Primeagen's ZMK Programmer Dvorak Layout (Kinesis Adv360 Pro)

[orchid yoke]

Trying to setup a new Kinesis Adv360 Pro based off the same layouts found here: https://github.com/ThePrimeagen/real-prog-dvorak-zmk (Only care about the dvorak layer)

• Tried setting up my own version and it failed using the Kinesis GUI (couldn't figure out how to setup or generate the custom mod-morph portions- https://github.com/ThePrimeagen/real-prog-dvorak-zmk/blob/master/adv360.keymap)
• Also just copied the .keymap file over and ran the build but the build artifact always fails on flash (error was random code - not syntax related)

Any idea how this particular ZMK is working? Guessing I can't ONLY copy the keymaps?
Is the adv360 fork of zmk necessary? Is it possible Prime is just setting it up outside of kinesis config?

[grand vector]

Where did you copy the keymap file over to? You need a ZMK config repo eith a specific structure and the build workflows to build firmware

That repo seems to only have a .keymap file

[glossy sapphire]

Apologies - this is the original I began with (my own fork per the instructions) - https://github.com/KinesisCorporation/Adv360-Pro-ZMK - I'm wondering if I can just drop that .keymap over there or if there's more configuration happening (which there must be since I already failed at it)

[grand vector]

You can try replacing config/adv360.keymap with that file, see if it builds

If you already tried and got an error, please share a link to your repo

But in general, it would be nice for you to understand what’s going on before copying someone elses wholesale

You could probably add just the layer you want, along with the contents of the behavior node which are used in that last layer

As an aside, not passing judgment on you but stating an opinion: Layouts like programmer’s dvorak seem geared towards regular keyboards to be used with helper programs. Since thise keyboards aren’t inherently programmable, they have to overload functionality of modifiers like shift. But with ZMK et al. you have access to layers, combos etc. so I don’t see much point in overriding modifier functionality

[glossy sapphire]

Thanks I'll try just that individual layer and see what I can figure out. Thanks for the help!

[upbeat acorn]

I don’t think you will be able to use the gui with his because of the custom behaviors he’s made

[orchid yoke]

So I finally figured it out - turns out Primeagen has a proper fork at this branch https://github.com/ThePrimeagen/Adv360-Pro-ZMK/blob/V1.69_prime/config/adv360.keymap. I did what you advised @grand vector and read through docs and then tried just taking his single layer I wanted. Didn't work b/c I'm pretty sure Kinesis version of firmware has changed slightly so I had to manually edit his layer to account for some strange spacing issues between v1 and v2 of the Kinesis firmware. This was evident in a lot of the mappings being slightly off - hence the spacing. After tweaking the layer I finally got it working. Huge caveat - make sure you set up a keybind to access that layer (was my first and foremost problem until I seriously looked through the docs to see what was missing from the kinesis defaults). Not that its recommended to just copy, but see my working prime_layer keymaps here:https://github.com/scott062/Adv360-Pro-ZMK/blob/V2.0/config/adv360.keymap.

[grand vector]

Yeah, I heard about extra/removed binding issue among their versions. It sounds a bit messy

Happy you figured it out though, and that you learned the fundamentals

[orchid yoke]

I just wanted to wrap my head around your previous observation a bit more - the reasoning for this proposed layout is to supposedly make certain keys more accessible in a dvorak layout (really this idea of parity between the halves ex. 2nd finger on both hands responsible for the closing and open braces, parens etc.). So altering the modifiers allows for this by flipping and moving some of the default behavior by prioritizing more used developer keys. You were saying that changing those modifiers is semi-moot given the level of customization since i could easily move a lot of those mod keys into whole new layers that no longer rely on the shift key right? Or have I missed your point with that?

[grand vector]

Yeah, that was exactly my point. Shift is used as a pseudo-layer key in these layouts, however you can use a real layer instead

Just a single extra layer would be enough, that would replace all the shift-related alt functionality