On Fri, 9 Oct 2015 17:53:05 +0300 Nikolay Pavlov <[email protected]> wrote:

> 2015-10-08 20:33 GMT+03:00 Gevisz <[email protected]>:
> > On Thu, 8 Oct 2015 22:23:33 +1100 Erik Christiansen 
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> On 06.10.15 01:01, Filype Pereira wrote:
> >> > So, I started reading a vim book and didn't get very far, when I stopped 
> >> > at this line:
> >> >
> >> > > If you can't touch type, then go learn it and then come back to learn 
> >> > > vim.
> >>
> >> What a load of bollocks!
> >>
> >> During three decades of earning a living developing software, I used
> >> vi/vim for the last quarter century without ever learning to touch type.
> >> OK, I use quite a few fingers, and it goes pretty fast, but I do need to
> >> look at the keyboard most of the time. That doesn't manifest as a
> >> practical problem, since the computers I've used have all been very good
> >> at remembering what I've typed, so I have no need to view the screen at
> >> more than infrequent intervals.
> >>
> >> One thing I've noticed is that where one values quality over quantity,
> >> it is the amount of thought that goes into a composition which matters,
> >> not how rapidly it was input, or whether the typist did it with his eyes
> >> closed.
> >
> > Completely agree and would throw the book after the phrase right into the 
> > trash bin.
> >
> > Unfortunately, I cannot boast that I use vim for a three decade, but I do 
> > use it
> > and I do type using computers for a quarter of century.
> >
> > When necessary, I type fast enough to do my job quickly but I never tried 
> > to learn
> > a touch typing and I should admit that for me it is already too late to 
> > learn it.
> >
> > Nevertheless, I do use a "blind typing" in the sense that I do not look into
> > the monitor when I type, only to the keyboard. I get used to this style yet
> > about 25 years ago trying to save my eyes from the ray monitors of that 
> > days.
> >
> > Usually, I type a whole sentence without looking into the monitor.
> >
> > It does not mean that I do not know my keyboard layout. I do know it and 
> > can type
> > in a complete darkness (but much more slowly, of course).
> >
> > My hands move over the keyboard almost automatically but I still need a 
> > little feedback
> > from my eyes to not hit "i" instead of "o" for example.
> >
> > In this connection I have only one inconvenience connected with the facts 
> > that
> > 1) I usually have to use 3 keyboard layouts at the same time switching 
> > between them with a hot key,
> > 2) it is impossible to have a "direct hot key switch" to a certain keyboard 
> > layout in Linux world.
> >
> > Because of that I have to remember all the time not only in which vim mode 
> > I am but also in which
> > keyboard layout I am and it is too much for me. As the result, I too often 
> > end up raising my eyes
> > to the monitor and finding out that I have typed the whole sentence in 
> > incorrect keybord layout. :(
> >
> > In such times I very much miss the good old MS DOS keyrus driver that could 
> > have been configured
> > to produce a pleasant "crimping" noise when typing in a cyrillic keyboard 
> > layout and nothing
> > when typing in Latin keyboard layout, for example.
> >
> > But the "direct hot key switch" could also help a lot in this situation.
> > Unfortunately, as far as I know, it is impossible in the Linux World.
> 
> I would suggest to ask this on superuser.com.

Thank you for your reply. I was long going to ask this question on
gentoo-user mailing list. Probably, I should do it right now just
to finally find the best solution for this problem. The superuser.com
will be the second option. 

> AFAIK you cannot do this directly with X server configuration,

Yes. That it why I concluded that it is impossible to do in GNU/Linux.

> but there are a number of “external” keyboard switchers which may
> have the needed capabilities.

I had an extensive google search earlier and found nothing, though.

But you have encouraged to ask this question on gentoo-user.

> The other variant is a console app like setxkbmap or xkb-switch used
> in conjunction with global shortcuts capabilities provided by your
> DE/WM (if no, there still are apps which provide global shortcuts
> using X server own capabilities).

I currently interested in a solution that will work under xfce4.
It definitely should have been done via xfce4 keyboard layout switch plugin
but, unfortunately, it does not. :(

> > P.S. By a "direct hot key switch" I mean the hot key that switches directly 
> > to a certain
> >      keyboard layout, not by circling through all the active ones.
> >
> >      However, such a "direct hot key switch" is possible in Windows.


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