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keyd VS Vim

Compare keyd VS Vim and see what are their differences

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Create production-ready applications with zero code featured
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Contents:
  1. ยป Base Details
  2. ยป Videos
  3. ยป Reviews
  4. ยป Alternatives

keyd logo keyd

Linux lacks a good key remapping solution. In order to achieve satisfactory results a medley of tools need to be employed (e.g xcape, xmodmap) with the end result often being tethered to a specified environment (X11).

Vim logo Vim

Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing
Not present
  • Vim Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23

keyd features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Vim features and specs

  • Efficiency
    Once learned, Vim can significantly speed up text editing with its modal editing, keyboard shortcuts, and commands that allow for quick navigation and manipulation of text.
  • Lightweight
    Vim is a very lightweight editor, consuming minimal system resources, making it highly performant even on systems with lower specifications.
  • Customizability
    Vim is highly configurable and extensible through plugins and user-defined settings, allowing users to tailor the editor to their specific needs.
  • Ubiquity
    Vim is available on almost every Unix-like system and even on Windows, making it a ubiquitous tool that you can rely on being available in most environments.
  • Support for Multiple Programming Languages
    Vim supports a wide range of programming languages out of the box and offers syntax highlighting, which can be enhanced through plugins.
  • Powerful Search and Replace
    Vim offers robust searching and replacing functionalities, including support for regular expressions, which can be a powerful tool for developers.

Possible disadvantages of Vim

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Vim's modal editing and extensive set of commands can be daunting for new users, requiring significant time and effort to master.
  • Minimal Default Config
    The default configuration of Vim is quite minimalistic, which may necessitate additional setup and customization to meet modern development needs.
  • Limited GUI
    Vim primarily operates in a terminal, and while there are graphical variants like GVim, they are not as feature-rich or user-friendly as modern GUI editors.
  • Plugin Management
    While Vim is highly extensible, managing and configuring plugins can be cumbersome compared to more modern editors that offer integrated plugin management.
  • Inconsistent Behavior Across Platforms
    There may be inconsistencies in behavior or available features of Vim across different operating systems, which can complicate its use in certain environments.
  • Lack of Integrated Modern Features
    Vim lacks some modern IDE features like integrated debugging, advanced code introspection, and refined autocompletion, which often require third-party plugins to achieve.

Analysis of keyd

Overall verdict

  • keyd is a highly regarded, open-source key remapping daemon for Linux that operates at a low level to provide fast, reliable, and application-agnostic keyboard customization. It is considered excellent for users needing powerful, system-wide key remapping without relying on desktop environment or X11-specific tools.

Why this product is good

  • Works at the kernel/evdev level, so remappings apply system-wide across X11, Wayland, and the console
  • Supports advanced features like layers, dual-function keys (tap vs hold), and QMK-style configuration
  • Lightweight, fast, and has minimal latency since it operates as a low-level daemon
  • Simple, human-readable configuration files that are easy to manage and share
  • Free and open-source with an active community and responsive maintainers
  • Independent of display server, making it a robust solution for Wayland users where many remapping tools fall short

Recommended for

  • Linux power users who want deep, system-wide keyboard customization
  • Wayland users who need remapping tools that work outside of X11
  • People who want QMK-like functionality (layers, dual-role keys) without custom firmware
  • Developers and vim/emacs enthusiasts who rely on heavily customized key bindings
  • Users of laptops or standard keyboards wanting to remap keys without hardware-level programming

Analysis of Vim

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Vim is a good text editor, especially for users who invest the time to learn its powerful commands and features. Its steep learning curve may be challenging initially, but once mastered, it significantly enhances productivity.

Why this product is good

  • Vim is considered a powerful text editor because of its efficiency and versatility. It offers extensive features, such as syntax highlighting, a robust plugin system, and support for numerous programming languages. Vim is highly configurable, enabling users to customize its environment to fit their needs. It is particularly appreciated for its speed and the ability to perform complex text manipulations using simple commands.

Recommended for

    Vim is recommended for programmers, developers, and system administrators who require a highly efficient and customizable text editing experience. It is especially useful for those who work extensively in terminal environments or need a quick, resource-light text editor for remote systems.

keyd videos

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Vim videos

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What Vim Is and Why You Should Learn It

More videos:

  • Review - JAC Vapour VIM Review - JAC does a side by side mod...
  • Review - Jac Vapour VIM - Quick Look

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to keyd and Vim)

keyd

Vim

Automation
100 100%
Automation
0% 0
Text Editors
0 0%
Text Editors
100% 100
Note Taking
100 100%
Note Taking
0% 0
IDE
0 0%
IDE
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare keyd and Vim

keyd Reviews

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Vim Reviews

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Vim offers a variety of features like split windows, macros, and extensive customization options. It has a steep learning curve, but once you master it, youโ€™ll be amazed at the speed and productivity it brings to your coding workflow. Vim is a favorite among experienced developers who value speed and efficiency above all else.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
Itโ€™s tough to say which developers would enjoy Vim as a text editor. Itโ€™s an old system with an outdated interface. Yet, it still has the charm and powerful feature-set that the average developer needs. I would recommend it to more advanced developers who enjoy using open source software and being a part of a communityโ€“like the one you can find behind Vim.
Source: kinsta.com
12 Best LaTeX Editors You Should Use
The entire installation process is perfectly documented on their Sourceforge page, which you must definitely pay a visit. There is another standalone Vim software, known as the gVim that brings a GUI-based interface to the Vim document editor. Vim-LaTeX has been developed specifically for the programmers and it is so highly configurable that it can function anyway, ranging...
Source: beebom.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Vim is a totally free Notepad++ alternative. It is available to use on Windows, Mac and Linux computers and it is very powerful. I was able to customize Vim to get it to look and function just how I want it. There is really good help support with Vim so if you are new to programming it will get you through most issues.
Source: www.technize.com
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Vim is an advanced text editor open source tool which is also considered to be an IDE in its way. This tool allows managing your text editing activities with vim editors and UNIX System which can be used on-premise or online.
Source: www.guru99.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Vim should be more popular than keyd. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

keyd mentions (5)

  • From ANSI to Ergo: Remapping the Transition
    Keyd: A highly efficient keyboard remapping daemon for Linux. - Source: dev.to / 6 days ago
  • Why TUIs Are Back
    I remap Caps Lock to Ctrl when held and to Esc when pressed - the best of both worlds. https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd works really well for me on Linux, but there is a similar software on MacOS. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Separating the Wayland Compositor and Window Manager
    Lots of weird misinformation in the comments here. Wayland doesn't choose anything. It leaves the compositor to decide where to position a window and whether or not that window receives key presses or not. The program can't draw wherever it wants or receive system wide keystrokes or on behalf of another program. When appropriately implemented the screenshot system is built directly into the compositor. It's an API... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Ask HN: Where to Begin with "Modern" Emacs?
    > as far as I can tell, no operating system does this in a way that really works besides OSX AFAIK this is an easy setting in desktop environments such as Cosmic, Gnome, and KDE. But I've been using keyd on Linux distros for a while: https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd#quickstart Using the config in the above example results in Caps Lock acting as Esc if used on its own or as Ctrl if it's held down. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander
    You can get pretty far with software-only tweaks to your existing keyboard instead. I've settled on keyd[1], after using XKB and interception-tools for a while. [1]: https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago

Vim mentions (10)

  • regular Vim has lua?!
    Lua is quite small, encouraging distros to include it. The ubuntu gvim has, and the gvim AppImage linked from vim.org does. The default Makefile from github is set up to not include it, but you can uncomment one line there to get it. Source: over 3 years ago
  • is there a way to make highlighted text persistent after quit when using something like [match Search /\%'.line('.').'l/] ?
    I've not used vimwiki locally (tho I'm old enough to remember the Vim wiki on vim.org :), but I think what you are wanting to do is extend vimwiki's syntax file. I presume it installs one at $VIMRUNTIM/syntax or or ~/.vim/syntax. If this sounds right, then create a ~/.vim/after/syntax/vimwiki.vim file and place your match command in there. Then everytime you open a vimwiki file it should apply your... Source: over 3 years ago
  • vim.org - Is there a reason for this 1800s-esque design?
    Vim.org has 242k total visitors, tailwindcss.com has 4.4m, planetscale.com has 412k, jpl.nasa.gov has 2.6m, all built with Tailwind, all several years younger than Vim's website. Unnecessary comparison, unnecessary defence. It's a valuable tool, fine, but a complete disregard for anyone who doesn't love a crappy website and would like to navigate a website like a normal human is not something to be defended. Maybe... Source: over 3 years ago
  • What is YOUR process of writing ?
    I write in Vim with some customizations in my vimrc to gear it more towards prose writing than code editing. It's not pretty, but Normal Mode and Ex commands are the most powerful text editing tools out there, so that means I spend less time on making corrections and other edits. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Why developers need to know about Vim
    If you are open minded and would like to try it out, click me for more information! Cheers. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing keyd and Vim, you can also consider the following products

KMonad - An advanced keyboard manager. Contribute to kmonad/kmonad development by creating an account on GitHub.

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Kanata - This is a cross-platform software keyboard remapper for Linux, macOS and Windows. A short summary of the features:

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Karabiner - Karabiner, previously called KeyRemap4MacBook, is a very powerful keyboard remapper for Mac OS X.

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

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