March 9, 2026

Ergodox EZ -- Oryx - Ian's Vimifier

I found this using Oryx, I think under My Layouts -- Default Layouts.

It is not without its flaws. Several keys do not work as shown in the Oryx display. Also there are no ways to get to levels 3, 4, and 5!!

Other things are a matter of taste. I am thinking of a rule that the same button that takes you into a level takes you back to level 0.

I want return on the closest right thumb key. So I made it so. I also rearranged the Vim layer so the same key that takes you there also takes you back. And I added a RESET key to the uppermost right key on the vim layer.

When I am in the Vim layer, the leftmost LED lights up. The under keyboard lights do not work and stay off all the time.

My hope is that this layout will be a good starting point with layer 0 being close enough to a "normal" keyboard that my muscle memory will sort of work. Then I need to accumulate some mileage with the orthonormal layout before I get involved in customization.

Make it mine

I click on "modify this layout" at the lower right. Now without making changes if offers that I can modify this layout. For no good reason, I go to the Zen5 layer and change the label on a do-nothing key to "Tom". The I compile the layout.

It offers me the button to install this in my keyboard. (The button says "Save to my keyboard". It tells me to reset. I use a paper clip.

I download the firmware -- and I download the source.
This yields the following in my Downloads directory:

zsa_ergodox_ez_m32u4_shine_nvqLx_zLeyB4_iain-s-vimifier.hex
zsa_ergodox_ez_m32u4_shine_nvqLx_zLeyB4_iain-s-vimifier_source.zip

Ian keeps his own QMK fork, including this layout on Github. This could be a great starting point when I decide to dig into QMK.

Now in Oryx when I go to My Layouts, I see "Ian's Vimifier" at the top, followed by "Vim for Trebisky", then "Default" and "My" layouts. I suppose this means that I have my own fork of this layout.

When I go to Default Layouts and pick the Ergodox, it shows me 104 layouts. I can search on "vim" and it reduces this to 12, with Ian on top, but others are worth looking at. I will note that Ian says it was designed with Windows in mind.

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Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!