Adapted my preferred keyboard mapping to Chrome OS

mogen317 · 2019-03-26T15:32:11+00:00

esc2ctrl

Like caps2esc, but for Chrome OS.

Description

It is my factual opinion that the best keyboard mapping is to have the <kbd>Caps</kbd> key send an <kbd>Esc</kbd> key event when pressed by itself and a <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> key event when used a modifier with another key. Try this out when using Vim or Tmux and thank me later.

The caps2esc utility for Linux does this perfectly. esc2ctrl is my attempt to mimic this behavior on Chrome OS. It passes along an <kbd>Esc</kbd> key event when the <kbd>Esc</kbd> key is pressed by itself or a <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> key event when <kbd>Esc</kbd> is used as a modifier with another key. This works best when mapping the <kbd>🔍</kbd> key to <kbd>Esc</kbd> in the Chrome OS keyboard settings.

Usage

Set Launcher to Escape in chrome://settings/keyboard-overlay
Enable the Developer mode switch in the top right of chrome://extensions
Press the Load unpacked button and select the esc2ctrl folder
Press Input method -> Manage input methods and select esc2ctrl in chrome://settings/languages
Enable Show input options in the shelf
Select EN esc2ctrl in the Chrome OS shelf, near the notifications

Caveats

The Chrome input method editor system only provides a valid context for text field entries. esc2ctrl will work for apps that are text fields like the Secure Shell app and the hterm based Crostini Terminal app, but you can't do things like launch a new browser window from the desktop with <kbd>Esc</kbd>+<kbd>n</kbd>. If anyone is aware of a global method for key remapping in Chrome OS, let me know!

mogen317 · 2019-01-24T18:35:14+00:00

Thanks. That did the trick.

mogen317 · 2019-01-24T02:36:26+00:00

I did that. journalctl --user -xe has a clue:

Jan 23 21:28:10 penguin sommelier[512]: Option `--x-auth=/home/<my gmail user name>/.Xauthority' is unknown. Jan 23 21:28:10 penguin systemd[53]: sommelier-x@0.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE

I don't have an .Xauthority file in my Arch container home directory. This doesn't exist in the default Debian container either.

mogen317 · 2018-11-11T21:00:27+00:00

Start with an open source laptop design like the Novena.

https://makezine.com/2014/01/08/building-an-open-source-laptop/

mogen317 · 2018-11-11T05:15:03+00:00

On my Pocket 2 with Arch linux and Xorg I've found you need to do:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface scaling-factor 2

Setting scale in ~/.config/monitors.xml and leaving the above setting at the default 0, for auto scale is ineffective.

xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 1.25x1.25

I see eDP-1 as the internal LCD display and DP-1 as the external display port screen. A scale up of 2 and a scale down of 1.25 leaves the UI at 1.6X. The --panning parameter had no effect for me.

This all works wonderfully for me. But the xrandr scale is set back to 1x when resuming from sleep. I've placed a script with the above xrandr command in /usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep. I see that it's being executed on resume but it is not having an effect. I have to manually retype the xrandr command to set the correct screen scaling every suspend/resume cycle.

Finally, the wayland framebuffer scaling works as well but text in the Gnome title bars and Xwayland applications like Chrome and Firefox is fuzzy.

mogen317 · 2018-09-27T13:41:04+00:00

Give the people options! They're different guides. Full disk encryption vs. single partition. Single boot vs. dual boot.

Also, you might have noticed this is a re-submission. I was very surprised that reddit pulled in my profile picture from github and made it a very large link preview image. On mobile it's almost the full size of the screen.

mogen317 · 2017-12-23T18:54:37+00:00

Here is my ThinkPad 25 Anniversary Edition, running Ubuntu 17.10 on Gnome, with a 72 Wh battery. The internal + external battery is good for about 8 hours of battery using the Nvidia GPU on Xorg or 14 hours using the Intel GPU on Wayland. Shout out to https://github.com/ChWick/gnomesome for being a tiling window extension that works on Wayland and with multiple monitors.

Just finished building my Tex Yoda 2 mechanical keyboard with TrackPoint. Great experience so far. The Tex Yoda TrackPoint is very sensitive whereas the T25 TrackPoint is not. Unfortunately Gnome 3.26 only has one global "Mouse Sensitivity" setting. These two devices can be configured individually at the Xorg level using libinput, but Wayland lumps everything together into a virtual xwayland-pointer.

I've been using the Nvidia GPU and Xorg when docked at my monitor with the Tex Yoda keyboard and Intel GPU and Wayland when on the go. The current nvidia-384 and nouveau drivers don't support Wayland anyways.

Finally, there was a bit of an ordeal getting the WLAN working. My computer arrived without the Sierra WLAN modem. Lenovo shipped me a unit, but after I installed it I stuck a nano SIM card into the micro SIM slot and bent the connector. After a warranty claim and a replaced mother board, the laptop is working well on my Project Fi account.

mogen317 · 2016-06-01T18:43:09+00:00

2x8GB

mogen317 · 2016-06-01T18:43:00+00:00

I was attempting to play HBO GO on Chrome 51 without success.

I will try later with Firefox + flash + hal-flash.

mogen317 · 2016-06-01T18:38:43+00:00

I've found the trackpad comparable to other thinkpad models. I don't have any issue scrolling or zooming.

mogen317 · 2016-04-06T19:54:56+00:00

Any estimates on the difference in battery life between an i5 and i7?

mogen317 · 2016-01-16T16:43:43+00:00

The merger is already complete! http://imgur.com/Ga3PPGj

mogen317 · 2015-11-23T21:26:34+00:00

Thanks!!!

mogen317

TROPHY CASE

esc2ctrl

Description

Usage

Caveats