Keyboard statistics generator
keystat is a C programme to create realistic typing cost models that can be used to optimise keyboard layouts. It does so by recording the average time for each sequence of three key presses (a triplet).
To install keystat simply run:
make
sudo make install
keystat comes equipped with a systemd service unit that will work without configuration on most x86‐based computer platforms.
On other platforms or when your primary keyboard is attached via USB, the event device specified by the variable KEYSTAT_DEV in the environment file /etc/default/keystat may have to be changed. To find the correct one, take a look into /dev/input/by-path/ and identify those ending in -kbd.
If there is more than one, cat them and see which of them generates output when you type on the keyboard.
keystat-capture stores the triplet data in the map file given as first command‐line argument. This file can be inspected with keystat‐dump, yielding a table of space‐separated values:
sudo keystat-dump /var/lib/keystat/map
The first three columns are the scan codes of the triplet. The fourth column gives the number of times this triplet was recorded and the last one the average time it took to type it.
For convenience, the keystat-translate tool translates the scan codes to symbolic names according to your xmodmap.
If you haven't installed xmodmap you need to specify the parameter --keymap-source=linux/input.h to translate the scan codes according to the Linux kernel headers.
Please keep in mind that the codes in the Linux kernel header specify the layout of a standard US keyboard.
sudo keystat-dump /var/lib/keystat/map | keystat-translate