Kinto — A Mac Inspired Keyboard Mapping for Linux
Kinto is the culmination of an itch I’ve had for at least 3 years. Initially it started as a simple Xmodmap modification for a Dell XPS 13 and a Lenovo laptop and it worked well enough, but any time I began using a terminal app the illusion of using a Mac keymap on linux quickly faded.
Using the typical methods it just isn’t possible to keep the new “Cmd” key functional while also having the Ctrl key working for the terminal app. There are 3rd party tools, like Autokey, but many of them operate slower than what would be acceptable to most people as they always intercept your keys and check that against the current app. A better, faster, method is to simply listen for the active Window (App) name and immediately apply the proper keymap in response and to do so using xkbcomp/setxkbmap, which makes the changes native.
Enter Kinto — it’s the fastest and most complete Mac inspired keymap solution I am aware of. Recently I also added the same text based cursor/word-wise shortcuts that match macOS behavior. More features and updates are planned, and if you’d like to experience it yourself then please checkout my github repo.
If there’s anything missing that breaks the illusion for you then please let me know and I will do what I can to resolve it. The only goal I have with Kinto is to make something that will allow anyone to flow between any Linux desktop and a Mac desktop without any real differences, as far as the keyboard is concerned.