komokana VS qmk_configurator

kanata[1] and komokana[2].

kanata is basically like QMK for any keyboard without the firmware requirement. I use kanata with my trusty old iMac keyboard which is to this day my favourite keyboard of all time. But now I have all the cool QMK-style layers with it.

So that is awesome on its own, but where it gets even better for me, and this is where the seconds have really added up to hours, is that I wrote another piece of software which programmatically changes layers on kanata whenever a different window is focused in my tiling window manager.

This has honestly changed -everything- for me. I no longer have to waste keys on my keyboard to switch layers, I no longer have to -think- about switching layers, I just focus another window with alt+hjkl and whatever keyboard layer I expect for any given application is automatically applied. Definitely one of those "you can never go back" experiences for me.

[1]: https://github.com/jtroo/kanata

[2]: https://github.com/LGUG2Z/komokana

I have an Ergodox EZ sitting collecting dust these days. I got a great deal of use out of it and before long I was compiling my own firmware and making use of various advanced QMK features that were not available through the online visual layer configuration tool.

The keyboard has great build quality, the customer service is great (I got a free replacement for the right half after an issue with one of the keys), the ortholinear layout isn't that difficult to get used to, but ultimately the issue for me was that my hands aren't big enough to use the keyboard comfortably or to type as accurately as I'd like / as I'm used to typing.

I'm now back on my Apple Magic Keyboard and happier than ever, though with a few tweaks and improvements taken from my time using the Ergodox EZ.

I am now using kanata[1] which allows me to have multiple QMK-style layers on my regular old keyboard. This is already a huge step up from my pre-Ergodox days! I also like that I can have my layer configurations version controlled in a plain old git/dotfiles repo.

Since the layers are handled at the software level, I wrote my own integration with kanata, called komokana[2] to switch keyboard layers programmatically based on different state events emitted from my tiling window manager[3].

What that means in practice is that my keyboard can automatically switch to an app-specific layer when that app's window is focused, or to a workspace specific layer, or to a browser tab-specific layer, or really just switch on any event emitted by the window manager or any specific window manager state.

For me, this is really the killer feature of my setup now, and one that I don't think would be anywhere near as easy to implement with QMK which sits at the hardware level.

[1]: https://github.com/jtroo/kanata

[2]: https://github.com/LGUG2Z/komokana

[3]: https://github.com/LGUG2Z/komorebi

Hello friends! You may know me from my previous posts about my tiling window manager and my automatic keyboard layer switcher (or maybe even my harebrained attempts to get Helix to behave more like Vim!)

With all of these pieces now in place, I am very happy to introduce komokana. an automatic application-aware keyboard layer switcher for Windows.

Handedness? Not sure what do you mean by that. I'm using the config.qmk.fm website for the key configuration

I'm using https://config.qmk.fm/ to create a firmware for Iris rev.7 including mouse keys, and then use QMK toolbox on MacOs to flash the firmware, but while everything else works in all layers, the mouse keys do not move the cursor at all. Any ideas?

How can I use https://config.qmk.fm/ to map certain specific keys such as € or @, that are not direct or available in the framework ?

"documentation": "\"This file is a QMK Configurator export. You can import this at . It can also be used directly with QMK's source code.\n\nTo setup your QMK environment check out the tutorial: \n\nYou can convert this file to a keymap.c using this command: `qmk json2c {keymap}`\n\nYou can compile this keymap using this command: `qmk compile {keymap}`\"\n",

I didn't want to really start another thread because the question I have is so similar I think. I was somehow able to use config.qmk.fm to map a really generic colemak-dh keymap, I read the qmk noob section so I looked up how to use github/git completely lost, I have the Corne 3x6 I didn't build it I purchased it secondhand so Ive been doing some research on ergonomic mapping Miryoku generally seems to be a solid choice

I'd recommend you jump on QMK configurator, select the Charybdis of desired size, and start making your layers 😉

My keyboard was working fine prior to flashing. I have a solderable dz60 (ATMEGA32U4). I tried to flash it with firmware downloaded from config.qmk.fm (selected dz60 as keyboard). It said successful on qmk toolbox, but my caps lock light is stuck on and no button presses work. The esc + plugin option to reset stopped working, so I had to take the pcb out to press the reset button. Still not working after flashing with default firmware downloaded from config.qmk.fm. I tried flashing it with dz60 via firmware, and it gets recognized in via now, but still not working. After hours of troubleshooting of it not working, I flashed it with dz60rgb_v2 just to see what happens, and then very few of the keys work after a few presses (but they're mismapped), and the caps lock light goes off. I've tried the keyboard on different devices, and on both of them it gets recognized as a keyboard, but the caps lock light is still stuck on and no presses register.

Let's suppose that the issue is the diode orientation. I'm a total QMK newbie -- how could I swap between ROW2COL and COL2ROW at the firmware level? On the QMK Github I see instructions for modifying the appropriate headers. But when I generate my config from config.qmk.fm I only get a single .hex file. Thanks again!

Probably the easiest way to do it by clicking buttons is to use config.qmk.fm.

For non-ez keyboards, a similar tool is the QMK Configurator. See this documentation page or the video tutorial for an overview.