Turn your keyboard into a typewriter! 📇

daktilo-demo.mp4

daktilo ("typewriter" in Turkish, pronounced "duck-til-oh", derived from the Ancient Greek word δάκτυλος for "finger") is a small command-line program that plays typewriter sounds every time you press a key. It also offers the flexibility to customize keypress sounds to your liking. You can use the built-in sound presets to create an enjoyable typing experience, whether you're crafting emails or up to some prank on your boss.

✨ Inspiration: "Taking notes in class with my typewriter"

Now you can recreate this moment without the actual need for a physical typewriter!

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
• Supported Platforms
• Installation
  • Cargo
  • Arch Linux
  • Alpine Linux
  • MacPorts
  • Binary releases
  • Build from source
• Usage
• Configuration
  • Adding custom presets
  • Sound Variation
• Similar Projects
• MacOS permissions
• Acknowledgements
• Donations
• Contributing
• License
• Copyright

Getting Started

Simply run daktilo for the classic typewriter effect.

There are also different presets available:

Preset Name	Description
default	the classic typewriter effect
basic	an alternative and more basic typewriter effect
musicbox	plays random notes like a music box
ducktilo	quack quack 🦆
drumkit	dum, tss, cha! 🥁
spark	high voltage high current typing experience ⚡

To list the presets:

daktilo --list-presets

To use a preset:

daktilo --preset musicbox

You can also use multiple presets at the same time:

# orchestra
daktilo -p default -p musicbox -p drumkit

To use a different output device:

daktilo --device pipewire

Also, you can use --list-devices to list the available output devices.

To variate the sounds and have a more realistic typewriter experience:

daktilo --variate-tempo 0.9,0.4 --variate-volume 0.1,0.5

Spoiler warning

There are easter eggs. If that is something you do not like you can disable them either via the config file option no_surprises = true or using the command-line flag:

daktilo --no-surprises

Supported Platforms

• Linux
  • X11
  • Wayland*
• Windows
• MacOS

Installation

Cargo

daktilo can be installed from crates.io using cargo if Rust is installed.

cargo install daktilo

The minimum supported Rust version is 1.70.0.

On Linux, the following packages should be installed:

• Arch Linux: alsa-lib libxtst libxi
• Alpine Linux: alsa-lib-dev libxi-dev libxtst-dev
• Debian/Ubuntu: libasound2-dev libxi-dev libxtst-dev

Arch Linux

daktilo can be installed from the official repositories using pacman:

pacman -S daktilo

Alpine Linux

daktilo is available for Alpine Edge. It can be installed via apk after enabling the testing repository.

apk add daktilo

MacPorts

On macOS, daktilo can be installed via MacPorts:

sudo port install daktilo

More info here.

Binary releases

See the available binaries for different targets from the releases page.

Build from source

1. Clone the repository.

git clone https://github.com/orhun/daktilo && cd daktilo/

2. Build.

CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target cargo build --release

Binary will be located at target/release/daktilo.

Usage

daktilo [OPTIONS]

Options:

-v, --verbose                                    Enables verbose logging [env: VERBOSE=]
-p, --preset [<PRESET>...]                       Sets the name of the sound preset to use [env: PRESET=]
-l, --list-presets                               Lists the available presets
    --list-devices                               Lists the available output devices
-d, --device <DEVICE>                            Sets the device for playback [env: DAKTILO_DEVICE=]
-c, --config <PATH>                              Sets the configuration file [env: DAKTILO_CONFIG=]
-i, --init                                       Writes the default configuration file
    --variate-volume <PERCENT_UP[,PERCENT_DOWN]> Variate volume +/- in percent [env: DAKTILO_VOLUME=]
    --variate-tempo <PERCENT_UP[,PERCENT_DOWN]>  Variate tempo +/- in percent [env: DAKTILO_TEMPO=]
-h, --help                                       Print help (see more with '--help')
-V, --version                                    Print version

Configuration

daktilo can be configured with a configuration file using the TOML format.

The path of the configuration file can be specified via --config argument or DAKTILO_CONFIG environment variable.

It can also be placed in one of the following global locations:

• <config_dir> / daktilo.toml
• <config_dir> / daktilo/daktilo.toml
• <config_dir> / daktilo/config

<config_dir> depends on the platform as shown in the following table:

Platform	Value	Example
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config	/home/orhun/.config
macOS	$HOME/Library/Application Support	/Users/Orhun/Library/Application Support
Windows	{FOLDERID_RoamingAppData}	C:\Users\Orhun\AppData\Roaming

See daktilo.toml for the default configuration options.

You can also create the default configuration file in the current directory with --init flag:

daktilo --init

Adding custom presets

The configuration file consists of an array of sound_preset entries.

To define an array in TOML, you can create different sections as follows:

[[sound_preset]]
name = "custom"
key_config = []

[[sound_preset]]
name = "another_custom"
key_config = []
disabled_keys = []
variation = { volume: [0.1, 0.1], tempo: [0.05, 0.05] }

As shown above, sound_preset consists of 2 entries:

• name: The name of the preset. It will be used in conjunction with --preset flag. e.g. --preset custom
• key_config: An array of key press/release events for assigning audio files to the specified keys. It can also be used to control the volume etc.
• disabled_keys: An array of keys that will not be used for playback.
• variation: Variate the sound on each event for key_configs that do not specify variations*

Click for the list of available keys.

Alt, AltGr, Backspace, CapsLock, ControlLeft, ControlRight, Delete, DownArrow, End, Escape, F1, F10, F11, F12, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, Home, LeftArrow, MetaLeft, MetaRight, PageDown, PageUp, Return, RightArrow, ShiftLeft, ShiftRight, Space, Tab, UpArrow, PrintScreen, ScrollLock, Pause, NumLock, BackQuote, Num1, Num2, Num3, Num4, Num5, Num6, Num7, Num8, Num9, Num0, Minus, Equal, KeyQ, KeyW, KeyE, KeyR, KeyT, KeyY, KeyU, KeyI, KeyO, KeyP, LeftBracket, RightBracket, KeyA, KeyS, KeyD, KeyF, KeyG, KeyH, KeyJ, KeyK, KeyL, SemiColon, Quote, BackSlash, IntlBackslash, KeyZ, KeyX, KeyC, KeyV, KeyB, KeyN, KeyM, Comma, Dot, Slash, Insert, KpReturn, KpMinus, KpPlus, KpMultiply, KpDivide, Kp0, Kp1, Kp2, Kp3, Kp4, Kp5, Kp6, Kp7, Kp8, Kp9, KpDelete, Function, Unknown

As an example, here is how you can configure key_config:

key_config = [
  { event = "press", keys = "Return", files = [{ path = "ding.mp3", volume = 1.0 }] },
]

• event: "press" or "release"
• keys: A regular expression (regex) for matching the keys.
• files: An array of files.
  • path: The absolute path of the file. If the file is embedded in the binary (i.e. if it is inside sounds/ directory) then it is the name of the file without full path.
  • volume: The volume of the sound. The value 1.0 is the "normal" volume (unfiltered input). Any value other than 1.0 will multiply each sample by this value.
• variation: Variate the sound on each event*

If you have defined multiple files for a key event, you can also specify a strategy for how to play them:

key_config = [
  { event = "press", keys = ".*", files = [{ path = "1.mp3" }, { path = "2.mp3" }], strategy = "random" },
]

Currently supported strategies are:

• strategy = "random": pick a random file from the list and play it.
• strategy = "sequential": play the files sequentially.

Here is how you can combine everything together:

[[sound_preset]]
# Custom sound preset named "custom"
name = "custom"

# Key configurations for various events
key_config = [
  # When a key starting with "Key" is pressed, play 1.mp3, 2.mp3, and 3.mp3 sequentially
  { event = "press", keys = "Key*", files = [
    { path = "1.mp3" },
    { path = "2.mp3" },
    { path = "3.mp3" },
  ], strategy = "sequential" },

  # When a key starting with "Key" is released, play 4.mp3
  { event = "release", keys = "Key*", files = [
    { path = "4.mp3" },
  ] },

  # When a key starting with "Num" is pressed, play num.mp3 at a very high volume (10.0)
  { event = "press", keys = "Num*", files = [
    { path = "num.mp3", volume = 10.0 },
  ] },

  # When any key is pressed, play a random sound from cat.mp3, dog.mp3, or bird.mp3
  { event = "press", keys = ".*", files = [
    { path = "cat.mp3" },
    { path = "dog.mp3" },
    { path = "bird.mp3" },
  ], strategy = "random", variation = { volume: [0.1, 0.1], tempo: [0.05, 0.05] } },
]

# Disabled keys that won't trigger any sound events
disabled_keys = ["CapsLock", "NumLock"]

Sound Variation

To make the keyboard sounds more varied it is possible to variate both volume and playback speed (the later also varies the pitch).

Values are in percent, where the first value determines the maximum increase and the second the maximum decrease. The actual value is determined randomly on each keypress.

• If command line arguments or environment variables are set configurations made in the presets are overridden.
  • Values need to be separated by a ",".
  • If only one value is supplied it is used for both increase and decrease
• If a key_config is set the preset values are overridden.
• The configuration on a preset applies to all key_config's that do not have any values set.

Similar Projects

• bucklespring: Nostalgia bucklespring keyboard sound
• selectric-mode: Make your Emacs sound like a proper typewriter

MacOS permissions

On MacOS, you need to give some permissions to the terminal where you run daktilo.

The first time you run daktilo, you will probably see this popup:

If you see it, click on "Open System Settings", otherwise open "System Settings" manually and go to "Privacy and Security". From here, enable "Input Monitoring" for your terminal application:

Acknowledgements

Huge thanks to H. Arda Güler for giving me the idea for this project, sharing the inspiration behind it and implementing the first iteration in Python.

Kudos! 👾

Donations

If you find daktilo and/or other projects on my GitHub useful, consider supporting me on GitHub Sponsors or becoming a patron!

Contributing

See our Contribution Guide and please follow the Code of Conduct in all your interactions with the project.

Also, see how you can add new presets here.

License

Licensed under either of Apache License Version 2.0 or The MIT License at your option.

🦀 ノ( º _ º ノ) - respect crables!

Copyright

Copyright © 2023-2024, Orhun Parmaksız