3.5M views · Sep 24, 2015 · 17:15 · 4 HN recommenders · 8 mentions · discussed 2018–2024
Tom Scott explains how he built his emoji keyboard, which turned out to be a series of bodged-together tools including AutoHotkey and LuaMacros. He tells stories about the value of quick-and-dirty solutions.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN links it as a charming defense of bodging and of AutoHotkey, and as the go-to example when custom keyboards or hotkey hacks come up.
“I saw a good talk on it from Tom Scott some time ago[0] which I think is relevant.”HN comment, 2020
“a bodge that helps you make other bodges”
Ode to AutoHotkey as a bodge that helps make other bodges.
AutoHotKey (in addition to WSL and VS Code) was enough to make me Windows-curious and eventually try a Windows laptop again after 10+ years on Mac. I first found out about AHK via Tom Scott's similar ode here: this video He describes it as “a bodge that helps you make other bodges”, which is beautifully put. [For those outside the UK, a “bodge” is a clumsy hack or repair.]
“He goes into more detail here[1], but it's beautiful.”
Details of the emoji keyboard with thousands of hand-placed stickers.
Fun AutoHotKey abuse: Tom Scott's emoji keyboard[0]. It's every single emoji (at the time of recording) on 14 full keyboards with 1,000s of hand-placed bespoke stickers. He goes into more detail here[1], but it's beautiful. [0]: link [1]: this video
“I saw a good talk on it from Tom Scott some time ago[0] which I think is relevant.”
Good talk on why bodges keep the world running.
Never underestimate the art of the bodge, it's quite literally keeping the world ticking over, perfection has a place but it is rare and fleeting. I saw a good talk on it from Tom Scott some time ago[0] which I think is relevant. [0]: this video
“Easily the most compelling argument I've heard for Windows is Tom Scott's”
A compelling argument for Windows.
I can't disagree, even if I would prefer something else. Easily the most compelling argument I've heard for Windows is Tom Scott's: this video .
“There's a tomscott video on it”
Tom Scott builds a custom keyboard with AutoHotkey and Lua.
With lua + autohotkey scripts in windows this is definitely possible the last time I checked. You run a luascript on another keyboard mapped to a generic key, luascript inputs that as the proper text-based language There's a tomscott video on it this video Checkout Teran van Hemert (linustechtips editor) for some potential ideas too. He's got crazy macro schemas, I've used a couple of his and there great. All windows based as well though. link Mac, I can only assume its something you would write in applescript. But maybe you find some interesting ideas there. I found something called " link that might be of interest to you
“See Tom Scott waxing lyrical about Windows and AHK here”
Tom Scott praising Windows and AHK.
Yes, there is the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), which is a compatibility layer for running Linux binaries natively on Windows: link link link I haven't switched to Windows 10 full-time yet, but WSL works remarkably well whenever I've tried it. Cmder ( link ) and ConEmu ( link ) are pretty decent terminal emulators and Terminus ( link ) looks promising too. (It's hard to beat iTerm, though.) My other concern with Windows 10 was security and viruses. Last time I used Windows every day (~1999!) that was a huge concern, but it seems to be less of one now. Most seem to consider using the standard Windows-supplied virus checker just fine if you're not torrenting dodgy stuff and opening strange email attachments. The following guide (from the @SwiftOnSecurity twitter author) was helpful: link It contains much the same advice for Windows that you'd expect to see for keeping macOS secure too — keep stuff up-to-date, encrypt your drives, don't try to disable User Account Control or Device Guard (like Gatekeeper on Mac). I've found that chocolatey ( link ) is a great replacement for brew, Laragon ( link ) is a good alternative to Valet, and Autohotkey ( link ) is unrivaled for general system automation. (See Tom Scott waxing lyrical about Windows and AHK here: this video ).
“Here's Tom Scott talking about how he used AHK and Lua to make a keyboard for every emoji”
Tom Scott uses AHK and Lua for an emoji keyboard.
Auto Hotkey is surprisingly powerful Here's Tom Scott talking about how he used AHK and Lua to make a keyboard for every emoji this video
“Reminds me of Tom Scott's "Art of Bodge up" video where he attempts to make an emoji keyboard on Windows.”
Reminds me of Tom Scott's "Art of Bodge up" video where he attempts to make an emoji keyboard on Windows. this video It's funny at the end he says "and don't ever suggest me I use Linux, just don't." I felt he expected it to be really hard project on Linux, while iterally his project is a single keyboard layout file.
