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Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

(please move or remove if I posted this in the wrong forum)
Good morning. I'm a beginner and I'm learning how to use a keyboard proficiently. To give you an idea of my age, literacy, and general position, I have only just started using the Home and End keys for the first time in my life. I learned that I really dislike using pointing devices like mice and touchpads, and that limiting myself to the keyboard where possible makes me happy. Using LaTeX instead of Word or Google Docs makes me happy. I would like advice from advanced users and keyboard specialists about how to transition to a keyboard-only setup: specifically, I would like to know what I should learn ahead of time, and how to choose a keyboard design to buy or make myself for this purpose.

"TL;DR" summary:
I want to adapt to only using a keyboard to control the computer. I need guidance choosing a system GUI, web browser, keyboard design, and whether I should go shopping or try making one myself.

Firstly, the software I use more than any other at this point is the web browser, though I expect this to change as I become more accustomed to Linux. Because the web has matured with pointing devices and especially mobile touch devices in mind, simply Tabing through webpages (even on what should be basic lists like search results) is not practical, or at least less practical than using a pointer. Even formatting posts on this very forum is not possible without a pointer to learn and memorize the BBcode ahead of time. What kind of software can I use to browse the web without a keyboard, now that we are a quarter of the way into the new century? I have heard of Tridactyl for Mozilla forks, but I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know its limitations - I will always have a spare pointer handy just in case, but I don't want to end up in a situation where I have been happily free of it for a long time and then having to dust it off for just one little snag.

Secondly, I'm slightly overwhelmed by the options available for tiling window managers.[1] I'm not quite in a position to invest as much time as I'd like into personally assessing each option, so how can I determine what will be best for me? Are the options really as diverse as they seem, or are they more or less the same over-all?

Thirdly, I don't know which keys are necessary or not. I want to use thumb clusters and alternative positions for some of the more distant and awkward keys (Esc, Backspace), but QWERTY US for the alphanumeric keys is a must[2] - I think I will be living here for the rest of the foreseeable future - however some of the minimalist keyboard designs I have seen seem more like stunts or artwork rather than tools. At the prices keyboards with thumb clusters go for, I would rather not err on the side of less. My thumbs are strong, so I want to use them for something other than the space key, such as during multi-modifier keycombo shortcuts. Are there any keys on modern keyboards you advanced users can confidently declare as "useless"? Or perhaps are there non-standard keys which are indeed useful to keyboard power-users, especially for Linux? Is the number pad truly necessary?[3]

Finally, non-generic keyboards are expensive, and those marketed as "ergonomic" even more so. Some of the options that caught my eye were close to US$400, a few even more expensive than that. I started looking into building my own keyboard, if only because I need an excuse to begin pursuing my interest in electricity, but I haven't been able to determine whether that route would be any less pricey, even after factoring in the valuable experience of assembling electronics. I also have very poor judgement when buying peripherals - the mouse I currently use was well over twice as expensive as my last mouse, but it has only caused me grief and even goes to extra mile of being impossible to fully clean without intentional destruction.

I appreciate any advice or guidance you can provide. Thank you for reading.
1 truly, I am a bit skeptical/bored of how suitable the entire "desktop metaphor" is for me, but I haven't found anything attractive or practical-seeming outside of it yet↵
2 I used Colemak for almost a year and while I loved it, it was ultimately more trouble than it was worth, especially after realizing I could no longer touch-type at the library↵
3 eleven years ago I used one indie software which required the number pad and could not be rebound, but never before and never since then have I used the number pad, except for convenience during very occasional repetitive data entry, which I could have accomplished faster had I known Vim↵

Re: Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

Reply #1 –
First of all, this is a really awesome and well-crafted post! It seems that you've done quite a bit of research :)
Quote
What kind of software can I use to browse the web without a keyboard, now that we are a quarter of the way into the new century?
I think you'd enjoy using qutebrowser, which is pretty much the only sane option for the current web while also being keyboard accessible. It's based on vim shortcuts, which is why it looks considerably different from "modern" browsers. Also, qutebrowser can be mostly configured through just two files, which I find nice.
(by the way: if you want a simple and keyboard-oriented pdf reader, nothing beats zathura)
Quote
Secondly, I'm slightly overwhelmed by the options available for tiling window managers.
Personally, I think dwm will give you the most freedom. You don't even need a mouse out of the box, but it will take a while to set it up to your needs. There's a whole "suckless philosophy" behind it which you may or may not like. I've been using it for about a year now, and once you set everything up you can forget about configs.
You can also try out i3, which is similar to dwm and should require less configuration. Well, at least with i3 you won't have to fiddle around with its source code.
These are very solid choices if you want full keyboard access in a WM. I'm sure that there are others but these seem to be the most popular.
EDIT: to answer one more of your questions, tiling window managers are pretty much the same. The only things that differ between them is the experience "out of the box" and the way you can configure them.
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and alternative positions for some of the more distant and awkward keys (Esc, Backspace)
Just a note (which you might already know): you can remap keys through software (X11 supports this by default). For example, I have the Caps Lock key mapped to be the second Esc. But that's if you stay on QWERTY.
As for the numpad - never really used it besides in Blender, but it has a setting if you don't have one.
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Finally, non-generic keyboards are expensive, and those marketed as "ergonomic" even more so. Some of the options that caught my eye were close to US$400, a few even more expensive than that.
Sorry, can't help you on this one since I'm mostly into software. But I'm sure that lovely people here on the forum can give you some recommendations! ;)

Re: Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

Reply #2 –
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
First of all, this is a really awesome and well-crafted post! It seems that you've done quite a bit of research :)
Oh... thank you. I try hard to make well-formed questions, because my IQ is low, so I was worried about being too verbose. People on this forum are very kind and knowledgeable.
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
I think you'd enjoy using qutebrowser
(by the way: if you want a simple and keyboard-oriented pdf reader, nothing beats zathura)
Thank you for the recommendations, I will note zathura for the next time I need to work with PDF (I used DjVu for digital books in the past). I have heard of qutebrowser, but I thought it was the case that it couldn't properly render certain websites, or certain web elements. Usually, the most poorly-behaved websites I go to are those of school and work, so I would need to use a separate browser for those, which arrests going pointerless unless I also extend it with Tridactyl or similar. I think that I will come to try both and choose whichever serves me better. Do you have any other keyboard-oriented software recommendations for Linux? (Actually, I feel like making a separate topic just to ask about web browsers and degoogled computer use. The Falkon browser that came with Plasma has small features which I like and wish were available in LibreWolf. Google is finally becoming worse than useless to me, but I have found nothing else I've tried to be good enough to replace them and their services.)
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
Personally, I think dwm will give you the most freedom.
You can also try out i3, which is similar to dwm and should require less configuration. Well, at least with i3 you won't have to fiddle around with its source code.
EDIT: to answer one more of your questions, tiling window managers are pretty much the same. The only things that differ between them is the experience "out of the box" and the way you can configure them.
Thank you. I like freedom, but I don't think I am ready for the task of taming dwm yet, so I will learn i3 for now. What is "suckless philosophy," and what does it mean for me as an end-user? Is this similar to the UNIX philosophy and Artix users' reason for not using Arch?
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
Just a note (which you might already know): you can remap keys through software (X11 supports this by default). For example, I have the Caps Lock key mapped to be the second Esc.
I thought that this might be the case, but I wasn't sure of the details. I am hesitant to software-remap keys because this caused severe time-wasting problems when I used to use Windows (especially as a learner of Asian languages dependent on language switching). I don't know if this hesitancy is rational to cling to in Linux where, at the very least if there ever were an issue, I could depend on myself to make it right and learn something that can be taught to others. My transition to Linux has given and will continue to give me countless growing pains, but it's a relief to no longer engage in arms races with the Registry.
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
As for the numpad - never really used it besides in Blender, but it has a setting if you don't have one.
Hmm, I suppose I don't have to worry as much about keybind problems if I stick to libreware... which causes me concern, because I don't use Blender anymore, and my preferred 3DCG software Houdini is not FLOSS (though thankfully it does seem to fully support Linux).
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
I'm sure that lovely people here on the forum can give you some recommendations! ;)
Thanks I like it. : )

Re: Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

Reply #3 –
Went through a similar process as you (I learned touch typing recently and decided to do it in a different keyboard layout as well.) but not quite.

1.) Browsers
As the what MaxLPM stated Qutebrowser would be a good one. However for me personally I want to have my ad-block and other add-ons / extensions. So I use Librewolf / Firefox. If you want to stay within Firefox/Chromium based browsers for the benefit of having extensions and other features I would recommend you to use an add-on/extension called Vimium (this add-on / extension allows you to navigate the websites in keyboard style) instead. You've mentioned Vim (I'm assuming you're familiar with it.) This will be even an easier transition for you.


2.) Workflow / Environment
If you wanna stay to a full on desktop environment then I would say Gnome is more keyboard oriented than other desktop environment. If instead you want to explore window managers. I will list 2 window managers. But first this greatly depends on your hardware. If your graphics card is of an NVIDIA brand. They have made improvements for their drivers but I cannot vouch for it. Then you maybe are stuck to use a window manager with a Xorg backend. Else, feel free to used one based on Wayland.

Note 1: You can use NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel for window managers using the Xorg backend.
Note 2: while DWM has a simple configuration file. You may find yourself doing some research on the keybindings to change it. DWM is configuration by editing the source code (either through patches or editing the config.h file of the program then recompiling it every change. If you do not mind trying to understand the source code or debugging (rarely) if necessary (yet another time added) then by all means do so. For reference I use DWL(DWM but on the wayland backend).

2 - a.) Recommendation - NVIDIA based graphics card. (Xorg)
I would recommend i3 window manager, it's simple, and popular. This is highly important for support or help. (Niche software will be difficult to get support / you will have to do quite a bit of reading.)

2 - b) Recommendation - Intel / AMD based graphics card. (Wayland)
I recommend Sway as the default manager for a window manager that uses the Wayland backend. And it's configuration is compatible with i3 (it is made with i3 as the inspiration and as a replacement for it). I used this in the past, but I switched to DWL for more efficiency and speed. I'd still recommend this(Sway) (as others are less user friendly to learn). It is also simple and popular.

Note 3: There are others out there but they are either not stable (crashing) or user friendly. By user friendly I mean easy to learn and popular (see Niche on section 2 - a.).


3.) As for the necessary keys or not. I would say go for a tenkeyless(no numpad) keyboard if you do not need / want the numpad. You can also go for more lesser layouts. But at that point it is simply subjective / a choice.

Re: Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

Reply #4 –
I prefer a keyboard with a trackpoint, this is a small pointer joystick thing located between the keys, I find it much faster and lets you keep both hands over the keyboard. It's mostly found on business laptops but you can get USB versions too, not that cheap new, but sometimes they can be bought used. There are some other mouse alternatives I haven't tried, like trackballs, a joystick type mouse eg a 3M EM500GPL, roller bar mouse (these are rare and expensive though) and getting more exotic, head or eye movement tracking systems, which have DIY and software options in conjunction with webcams so can be done cheaply, or a foot operated mouse!
 I'm happy with a trackpoint and touchpad, so am not familiar with doing without, however you can potentially bind keys to fresh actions or characters, but watch out they don't clash with other random app related hotkeys that might try to reassign them. Most keyboards I use don't have a numpad so I ignore it if there is one.
Edit - I forgot to mention touchscreen displays, these can also be used in place of a mouse or touchpad.

Re: Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

Reply #5 –
Quote from: nezunezu – on
I have heard of qutebrowser, but I thought it was the case that it couldn't properly render certain websites, or certain web elements. Usually, the most poorly-behaved websites I go to are those of school and work, so I would need to use a separate browser for those, which arrests going pointerless unless I also extend it with Tridactyl or similar.
Well, you just have to test what will work for you. But like clappingsnowdrop said, LibreWolf with uBlock Origin and Vimium is the best choice if you're concerned about privacy on the web. Personally, I have 2 LibreWolf profiles:
1. The one that I'm currently writing from, which is hardened by changing some uBlock settings and clearing most browsing data on exit.
2. Mostly used for school, etc. It has ResistFingerprinting disabled so that some stuff gets rendered correctly and also keeps all browsing data.
Browser profiles are actually something that I wish I'd known about earlier, they're really convenient :)
qutebrowser lacks stuff like ResistFingerprinting or advanced extension support (e.g. I have uBlock set to "medium" mode and to block all JavaScript by default), which is why one might say that it's inferior privacy-wise. But at this point it's personal preference.
Quote from: nezunezu – on
What is "suckless philosophy," and what does it mean for me as an end-user? Is this similar to the UNIX philosophy and Artix users' reason for not using Arch?
It's quite different. Check out https://suckless.org/philosophy/
One of the quirks of suckless software is that you have to edit the source code directly. It's hard to explain this through text, it'd be more effective if you take a look at how it's done: https://youtu.be/watch?v=DlViR5Ymg4A
To the end user it means that there's a pretty high barrier to entry if you want to patch those programs, but also they take very little resources and once you set everything up you can pretty much forget what window manager you're even using.
Though I'd recommend trying out i3 first if you don't have any experience in programming.
Quote from: nezunezu – on
I thought that this might be the case, but I wasn't sure of the details. I am hesitant to software-remap keys because this caused severe time-wasting problems when I used to use Windows (especially as a learner of Asian languages dependent on language switching).
This is as simple as creating a single config file ;)
I'm on X11, so here's an example from /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-keyboard.conf:
Code: [Select]
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        Option "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle,caps:escape_shifted_capslock"
		Option "AutoRepeat" "250 30"
EndSection
"XkbOptions" is the one that remaps capslock and sets the shortcut for language toggle. For more info see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg/Keyboard_configuration

Re: Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

Reply #6 –
Quote from: clappingsnowdrop – on
I would recommend you to use an add-on/extension called Vimium (this add-on / extension allows you to navigate the websites in keyboard style) instead. You've mentioned Vim (I'm assuming you're familiar with it.)
If your graphics card is of an NVIDIA brand. They have made improvements for their drivers but I cannot vouch for it.
2 - a.) Recommendation - NVIDIA based graphics card. (Xorg)
I would recommend i3 window manager, it's simple, and popular.
I would say go for a tenkeyless(no numpad)
Hello and thank you for the structured reply. This information is useful to me. I wouldn't say I am familiar with Vim and it's been a long time since I've used it, but I do like it, though I also like LISP languages so I don't know which side of the editor war I am on  ???
I saw a Vim-based file manager called Ranger many years ago and I was impressed with what it could do. But what exactly is the difference between Vimium and Tridactyl? They look equivalent in function to me. Is one better than the other development-wise, platform support, philosophically, etc.? I don't yet know enough about these things to assess for myself.
I do use an Nvidia processor, figuring out how to get it to work with Linux once and for all is the subject of my first post on this forum site ;) So far it works great, but I am using X. What is the usage difference between X and Wayland, besides their age and support breadth?
I will remember that I can do away with the numpad. I am trying to plan ahead to know if it is wise to get rid of other keys I don't use, such as the Caps Lock, although I suppose I can always rebind and relabel this, albeit with aforementioned Windows-induced hesitancy. My two fears are that somewhere years down the line, suddenly some software package is going to require the use of a key I excluded, requiring some less-than-elegant workaround, or that some software issue will cause the rebinding to not be recognized in specific circumstances, something which has indeed happened to me before on Microsoft's system. I just need to remember: Linux is not Windows.

Quote from: ####### – on
There are some other mouse alternatives I haven't tried, like trackballs, a joystick type mouse eg a 3M EM500GPL, roller bar mouse (these are rare and expensive though) and getting more exotic, head or eye movement tracking systems, or a foot operated mouse!
 I'm happy with a trackpoint and touchpad, so am not familiar with doing without, however you can potentially bind keys to fresh actions or characters, but watch out they don't clash with other random app related hotkeys that might try to reassign them. Most keyboards I use don't have a numpad so I ignore it if there is one.
I think this is good advice, thank you. I like to read about and observe exotic peripherals, but I am not interested in using any pointing devices whatsoever, besides occasional use of an artist's graphics tablet. Other than styluses for drawing or virtual sculpting, they are too slow for me because of my brain, and they are not useful to me because I don't play computer games. My main concern is with the viability of my desired environment in cases when things are not going well, such as when a driver breaks and so on. I am wary of depending on something that does not have the least number of layers of infrastructure that is possible for something that fulfills its purpose, such as eye-tracking. Basically, I would not like to depend on or get too used to anything that wouldn't work on the UEFI/BIOS screen, including software remapping. But a foot mouse doesn't quite fit that description, and might be fun to try at least once, though... monkeytime  ???

Quote from: MaxLPM – on
LibreWolf with uBlock Origin and Vimium is the best choice if you're concerned about privacy on the web.
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
qutebrowser lacks stuff like ResistFingerprinting or advanced extension support (e.g. I have uBlock set to "medium" mode and to block all JavaScript by default), which is why one might say that it's inferior privacy-wise. But at this point it's personal preference.
OK, I really need to search for or make a new topic about this subject. Internet privacy is something I am interested in but has only taken up my time and made life harder with very little concrete return on investment. I think my information on the issue is of poor and patchwork quality, and so far I have only gotten useful answers on this forum site. Which forum should I post this inquiry to if I don't find adequate answers in existing posts?
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
Personally, I have 2 LibreWolf profiles:
1. The one that I'm currently writing from, which is hardened by changing some uBlock settings and clearing most browsing data on exit.
2. Mostly used for school, etc. It has ResistFingerprinting disabled so that some stuff gets rendered correctly and also keeps all browsing data.
Browser profiles are actually something that I wish I'd known about earlier, they're really convenient :)
Oh! The last time I used it, LibreWolf did not have usable profiles any more than the original Firefox did, which is to say that it did not. Has this changed, or is it still necessary to fiddle with about:profiles?
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
Check out https://suckless.org/philosophy/
One of the quirks of suckless software is that you have to edit the source code directly.
Though I'd recommend trying out i3 first if you don't have any experience in programming.
Thanks for the video. This is interesting. The motivation is not clear to me from suckless's website, though. Is the point that, in order to keep software possible to continue supporting, the developers must militantly keep it so minimal that customization requires rewriting the source code? This is a good excuse for me to finally get around to learning C.
Quote from: MaxLPM – on
This is as simple as creating a single config file ;)
I'm on X11, so here's an example
Thank you again. I was worried that emulating AltGr functionality on my US keyboard would be fussy, but this seems very easy and straightforward. I'll try it after posting.
 

Re: Seeking Advice for Keyboardless Computing & k.b. Shopping or Building

Reply #7 –
Note: I havent read your first reply to MaxLPM. I happened to post mine without knowing that you already decided to use i3. (I had to do offline chores, work, etc.)


Quote
But what exactly is the difference between Vimium and Tridactyl?
I haven't heard about Tridactyl before, but I've checked it and used it out just now. Seems to have different design choices compared to Vimium, but functionally the same. No need to change to Vimium if you're already using Tridactyl.


Quote
I saw a Vim-based file manager called Ranger many years ago and I was impressed with what it could do.
Used it before as well, till I found lf (https://github.com/gokcehan/lf (also found in arch repos)) It's similar but it's faster (due it it being C++ rather than python). Also had negative experiences with ranger (like freezing/crashing) so I'm biased against it.


Quote
I do use an Nvidia processor, figuring out how to get it to work with Linux once and for all is the subject of my first post on this forum site ;) So far it works great, but I am using X.
I'm afraid I can't help you on that part. I do not use NVIDIA so I have 0 experience in dealing with it. So I cannot help you(in regards with installing drivers) as much as I'd like to.

I've heard NVIDIA users are better off using the proprietary drivers, but I cannot verify this. You're better off either asking others or try out other distros as a test run to see what it's like when it just works (in wayland).


Quote
What is the usage difference between X and Wayland, besides their age and support breadth?
Wayland is the replacement of Xorg. Xorg is getting phased out. No idea when but probably soon since distros have used wayland as their default.

My experience personally with it is that wayland is snappier, faster, and smoother. Also less configuration on my part.

I've heard NVIDIA users have trouble with it in the past, but is now okay with the newer drivers. Still I can't recommend it with confidence. You can try it. If it works then that's great.

As much as I like wayland I can't really recommend something that may not work. Which is why I had given you two choices of either i3 or Sway. At that time I didn't knew you were going to pick i3 or that you use an NVIDIA graphics card.