Will Karabiner-Elements supports "Change fn key" to Hyper key like "Change caps_lock key"

[pqrs-org]

Will Karabiner-Elements supports "Change fn key" to Hyper key like "Change caps_lock key"

[iwill]

@kzsh Thank you very much!

[kzsh]

KE-complex-modifications does not yet have a config for this kind of behavior, but it can be done with a custom configuration of Karabiner-Elements. I've included a config below that would likely do what you want.

{
  "title": "Simulate \"hyper\" key",
  "rules": [
    {
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "description": "Change fn to \"hyper\" key (command+control+option+shift)",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "fn",
            "modifiers": {
              "optional": [
                "any"
              ]
            }
          },
          "to": [
            {
              "key_code": "left_shift",
              "modifiers": [
                "left_command",
                "left_control",
                "left_option"
              ]
            }
          ],
          "type": "basic"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

One of the effects of something sweeping like this is that you wouldn't be able to trigger key combinations that require the fn key, since it would be overridden. If you still want to use the regular function key, you could create a more targeted config, that interprets the fn key as a hyper key only in combination with other specific keys that you need, e.g.:

{
  "title": "Change fn to \"hyper\" key (command+control+option+shift) with specific key combinations",
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Change fn + b to \"hyper\" + b",
      "from": {
        "key_code": "b",
        "modifiers": {
          "mandatory": [
            "fn"
          ],
          "optional": [
            "any"
          ]
        }
      },
      "to": [
        {
          "key_code": "b",
          "modifiers": [
            "left_shift",
            "left_command",
            "left_control",
            "left_option"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "type": "basic"
    }, {
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "description": "Change fn + a to \"hyper\" + a",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "a",
            "modifiers": {
              "mandatory": [
                "fn"
              ],
              "optional": [
                "any"
              ]
            }
          },
          "to": [
            {
              "key_code": "a",
              "modifiers": [
                "left_shift",
                "left_command",
                "left_control",
                "left_option"
              ]
            }
          ],
          "type": "basic"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Put your adaptation of one of the above configs in a JSON file under ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications, and then you can import it from the Complex Modifications tab in Karabiner-Elements preferences. Feel free to open a PR for it, or If there's enough interest I may open a PR to add it to the list of importable configurations when I have a moment.

[Grazfather]

I do similar with a few changes:

1. I require a two key combo (ctrl-space) (And YES this does make ctrl-space impossible.)
2. My hyper doesn't include shift. cmd ctrl option is rare enough, plus i can just do control+space+shift if i want shift cmd ctrl option.

{
  "description": "Remap Ctrl-Space to Hyper",
  "manipulators": [
      {
          "from": {
              "key_code": "spacebar",
              "modifiers":{
                      "mandatory": ["left_control"]
              }
          },
          "to": [
              {
                  "key_code": "left_control",
                  "modifiers": [
                      "left_control",
                      "left_option",
                      "left_command"
                  ]
              }
          ],
          "type": "basic"
      }
  ]
  }

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.