narf’s zmk config

Configuration of my Corne keyboard.

Hardware

• five column Corne from Typeractive
  • wireless
  • low profile
  • choc-spaced
  • hot-swappable
• no case, no plates, no displays — keeping it simple
• MBK Legend 40s keycaps from splitkb
• linear Kailh Choc switches, also from splitkb:
  • mostly silver (40gf)
  • pro red (35gf) near the outer edge
  • pink (20gf) under pinkies

Software

• Colemak DH modified for Vim and Polish (aka Polemak)
• influenced by Miryoku's ideas and values
• home low mods (using the index finger on the lower row for the fourth modifier instead of pinky)
• optimized for non-typing with just the left hand — with the right hand on the mouse/glass/... I can:
  • open specific apps
  • change tabs
  • copy, paste, close, reopen, undo, redo, ...
  • navigate system popups (tab, shift+tab, space, enter, esc)
  • call a fair amount of git commands (thanks to my short aliases)
  • quit CLI programs (ctrl+c, ctrl+d)
  • ...

Layers

Base

Polemak

Colemak DH modified for Vim and Polish (aka Polemak)

• I write in English and Polish and I use Vim
• I started with Colemak DH (switching from QWERTY after three decades)
• swapped J and K so they're not up side down in Vim
• reorganized left bottom row for Polish:
  • in Polish Z is the most used consonant
  • Q, V, and X are not part of the alphabet
  • after my changes all Z digraphs are pleasant rolls: CZ, DZ, RZ, SZ
  • serendipitously, because I have alt on hold R, I can type RZ and Ż (same sound in Polish) using the same keys 🤯 just in a different rhythm
• swapped F and W so that closing windows is more convenient to me
• the whole time I was using Colemak DH layout analysis tool to make the layout better for Polish and not much worse for English:

Apps and windows

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System

Bluetooth

Symbols and code

Numbers

F1–F12

Building firmware locally

ZMK configs are designed for building remotely using GitHub Actions. In my experience the remote build takes anywhere from a few minutes to an hour, depending on cloud weather, and as such is not acceptable for interactive development or experimentation. Therefore, I created a few scripts to automate building and flashing on my local machine. It takes about fourteen seconds.

Environment

I use macOS, VS Code, and Docker Desktop. I followed the "VS Code & Docker" instructions described in the Toolchain Setup section.

Usage

./scripts/develop

1. Connect both halves to the Mac using USB-C.
2. Before flashing, reset first the right one, then the left one (volume names depend on the order).
3. Any time you save a file, the script will build and flash.

Installation

cd ~/github
git clone [email protected]:zmkfirmware/zmk.git
git clone [email protected]:narfdotpl/zmk-config.git
docker volume create --driver local -o o=bind -o type=none -o device="$HOME/github/zmk-config" zmk-config
brew install pyenv pyenv-virtualenv
pyenv install 3.11.3
pyenv virtualenv zmk-config
pyenv activate zmk-config
pip install peat

Install ZMK Tools VS Code plugin. ZMK commit hash at the time of writing: 7f9e9f8c.