Probably, but the labels would be incorrect, of course. Stickers are an option there, but probably not recommended for such a commonly press-and-hold type key.
Also, with this layout you might notice the keys on that row are slightly off their usual positions as you move towards the right side, e.g. the ? key is nearly aligned with the " key. These sorts of seemingly small quirks can really drive a touch typist mad.
Anyway, I’ve spent more time on this than is warranted. Some like the layout, some don’t. There are other laptops on the market, it’s not like I’m forced to buy this one. I’m just disappointed in one of my favorite builders – can’t please all of us!
I wonder if this could be solved with a pre-order type approach? Effectively akin to crowdfunding but something like you pre-order a librem14 with a DE keyboard. If 500 orders are placed that month (or whatever the limit is to make it financially viable) the orders are fulfilled and if not they’re refunded or offered to switch to a different layout?
This is not a compromise, this is a defect. And I have it on my current laptop Lenovo Ideapad 510S-14ISK - very similar keyboard layout (I didn’t realized the issue, when I bought it 3 years ago).
I’ve managed to live with it by remapping the keys:
Right SHIFT switched with UP Arrow
Right CTRL switched with LEFT Arrow
Yes, the right SHIFT is too far away, but also the right CTRL is too close to the ‘J’ key !!
So yes, my arrows keys are really messed up right now, but - somewhat luckly - I’m a vim user.
All the typing tutorials that I ever seen recommend using the right SHIFT to upper case the left hand keys… I see people here having success typing ‘Q’, ‘A’, ‘Z’, ‘!’ using the left SHIFT… well… that’s weird/not ergonomic/awkward/slow - IMO…
I can’t afford this laptop. I’m commenting here hoping to stop this defect spreading even more… especially on Purism hardware which I like.
“I’ve made a big mistake… I accidently chose one with such an unforgivable flaw in the keyboard, that my constant typos - while I was making notes during Monday morning meetings on the projector - became a running joke thoughout the company.” – Linus (Linus Tech Tips)
Microsoft solved this elegantly imo on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 by making the up/down arrows half normal height. Never felt it required any extra effort at all to use those up and down keys and had full right shift key and full right and left keys. Just wanted to share this in case it could be implemented (I am also adjusting to the small right shift).
Before I bought the L-14, I knew that I was going to dislike intensely the keyboard. So it was no surprise when the machine arrived and I immediately intensely disliked the keyboard. I touch type and use both shift keys so using the L-14 keyboard I am always making mistakes. The shift key is in the wrong position.
Since I also use a trackpoint (I can touch type), I use it with my L-14 and, when I travel, I carry the keyboard with me. Without the keyboard, the L-14 is unusable.
This is how I’m doing it on a Debian 11 bullseye system with XFCE on my Lenovo laptop. The procedure involves finding the right file with the keycodes and edit it to swap the codes. Please note, that it will affect also all the keyboards you attach to the laptop. However, it doesn’t work in the real consoles (CTRL+ALT+F1)…
So, find the keycodes file under use: $ setxkbmap -print | grep keycodes xkb_keycodes { include "evdev+aliases(qwerty)" };
So, in my case it is called evdev.
Backup and edit that file: /usr/share/X11/xkb/keycodes/evdev
Swapping Up with Right Shift can be done by commenting the old values and add the new ones swapped:
Probably it can be done better. I don’t know… That’s what works for me without problems since 4 years. As I said previously I also swapped the Left Arrow with the Right Ctrl too in the same file.
I used a modified /lib/udev/hwdb.d/60-keyboard.hwdb file to swap two keys on my external keyboard.
It’s some time ago that I configured it, so please excuse if I do not remember all the background and details correct.
This should work independently of the running gui.
The file needs to be copied to /etc/udev/hwdb.d/60-keyboard.hwdb to overrule the file in /lib/.
The part I added looks like this:
###########################################################
# Cherry Strait 3.0 2020-04-06 cv
###########################################################
# exchange 'einfg' and 'pos1' to have a 'pos1'-'ende' combination side by side
# keycodes 'einfg'=70049 'pos1'=7004a (as shown by evtest)
# remap insert to be pos1
evdev:input:b0003v046Ap0180*
KEYBOARD_KEY_7004a=insert
# remap pos1 to be insert
evdev:input:b0003v046Ap0180*
KEYBOARD_KEY_70049=home
It works fine for me. This might work to exchange with some other key on the L14. When I get mine I’ll probably look into it, because I’m typing 10-fingers blind and am using .
Also this is the place where Purism worked around an error in the keyboard firmware of the Librem13 which stops the german keyboard of L13s work as expected. You can find the section if you search for “Librem”.
On my external keyboard I mechanically exchanged the key caps to follow my configuration. It worked so-so. One of the keys does not feel the same when pressed even though it works. I don’t know how difficult it will be to do the same to the keyboard of the L14, but I would be really interested in experiences if anybody tried yet.
I’m just disappointed in one of my favorite builders – can’t please all of us!
