymap linked above and paste into yours. The contents of that text box are also available in the *.dtsi files provided in this Git repository.

• You can diff and copy changes between a JSON export of your keymap (via "Advanced Settings" > "Enable local config" then go back to "Edit" and click "Download") and the *.json files provided in this Git repository.

Customizing

Overriding the defaults

You can override the various #define settings that govern this keymap by adding them above the snippet in the "Custom Defined Behaviors" text box:

// add your overrides here, up at the very top:
#define OPERATING_SYSTEM 'W' // windows
#define EMOJI_HAIR_STYLE_PRESET 'C' // curly_hair

// ... rest of snippet goes here, unchanged ...

For your reference, the following diagram shows the default values for all settings and how they inherit from each other, so you can override them together as a group (by inheritance) or each individually (fine-grained).

Reordering home row mods

The *_FINGER_MOD settings specify which modifiers are used by home row mod keys. Miryoku's "GACS" (Win, Alt, Ctrl, Shift) order is the default -- unless you set OPERATING_SYSTEM to macOS, in which case Win and Ctrl are swapped.

#define PINKY_FINGER_MOD LGUI
#define RING1_FINGER_MOD LALT
#define RING2_FINGER_MOD RALT
#define MIDDY_FINGER_MOD LCTL
#define INDEX_FINGER_MOD LSFT

The above settings mirror finger-mod assignments across both hands, but you can also make them different through the following additional settings if you want:

#define  LEFT_PINKY_MOD RALT
#define RIGHT_PINKY_MOD LCTL

For completeness, here are all finger-mod settings available for customization:

#define  LEFT_PINKY_MOD ...
#define RIGHT_PINKY_MOD ...
#define  LEFT_RING1_MOD ...
#define RIGHT_RING1_MOD ...
#define  LEFT_RING2_MOD ...
#define RIGHT_RING2_MOD ...
#define  LEFT_MIDDY_MOD ...
#define RIGHT_MIDDY_MOD ...
#define  LEFT_INDEX_MOD ...
#define RIGHT_INDEX_MOD ...

Fine-tuning the timing

Activate the typing layer, launch the QMK Configurator's testing tool, and then pretend to use home row mods. Note the timing and duration of keystrokes reported by the tool and then use them to adjust the #define time thresholds in the "Custom Defined Behaviors" snippet.

Compiling from source

NOTE: If you're on Windows, try using Ubuntu in WSL for the following.

1. Clone or download a copy of this Git repository (if you haven't already).

2. Install dependencies OR skip this step if you have Docker on your system:

   add-apt-repository universe && apt update # may be needed if using Ubuntu 
   apt install rake graphviz

3. In your copy of this repository, run rake OR ./rake if using Docker.

Unicode/Emoji characters

You can customize the preset characters in the Emoji and World layers by editing their respective YAML source files in this repository. Afterwards, run the rake command and then copy the new keymap.dtsi contents back into the "Custom Defined Behaviors" text box in the Layout Editor for your keymap.

Rearranging the base layer

If you rearrange the base layer (say, for a custom or alternative layout) then:

1. Export your keymap as a JSON file (via "Advanced Settings" > "Enable local config" then go back to "Edit" and click "Download") in the Layout Editor.

2. Overwrite the keymap.json file in this repository with your exported file.

3. Run the rake command in this repository.

4. Copy the new keymap.dtsi contents back into the "Custom Defined Behaviors" text box in the Layout Editor for your keymap.

You don't need to change the per-finger layers (such as "LeftPinky") manually.

Discussion

Join the #glorious-engrammer channel on MoErgo's discord server.

License

Like my work? 👍 Please spare a life today as thanks! 🐄🐖🐑🐔🐣🐟✨🙊✌
Why? For 💕 ethics, the 🌎 environment, and 💪 health; see link above. 🙇

(the ISC license)

Copyright 2023 Suraj N. Kurapati https://github.com/sunaku

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.