IRC log for #qi-hardware on 20150413

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07:52.51eintopfwpwrak: what do you plan to do? bring atusb mainline?
07:55.04whitequarkwpwrak: keyboard layouts
07:55.11whitequarkoh
07:55.24whitequarkas in, there can be more than one keyboard layout
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10:43.20wpwrakeintopf: no, i'm just fixing a few things i found in anelok. anelok uses the core stack from ben-wpan
10:44.24eintopfok
10:44.46wpwrakwhitequark: yes, like pressing "Z" on a german keyboard yielding "Y" if the system uses the US keymap. USB HID is basically problem-compatible with PS/2
10:46.08whitequarkwpwrak: and what exactly do you suggest? the chip knowing what's on keycaps?
10:47.12whitequarkthat would mean that if something doesn't come with RU layout, there's no way to enable it, as well as added communication (complexity) between OS and kbd
10:56.24eintopfI use in germany the us keylayout, always funny if somebody try and try again to input his/her passwort with my account settings.
10:56.54eintopfit's easier to write brackets
11:03.35wpwrakwhitequark: there are many possibilities how this could be done right, e.g.,
11:04.01wpwrak- the keyboard could send the codes that correspond to what's on the keycaps, but your can override things in the host if you want,
11:04.24wpwrak- the keyboard could have a "raw" and a "translated" mode, so you can choose between both models,
11:05.04wpwrak- the keyboard could have a USB descriptor with the translation table and the host could then just use this as a basis.
11:06.36wpwrakand if the keyboard just sent the correct code, there would be no communication overhead. in any case, HID is rather complex, so adding a new setting or such wouldn't really make a difference in the overall copmlexity
11:06.51whitequarkthe keyboard still has to be informed about the layout...
11:07.10wpwrakthat's a factory setting
11:07.18whitequarkabout the /selected/ layout
11:07.40wpwrakwould solve 99.9% of all uses. for the 0.1%, people could just get some utility to "hack" the keyboard
11:07.43whitequarkfor, you know, everyone except 200m or so people in the anglosphere
11:07.56whitequarkno, *your* use case is the minority one
11:08.10wpwrakno, the keyboard would just send the code that corresponds to what's on the keycap
11:08.19whitequarkthere are more than one symbol on the keycap
11:08.21whitequarksometimes more than two.
11:08.43wpwrakwell, mix in the modifiers
11:08.56whitequarkwhat?
11:09.06wpwrakor have that information in the translation table
11:09.24wpwrakin the decision of what symbol to send
11:09.34whitequarkit's not a modifier
11:09.41whitequarkit's a layout selected in the DE
11:09.49wpwrakDE ?
11:09.56whitequarkdesktop environment
11:10.21whitequarkhttp://a4tech.a4-gcube.ru/img/products/full/240vbSzzvopKV0.jpg
11:10.26wpwrakso you have keyboard with multiple alternative layouts, all printed on the keycaps ?
11:10.32whitequarkobviously
11:11.06whitequarkmost people (on the planet) do
11:11.16whitequarkyou switch between them by using alt+shift or such
11:11.30wpwrakwell, it's still a modifier then
11:11.44whitequarkit's not a fixed modifier
11:11.46wpwrakRU-lock or whatever :)
11:13.39wpwrakand i guess you have some override that switches to the respective other layout for a single keypress ? e.g., if your mode is US, Y sends Y, and AltGr-Y sends H.
11:14.05wpwrakbtw, the QWEYTY us funny. nicely illustrates the confusion :)
11:14.12whitequarkno, there is no override
11:14.37wpwrakthat must suck sometimes
11:14.51whitequarknot a problem in practice
11:15.16whitequarkthe weirdly changing layout on numeric keys is, but the fix is not to add one-off modeswitch
11:15.39wpwrakanyway, yet another option would be for the keyboard just to announce a layout code. in case a table is just too much work. so you'd still send key codes but at least the host would know what's printed in the keycaps and could select a suitable layout.
11:16.03whitequarkyeah, that would make sense
11:16.26whitequarkand would be completely trivial to add
11:16.44wpwrakthough a table would be more flexible. and the usb folks *love* tables. the more, the merrier :)
11:21.18wpwrakthey actually almost added such a code: there is a "country" field in the HID descriptor, but a) it only knows about a few countries, most of which having only one layout, thus not working for anything not totally mainstream, and b) setting it to something meaningful is kinda optional
11:21.57whitequarkthere is no mapping between countries and layouts
11:22.16wpwrake.g., my HHKB (US layout) happily identifies itself as "Japan (Katakana)"
11:22.47wpwrakwell, there kinda used to. at least if you consider the original IBM keyboards as the reference :)
11:24.29wpwrakand they have codes for variations inside the same country, e.g., switzerland has a french and a german version
11:24.50wpwrakpage 13 (23) of http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/HID1_11.pdf
11:26.02whitequarkthere is no mapping between (physical location) and (what is painted on keys)
11:26.05whitequarkis it more clear now?
11:29.17wpwrakyou mean based on country ? i would expect that even in russia there is. maybe a few major variants, but i guess when you visit a friend you won't be faced with a completely different layout
11:30.16whitequarkyou just introduced another completely unnecessary and flawed step
11:30.41whitequarkinstead of manufacturing a keyboard with language X on keycaps, you suggest manufacturing a keyboard for some chinese dude's idea of what's used in country X
11:31.08wpwrakof course, with laptops and other more creative layouts, the whole concept of "standard" layouts collapses. but then you usually don't get a driver with the perfect position-to-symbol (or function) mapping, but you get a controller that makes it look like a common layout. hence my idea for a table: stop the madness :)
11:32.23wpwrakthere's no straight mapping for "language" either :)
11:32.59wpwrake.g., swiss-german != german, swiss-french != french, canadian-french != swiss-* and != french
11:33.38wpwrakbut then spanish is probably pretty close to the "country" of "latin america"
11:34.30wpwrakand it's anyone's guess what language they speak in "International (ISO)" ;-)
11:37.07wpwrakso if you wanted a single code, you'd probably need a registry. or spread it out by making this per vendor. but that would have its own set of problems.
11:37.40whitequarkyes, there should be a registry
11:38.12whitequarkthen you could create the xorg mappings using sed, instead of dark magic and collecting lost souls or whatever
11:41.06wpwrakof course, USB-IF would probably want to see some kilodollars for an entry ...
11:41.50whitequarkmaking a keyboard requires injection molding
11:41.55whitequarka few k$ is nothing compared to it
11:43.52wpwrakyes, for homo economicus, there would be no question. but ... :)
11:45.19whitequarkand if you don't make your keyboards in bulk, you probably shouldn't invent your own layout
11:45.26whitequarkthere are too many already
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