And, in an era where vendor software and firmware for all kinds of devices is constantly having vulnerabilities, it is possible the liability of doing custom shit will eventually outweigh whatever benefits hardware companies seem to think it has, versus just having industry standards and free software instead. But, maybe that is wishful thinking.
My only complaint with Keychron is that of 5 or so keyboards I've owned from them I wound up having to resolder 3 different hotswap sockets on 2 different keyboards right out of the box. That is... Not a fantastic failure rate. OTOH, they are otherwise an unambiguously great value, with materials and build quality that feels pretty impressive for the cost, QC issues notwithstanding.
The keyboard has swapped Super/Alt (Windows/Alt) on the windows layout which is so annoying. I hate spending money on hardware so i'm living with it, but i curse the engineer that burned the prom every day.
--
Edit and if i switch to the macOS mode. The right alt-gr key is not mapped correctly.
https://i.imgur.com/FXkmZRV.png
Settings are per keyboard so fixing your external keyboard won't mix up any other keyboards you use (particularly for laptops).
I use my Keychron C3 in Windows mode because the macOS mode ain't right with the bottom left corner keys.
Maybe placement of Control/Option/Command aren't similar enough to the MacBook Pro keyboard for me.
Been meaning to figure this out and fix it... swapping physical keycaps or remapping in software or replacing the keyboard...
The physical slide switch on the Keychrons is a net negative for power users who use a KVM between Windows/Mac/Linux because it would wear out quickly and isn't replaceable. It's more sensible to have switching between layouts by keypress combination.
I've got 2 that both run QMK firmware, so maybe the non-QMK ones can't do that, but at least some can.
To me, the missing feature in the QMK ecosystem is a devices too device communication channel. For now there is only caps lock & others: it would be nice to activate a mouse layer (for instance: increase DPI) to a keyboard key.
It is probably solvable if a heavyweight was to push for new HID descriptors or something similar.
They claim 2027 Q1 will be the release date.
Links below purporting to be “the repository” lead to a repo with no source code.
Sorry, I’m cynical. An announcement 6-9 months ahead of release? Why? Right now it’s vaporware.
I recently bought a Keychron TKL keyboard that uses Hall effect switches. It is, in my opinion, a lovely board to type on and so far I like it quite a lot. (Hopefully, this board with its socketed HE switches will serve longer than the previous board that had soldered Cherry MX Blues.)
It was advertised as being open-source and supporting QMK. Not at some time in the mysterious future, but right then. (And that's still true right now -- the web page is unchanged.)
But it does not have source available. The link for source code on the website lands at a Github page for a completely-unrelated keyboard, and I can't do anything at all with it using QMK. Extensive digging to find the source has resulted in zero positive results.
In the case of this Keychron keyboard, the promise of source code consists of resolute lies more than it does vaporware: The source is stated to openly exist, but it does not exist.
A question about this situation to their support email resulted in assignment of a ticket number, followed by silence.
So yeah, anyway: The cynicism is valid.
It's not even made up, I have seen marketing people actually do that.
I'm a bit worried that a decent, modern replacement for the extremely obsolete multi-button mouse I have now (Logitech G602) will never be available.
it uses this board: https://github.com/jfedor2/rp2040-pmw3360 and i can dig into my .stl files for the mouse if you want... made it on Blender and https://ryanis.cool/cosmos/beta - it's not the most lightweight thing in the world (would say around 100 grams) but it slides nicely and maybe by cycling/exercising often i don't think this one would give me RSI at any point in time... it's angle based on the most muscle neutral position the human arm anatomy has, between 20° - 30° [0] https://www.jospt.org/doi/pdf/10.2519/jospt.2004.34.10.638
I've been fine with the G502 X Lightspeed (which should avoid said double-click issue due to optical switches) and some more efficient button use to compensate for the fewer side buttons.
Isn't that just the tact switch failing? Two minute job to replace...
I looked it up (because I had already replaced switches on previous mice) and the fix required carefully removing a rubber cover that is glued in place and tears if you look at it wrong. It also requires removing the skates at the base, which means buying new ones. Even if you do that, the switch is very hard to access. Easily a 60+ minutes job.
I bought the switch thinking it was a 2 minute job and it’s still sitting on a closet for when I have the patience to do it.
What's wrong with the G502? I like the wired G502 pretty well. Ideally I'd tweak the shape to be a little more like the M500s shape, but I'm happy enough with it overall.
> This repository is a lightweight analysis and report-generation workspace.
And "please contribute to our blank open-source project" can be taken with a grain of salt.
> This repository is currently in its early setup phase.
> At the moment, the repository mainly contains project scaffolding, policy files, and the initial project direction. Firmware sources, board support, build instructions, and flashing guidance are still being prepared.
> That means zgm is early, but it is intentionally early in public. The goal is not to wait until everything is finished before opening the door. The goal is to make the long-term direction visible and let the project grow into a useful open firmware platform in the open.
"Intentionally early" is one of those phrases that means they vibed this README out in an hour with AI, and now hope that they can create firmware for it in the next 6 months.
Of course there's no change log anywhere either...
Does that mean they remove any release tags as well?
Only problem is the backlight didn't actually light up the keys.
It wasn't fixable. first, the keys that came with the keyboard were opaque. And after the arduous task of replacing the keys with shine-through keycaps -- all the LEDs were positioned below the keystem instead of above, so the lettering wasn't illuminated.
I would have loved to use that keyboard. Switched to steelseries apex pro.
I'm on a Mac keyboard bent for the very reason, actually,
Mouse firmware sounds very cool, though. If you could access a layer by holding down a central button, that could open up neat possibilities.
and yes, hdmi/displayport capture -> ML object detection -> fake HID mouse to cheat is absolutely already a thing.
But also, the second computer can drive a virtual mouse and keyboard which is connected to the 'legit' PC to even aim/move/shoot for you.
Glad to see them introducing this - I might make a purchase as while my current mouse is great, I can't customise it because the associated bloatware runs only on Windows.
Plus, on a human level, I wouldn't be surprised if the teams working on mouse development were annoyed they couldn't show their past work in the same way...
It'll be a selling point for everyone tinkering with vibe coding, and it's no longer a moat.
Companies that don't do this will have their firmwares dumped with open source models and tools. Companies that do this will have community goodwill and extra distribution that comes from having people talking about your product.
Most people want open source firmware for their router like they want open source sewing patterns for their pants. Primarily these are consumer products where people buy the product as a way to intentionally avoid spending time dealing with the problem they solve.
Open source pants might sell well in a Hobby Lobby and an open source IP camera might sell well in a Micro Center, but neither would sell well enough to get shelf space in a Walmart... and the best selling one in Walmart sells a tiny fraction compared to whoever can land an Xfinity contract.
Those already exist: OpenWRT, OpenIPC. I wish more hardware was available though, especially for cameras.
I need surveillance cameras (outdoor mostly) but the cheap ones I found are a horrid proprietary mess. I even bought and returned one after the setup was complex and invasive.
Basically all I need is access to the live stream from a raspberry pi where I can store and process the video.
I don't, unfortunately. My suggestion would be to use cameras that stream over RTSP, an open protocol, so you don't need to use any proprietary tools/apps. Make sure the cameras are air-gapped.
This is not as "one and done" as you make it sound.
