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Keychron just shared the CAD files for all their keyboards and mice! (github.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/hardware@lemmy.world
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Industrial design files for Keychron keyboards and mice. 100+ models with CAD assets in STEP, DXF, DWG, and PDF. Source-available, with commercial use allowed for original compatible accessories within the license terms.

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[–] 28 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Love to see it but the dealbreaker for me is the Keychron Launcher utility for configuring the hardware. It’s a web app that only works with an internet connection. You literally cannot configure your Keychron hardware without internet. Air-gap server room? Yeah it’s a massive pain in the ass.

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  • [–] 31 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I prefer this to a bloated windows-only shit app that has to run all the time and slows down your pc, but I’d LOVE to see them open source the launcher (and have suggested it to them before) so self hosting it offline is an option and their keyboards become immune to enshittification after purchase.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 months ago

    They don’t need to do anything that complex to solve this though. They just need to migrate the existing frontend to a progressive web app (PWA) as that can be installed as a browser “app” to any modern OS and run offline. I also despise the bloated shit (Razer, MSI, Corsair; calling you shitheads out for your horrendous software products) but there is no excuse for Keychron. They won’t even answer as to why it requires the internet.

    Their backend service was just down this weekend for 6 hours and the Launcher was completely useless as it refused to connect devices. I contacted support and they just told me I have to wait for someone to fix it on their end on Monday.

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  • [–] [S] 11 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    My keyboard saves its config to its internal memory. So you can configure it on a connected device then bring it to the airgapped server room, it will remember your macros. Launcher is needed only for initial configuration, you don't have to open it ever later.

    Btw have you looked into alternative methods? I could upgrade the firmware offline, without the app. I had to switch it to an upgrade mode with some combo, then it was recognised as an usb drive. Copied the firmware to the "drive" and it updated. Are you sure no similar method exists for programming?

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  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    From what I've been able to find, configuration can only be done via the Launcher as there is no way to create a "configuration" file from the Launcher, nor can you actually even open the Launcher's main screen without connecting the device you wish to configure.

    The reason for the animosity from me is the very real experience just this past weekend of receiving my hardware, just to find the Launcher was down all day Saturday because the entire Launcher was down because they had one backend endpoint that fires during device connection to the launcher and it was 502 Bad Gateway all day Saturday.

    https://erpapik.keychron.cn/prodEventTracker/eventTracker

    I reached out to support on Saturday and still have not received any response.

    As for one-time configuration and not needing it again - I think that fully misses the point of having "easily" configurable hardware. If I wanted to just set it and forget it, I'd just buy a $25 Dell keyboard and call it a day. A $100+ peripheral should NOT have this kind of limitation. Myself, I can't forsee all the mappings and macros I will ever need so I don't have the ability to configure it one time and never touch it again, though I'd love the ability to do so, it's just not realistic nor what I was paying for.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    So you are sitting in an airgapped server room. On a Saturday. And you don't know what kind of macros you will use there in the future. Because you can do a lot of unexpected things on an airgapped server, you specifically bought a high end keyboard for that.

    I mean, yeah, it's annoying that it needs internet, and obviously everything will go south at the worst moment, but putting together all your scenarios as a single situation is a bit unexpected, sounds like an xkcd 1172 workflow.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

    Sorry I could have been clearer with the examples, Saturday was when I was able to unbox my keypad from them I had purchased and was at home and simply unable to use the Launcher because their back end eventTracker endpoint was 502-ing. I was setting it up for gaming on a different layer, or at least that was the intention.

    Again, the core issue is simply the fact that there is a required online component to this when it not only doesn't make sense to, but it's adding additional points of failure that don't need to exist. I genuinely would love to understand what need there is (outside of updates) for this utility to need any internet connection whatsoever outside of data gathering.

    The server-room example I used is simply a ubiquitous example of any time you simply don't have internet connection, you are unable to configure any Keychron hardware. It's that simple, there's no recourse or other options outside of building custom firmware, which again, is not what they're advertising as their product.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I thought keychron used qmk, does it not?

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  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago

    It does, but the whole point of "upgrading" from my custom build QMK hardware was in part not having to spend as much time building custom firmware just to configure macros and key mappings, which is what led me to buying from Keychron as I thought that would become easier by simply using their Launcher. Having read https://www.keychron.com/blogs/archived/advantages-of-the-keychron-launcher-web-app I thought I was getting a product that had an always-available Launcher but that's just a lie as it requires internet connection to work. I had (wrongly) assumed it was something like a PWA that is able to be run offline.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah this isn’t entirely true. Many of their keyboard are QMK/Vial which don’t require internet connectivity. I’ve compiled several firmwares and written code for various RGB animations with internet connectivity (well after the initial “git clone” of the software).

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    It is in regards to Keychron. If I wanted I'd switch back to my custom build QMK build (I've literally contributed to the QMK firmware my guy...) but instead I opted to shell out over $100 on hardware that's now needing me to do the same amount of work as my $30 build. I went with Keychron as they literally have an article on their site saying the Launcher is available everywhere. I (wrongly) assumed that meant it was a PWA or some other offline-capable web application framework. It's absolutely not and not what I thought I was paying for. Sure I can compile my own builds but that's not what I thought I was buying here.

    Let me capture your comment in a metaphor: I wanted to upgrade from my old beater Toyota that requires me to bang on it and hotwire it just to drive, so I buy a BMW because I can push one button and be on the road. Instead, my BMW shows up, and while it looks, sounds, and feels great, I've still got to hotwire and bang on it just to get it going. Sure it's an improvement, but from a usability standpoint I'm in the same place I started.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    I totally understand your frustration. It was a bit of bait and switch. I don’t like relying on a tool being hosted either because if Keychron goes away, it’s electronic waste at that point. I had a Steele series Apex keyboard that I loved. The per key RGB configuration was awesome. But their proprietary Mac software was buggy at best and often a pain in the ass to get what I wanted. I eventually gave up on them and switched to more open keyboards.

    Honestly I’m not sure why they chose to have the configuration tool online. Seems like something they have to maintain long term which seems kinda dumb. Most of the QMK keyboards are VIA/Vial compatible which can be locally configured.

    But after configuring my keyboard, I haven’t touched it. So in your analogy I had to solder the wire once and it’s been stable.

    I personally chose Keychron (I have three) because they are excellent quality and have Mac keys by default. I love Macs but damn the keyboards just suck. I have several other keyboards in a drawer that were based on QMK or circuit python (KMK) but they required sourcing cases, keys, switches, etc none of which I had to do with my keychron, well unless I wanted to.

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