Skip to content
New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Multiple issues with default mapping due to conflicts with older Colemak install #49

Open
Prometheus720 opened this issue Sep 8, 2022 · 1 comment

Comments

@Prometheus720
Copy link

System: Windows 10 build 19044. Colemak w/ caps -> backspace is installed and I am running EPKL over that. Can supply more info if needed. Running non-admin user--I have another account which is admin that I use for UAC.

tl;dr: Any user trying to run EPKL as an alternative to simply installing Colemak (in order to get Extend layers & customization) will face the same issue I did--keys being remapped all over the place. Recommended fix is improved documentation/onboarding. I imagine that a huge portion of users will be people already using Colemak.

Steps:

  1. Download latest release from github
  2. Unzip to folder in downloads.
  3. Run EPKL.exe
  4. Press the key which on most ANS keyboards is 'p'
    a. Expect to see this button remapped to semicolon (and on shift, colon)
    b. Observe that it instead is remapped to 'o' and 'O' with shift
  5. Press the key which is originally backspace
    a. Expect it to continue functioning as backspace
    b. Observe that it functions as extend, but unreliably. It flickers and that is visible in the help image as the layers change
  6. Press the key which was originally caps lock
    a. Expect it to function as extend
    b. Observe nothing happens
  7. Attempt to resolve by switching back to the original Windows QWERTY layout using the Win + Space shortcut and resetting EPKL via Ctrl Shift 5
    a. This resolved all issues.
@DreymaR
Copy link
Owner

DreymaR commented Sep 12, 2022

I run EPKL reliably over both my Colemak-CAWS MSKLC install and a plain US layout, so the issue must be mainly with your OS layout - the infamous "Colemak w/ Caps -> Backspace" install.

Some care must be taken when using a VK layout, as it sends the keys that the OS layout has in the different positions. This mainly affects the "OEM_" keys. I'm trying out something that should be more robust against VK troubles, but I'm afraid it's still a Work-In-Progress. I agree that the average beginner will expect this to "just work" without learning about the intricacies of how Windows maps keys!

You've used a "cursed" OS layout install that remaps Caps-to-Back using a scan code hack; you shouldn't expect things to be working normally then. But you're right I guess: There must be others in your situation, and little awareness of the issue! I'd wish that Shai had provided some more info about the pitfalls and dangers of using that hack, but I guess that won't happen?

I cannot fix the hacky-albeit-not-uncommon install you've used, so I have to ask you to kindly run EPKL over a more normal OS layout for it to function. This is what you correctly observed in your point 7. Kudos!

What would you suggest improved in the documentation? In my experience it's hard to get everyone to read the parts they need to; I'm open to brilliant insights and suggestions on the matter. Maybe add a warning under the "up and running" heading... but I want that one to be crisp and concise and not drowning in what-ifs. So, under "Known issues" towards the end of the README? Would you find it there?

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment
Labels
None yet
Projects
None yet
Development

No branches or pull requests

2 participants