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Turn your keyboard into a typewriter! 📇

daktilo-demo.mp4

daktilo ("typewriter" in Turkish, pronounced"duck-til-oh", derived from the Ancient Greek wordδάκτυλος for "finger") is a small command-line program that plays typewriter sounds every time you press a key. It also offers the flexibility to customize keypress sounds to your liking. You can use the built-in sound presets to create an enjoyable typing experience, whether you're crafting emails or up to some prank on your boss.

✨ Inspiration:"Taking notes in class with my typewriter"

Now you can recreate this moment without the actual need for a physical typewriter!

Simply rundaktilo for the classic typewriter effect.

There are also different presets available:

To list the presets:

daktilo --list-presets

To use a preset:

daktilo --preset musicbox

You can also use multiple presets at the same time:

# orchestradaktilo -p default -p musicbox -p drumkit

To use a different output device:

daktilo --device pipewire

Also, you can use--list-devices to list the available output devices.

To variate the sounds and have a more realistic typewriter experience:

daktilo --variate-tempo 0.9,0.4 --variate-volume 0.1,0.5

daktilo --no-surprises

• Linux
  • X11
  • Wayland*
• Windows
• MacOS

daktilo can be installed fromcrates.io usingcargo ifRust is installed.

cargo install daktilo

The minimum supported Rust version is1.70.0.

On Linux, the following packages should be installed:

• Arch Linux:alsa-lib libxtst libxi
• Alpine Linux:alsa-lib-dev libxi-dev libxtst-dev
• Debian/Ubuntu:libasound2-dev libxi-dev libxtst-dev

daktilo can be installed from theofficial repositories usingpacman:

pacman -S daktilo

daktilo is available forAlpine Edge. It can be installed viaapk after enabling thetesting repository.

apk add daktilo

On macOS,daktilo can be installed viaMacPorts:

sudo port install daktilo

More infohere.

See the available binaries for different targets from thereleases page.

1. Clone the repository.

git clone https://github.com/orhun/daktilo&&cd daktilo/

2. Build.

CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target cargo build --release

Binary will be located attarget/release/daktilo.

daktilo [OPTIONS]

Options:

-v, --verbose                                    Enables verbose logging [env: VERBOSE=]-p, --preset [<PRESET>...]                       Sets the name of the sound preset to use [env: PRESET=]-l, --list-presets                               Lists the available presets    --list-devices                               Lists the available output devices-d, --device<DEVICE>                            Sets the devicefor playback [env: DAKTILO_DEVICE=]-c, --config<PATH>                              Sets the configuration file [env: DAKTILO_CONFIG=]-i, --init                                       Writes the default configuration file    --variate-volume<PERCENT_UP[,PERCENT_DOWN]> Variate volume +/-in percent [env: DAKTILO_VOLUME=]    --variate-tempo<PERCENT_UP[,PERCENT_DOWN]>  Variate tempo +/-in percent [env: DAKTILO_TEMPO=]-h, --help                                       Printhelp (see more with'--help')-V, --version                                    Print version

daktilo can be configured with a configuration file using theTOML format.

The path of the configuration file can be specified via--config argument orDAKTILO_CONFIG environment variable.

It can also be placed in one of the following global locations:

• <config_dir>/daktilo.toml
• <config_dir>/daktilo/daktilo.toml
• <config_dir>/daktilo/config

<config_dir> depends on the platform as shown in the following table:

Seedaktilo.toml for the default configuration options.

You can also create the default configuration file in the current directory with--init flag:

daktilo --init

The configuration file consists of an array ofsound_preset entries.

To define an array in TOML, you can create different sections as follows:

[[sound_preset]]name ="custom"key_config = [][[sound_preset]]name ="another_custom"key_config = []disabled_keys = []variation = { volume: [0.1, 0.1], tempo: [0.05, 0.05] }

As shown above,sound_preset consists of 2 entries:

• name: The name of the preset. It will be used in conjunction with--preset flag. e.g.--preset custom
• key_config: An array of key press/release events for assigning audio files to the specified keys. It can also be used to control the volume etc.
• disabled_keys: An array of keys that will not be used for playback.
• variation: Variate the sound on each event forkey_configs that do not specify variations*

As an example, here is how you can configurekey_config:

key_config = [  {event ="press",keys ="Return",files = [{path ="ding.mp3",volume =1.0 }] },]

• event: "press" or "release"
• keys: A regular expression (regex) for matching the keys.
• files: An array of files.
  • path: The absolute path of the file. If the file is embedded in the binary (i.e. if it is insidesounds/ directory) then it is the name of the file without full path.
  • volume: The volume of the sound. The value 1.0 is the "normal" volume (unfiltered input). Any value other than 1.0 will multiply each sample by this value.
• variation: Variate the sound on eachevent*

If you have defined multiple files for a key event, you can also specify a strategy for how to play them:

key_config = [  {event ="press",keys =".*",files = [{path ="1.mp3" }, {path ="2.mp3" }],strategy ="random" },]

Currently supported strategies are:

• strategy = "random": pick a random file from the list and play it.
• strategy = "sequential": play the files sequentially.

Here is how you can combine everything together:

[[sound_preset]]# Custom sound preset named "custom"name ="custom"# Key configurations for various eventskey_config = [# When a key starting with "Key" is pressed, play 1.mp3, 2.mp3, and 3.mp3 sequentially  {event ="press",keys ="Key*",files = [    {path ="1.mp3" },    {path ="2.mp3" },    {path ="3.mp3" },  ],strategy ="sequential" },# When a key starting with "Key" is released, play 4.mp3  {event ="release",keys ="Key*",files = [    {path ="4.mp3" },  ] },# When a key starting with "Num" is pressed, play num.mp3 at a very high volume (10.0)  {event ="press",keys ="Num*",files = [    {path ="num.mp3",volume =10.0 },  ] },# When any key is pressed, play a random sound from cat.mp3, dog.mp3, or bird.mp3  {event ="press",keys =".*",files = [    {path ="cat.mp3" },    {path ="dog.mp3" },    {path ="bird.mp3" },  ],strategy ="random",variation = { volume: [0.1, 0.1], tempo: [0.05, 0.05] } },]# Disabled keys that won't trigger any sound eventsdisabled_keys = ["CapsLock","NumLock"]

To make the keyboard sounds more varied it is possible to variate both volume and playback speed (the later also varies the pitch).

Values are in percent, where the first value determines the maximum increase and the second the maximum decrease. The actual value is determined randomly on each keypress.

• If command line arguments or environment variables are set configurations made in the presets are overridden.
  • Values need to be separated by a ",".
  • If only one value is supplied it is used for both increase and decrease
• If akey_config is set the preset values are overridden.
• The configuration on a preset applies to allkey_config's that do not have any values set.

• bucklespring: Nostalgia bucklespring keyboard sound
• selectric-mode: Make your Emacs sound like a proper typewriter

On MacOS, you need to give some permissions to the terminal where you rundaktilo.

The first time you rundaktilo, you will probably see this popup:

If you see it, click on "Open System Settings", otherwise open "System Settings" manually and go to "Privacy and Security".From here, enable "Input Monitoring" for your terminal application:

Huge thanks toH. Arda Güler for giving me the idea for this project, sharing the inspiration behind it and implementing the first iteration in Python.

Kudos! 👾

If you finddaktilo and/or other projects on myGitHub useful, consider supporting me onGitHub Sponsors orbecoming a patron!

See ourContribution Guide and please follow theCode of Conduct in all your interactions with the project.

Also, see how you can add new presetshere.

Licensed under either ofApache License Version 2.0 orThe MIT License at your option.

🦀 ノ( º _ º ノ) - respect crables!

Copyright © 2023-2024,Orhun Parmaksız