Ignore keyboard layout selected on system level

[Unambiguous]

Hi there,

I’m looking for some help to achieve the following behavior with my keyboard setup:

I have two keyboard layouts configured at the operating system level - US QWERTY and a national layout that produces various accented characters like á, š, etc.

1. Force US QWERTY Output
Is there a way to make the keyboard always output the default US QWERTY character as physically printed on the key, regardless of the selected layout? For example, when I press [, I want to always get [, ignoring any national-specifics.

2. Output Accented Letters on US QWERTY
Is it possible to force certain keys to output accented characters even when I’m using the US QWERTY layout? For instance, I’d like to redefine the a key to output á while still in the English layout.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[jtroo]

You could try Unicode:
https://jtroo.github.io/config.html#unicode

[Unambiguous]

Indeed, unicode was the way. I did not realize, I have to redefine each key, to completely ignore keyboard layout specific behavior.

1. Force US QWERTY Output

Solved by overriding behavior with unicode aliases on base layer and shift layer.

Issues:

• Typing < outputs "" in some applications, like Obsidian (Linux).
• Pressing Right Shift + ; or ] outputs a character, deletes the character and produces newline.
  • I may replace the right shift with left shift to eliminate this behavior.

(defalias
  ;; Layer switch - shift
  lsh* (multi lsft (layer-while-held shift))
  rsh* (multi rsft (layer-while-held shift))

  ;; symbols
  `*  (unicode `)
  ~*  (unicode ~)
  1*  (unicode 1)
  !*  (unicode !)
  2*  (unicode 2)
  @*  (unicode @)
  3*  (unicode 3)
  #*  (unicode #)
  ...
)

(deflayer base 
  @`*   @1*   @2*   @3*   @4*   @5*   @6*   @7*   @8*   @9*   @0*   @-*   @=*   _
;;grv   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     0     -     =     bspc
  _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     @[*   @]*   @\* 
;;tab   q     w     e     r     t     y     u     i     o     p     [     ]     \
  @cps* _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     @;*   @'*   _
;;caps  a     s     d     f     g     h     j     k     l     ;     '     ret
  @lsh* _     _     _     _     _     _     _     @,*   @.*   @/*   @rsh*
;;lsft  z     x     c     v     b     n     m     ,     .     /     rsft
  _     _     _                 _                 _     _     _
;;lctl  lmet  lalt              spc               ralt  rmet  rctl
)

(deflayer shift
  @~*   @!*   @@*   @#*   @$*   @%*   @^*   @&*   @**   @lp*  @rp*  @_*   @+*   _
  _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     @{*   @}*   @|*
  _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     @:*   @dq*  _
  _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     @<*   @>*   @?*   _
  _     _     _                 _                 _     _     _
)

2. Output Accented Letters on US QWERTY

Solved by overriding behavior with unicode aliases on custom accented layer.

Issues:

• I have trouble outputing combining accute ´ (U+0301) and combining caron ˇ (U+030C) as dead keys that wait for the next letter to which to append.

(defalias
  ;; accents
  cps* (layer-while-held accent)
  ;;acct (unicode ´)
  ;;carn (unicode ˇ)
  ;; accute
  aclA (unicode á)
  aclE (unicode é)
  aclI (unicode í)
  ...

  ;; caron
  calL (unicode ľ)
  calS (unicode š)
  ...
)

;; Caps Lock acting as a modifier key to output accented letter on EN keyboard layout
(deflayer accent
  _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _     _
;;grv   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     0     -     =     bspc
  _     _     _     @aclE _     @calT @aclY @aclU @aclI @aclO _     _     @dilA _
;;tab   q     w     e     r     t     y     u     i     o     p     [     ]     \
  _     @aclA @calS @calD _     _     _     _     _     @calL @cilO _     _
;;caps  a     s     d     f     g     h     j     k     l     ;     '     ret
  _     @calZ _     @calC _     _     @calN _     _     _     _     _
;;lsft  z     x     c     v     b     n     m     ,     .     /     rsft
    _     _     _               _                 _     _     _
;;lctl  lmet  lalt              spc               ralt  rmet  rctl
)