Seems to be not possible to map JIS keyboard?

[nyawox]

Let's start by discussing how JIS keyboards function on Linux. By default, unless explicitly set to jp106, they are internally configured as the US layout. Even when configured as jp or jp106, at the evdev level, they output keycodes corresponding to the US layout. Consequently, the keycodes for @ and ^ may not exist, requiring the layout to be mapped to US at the OS level. Now, let's explore why mapping a JIS keyboard isn't working.

Here's the defsrc I made for my JIS Thinkpad:

(defsrc
  grv  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    0    -    =  yen  bspc
  tab  q    w    e    r    t    y    u    i    o    p    [    ]    ret
  caps a    s    d    f    g    h    j    k    l    ;    '    \
  lsft z    x    c    v    b    n    m    ,    .    /    ro   rsft
  lctl lmet lalt Muhenkan    spc      Henkan KatakanaHiragana ralt prtsc rctl
)

As you can see, both ro and \ are present, resulting in a duplication error:

help: Repeat declaration of key in defsrc: "\"

This duplication issue makes it impossible to map the JIS keyboard. Could someone explain why it fails to differentiate between ro and \? Internally, they have different keycodes.

[jtroo]

It's a little unfortunate that the message isn't explicit about where it was previously found, and that key name mappings are not super clear, but this seems to explain your issue: yen and backslash are the ones conflicting, not ro.

kanata/parser/src/keys/mod.rs

Lines 120 to 123 in 4c5a313

	// Mapped as backslash because in some locales/fonts, yen=backslash
	("yen", OsCode::KEY_BACKSLASH),
	// Unicode yen is probably the yen key, so map this to a separate oscode by default.
	("¥", OsCode::KEY_YEN),

[nyawox]

Thanks, finally I can use wide mod on jis keyboard!

[gerhard-h]

@nyawox Is there a special trick to use a JIS keyboard? (like having a japanese Windows)
I once tried to use a JIS keyboard on European Windows 10. But wether or not I installed the 'japanese language features' (forgot how it was called exactly) the fancy keys (Muhenkan Henkan KatakanaHiragana,...) never worked as intendet and also all propuced the same scan code.

[nyawox]

I haven't experimented with Windows scan codes at all, as last time I tried kanata it couldn't even replace Win+ shortcut combinations without doing something on the windows side, that I realized it's a waste of time to even research. I think not having keyboard set to ANSI can only make it worse, as the OS remaps symbols completely messing up the layout. Also trying Japanese windows isn't worth at all because the only difference is language pack. Only place Windows can't be really replaced for me is workplace, which have the keyboard configured to JP106 at OS level(vanilla jis keyboard without utilizing layers and thumb keys is the worst thing, don't even try it please) and renders kanata unusable. I mean, really everything except games with anti cheat works better in VM on Linux with GPU passthrough nowadays, and I just don't play competitive games anymore. I'm chilling on wine and Windows VM when absolutely necessary. The only "special trick" I know to use JIS keyboard is using Linux, all these thumb keys have different scan codes out of the box. Pick a live usb and check running evtest with something like sudo apt install evtest idk not a Debian-based distro user.