A little over a year ago I started to use Emacs seriously. Before I
had done some attempts to try to use Emacs, but this time I really
did the conversion. I haven't stopped using Vim, but I use Emacs on
a daily basis now. I use the vanilla Emacs key bindings, I don't
use viper, evil nor Doom. Which means a lot of key combo's (chords)
with the Control key.
I have been using GNU Screen for many years, before making the
switch to tmux. (I switched to tmux because it was part of the
basic OpenBSD install so there was no need to install an extra
package.) I have Ctrl-A as my prefix in tmux (just like in GNU
Screen) so there I have to use the Control key too.
Although pressing a key on the keyboard doesn't require much force,
using the Control key frequently does strain you pinky, this is
amplified by the extreme position of the Control key (unless you
have a space-cadet-keyboard).
Some people state to use their palm to hit the Control key while
typing a chord, but I haven't found a convenient way to do this.
Therefor I decided to configure my Capslock key as Control key and
give that a try.
Capslock as Control key
-----------------------
Although it may not be life changing, it is a good change. It takes
some time to get used to it, relearning all the muscle-memory.
So, now I have three Control keys:
- Left Control key
- Right Control key
- Capslock key
I really like this setup. First of all, in my cases your fingers
don't have to leave the home row. A second advantage is that it is
easier to use other fingers too.
Configuration
-------------
This is where it gets hairy.
On my FreeBSD laptop I have the following line in my ~/.xinitrc:
setxkbmap -model thinkpad -layout us -option caps:ctrl_modifier
On an old Chromebook running GalliumOS it works with a ~/.Xmodmap
file with the following contents:
remove mod4 = Super_L
add control = Super_L
On an unaltered Chromebook, open "Settings", scroll down to
"Keyboard" and select "Ctrl" in the "Search"-dropdown.
