Magicforce 68 - swapping FN and ALT

[killyou]

Hello. I've recently acquired Magicforce 68 to ease my pain while waiting for the next Vortex Pok3r drop. Only after getting the keyboard I've noticed that FN and ALT keys have non standard placement. As much as I like this keyboard I hate the RALT placement and I need to swap it. I'm using a lot of special characters unique to my mother language and they are all accessible by pressing RALT. I already saw a hardware modification somewhere on the Internet with breaking the paths and soldering but I'd like to avoid that to keep it's resale value as high as possible as I'll be getting rid of it once I manage to get MX Clear Pok3r. Do you know whether there is any firmware update that swaps the keys or maybe is there an easy way to do it in Windows? I'm using this keyboard on my work PC only at the moment so the solution might not be portable although that would be prefferable. Thank you very much in advance.

[Squaggles]

I've asked similar questions about this keyboard in the past, and what I learned was that the only way to really change the layout of the keyboard is to replace the onboard controller with a teensy, which would be a lot of work for a small change.

[Mechboards]

I suggest using an AHK script to switch the keys.

[KarmaUL]

Same problem here. Maybe we can push this topic again.

Can't you just solder jumpers across the two keys to hardwire-swap them?

[killyou]

Same problem here. Maybe we can push this topic again.

Can't you just solder jumpers across the two keys to hardwire-swap them?

I sold my Magicforce since I started this thread to get Vortex Pok3r but indeed you can just resolder the switch like shown in the picture below:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0fb8e87a4d14cf0c48852d1244e2b5fcac58d90313f6970cacc56913767efe48.jpg

[KarmaUL]

Cool, thanks.
I didn't do it myself so far - but great to see that it actually works - so I'll give it a try!

[Findecanor]

Hmm.. I did not notice at first that the thread was old so I googled images of the PCB. Apparently there are are at least two different revisions of the PCB. Another one has the controller on a separate board, smaller diodes and what appears to be a different matrix, which would make it more difficult.

[tokkel]

I don't know what kind of dope keyboard PCB designers are on, but here is how I swapped (Right) AltGr and Fn.
This especially makes sense in an international setting that requires frequent AltGr use.
All what is required are a pair of 1N4148 signal diodes, some very thin heat shrink (and lighter or other heat source), a wire cutter and the usual soldering equipment.

[suicidal_orange]

I don't know what kind of dope keyboard PCB designers are on

Looking at this bit of the PCB the designer was actually quite sober compared to many 'professional' designers - all the diodes are attached to the right pin and even the traces and positioning are the same, with visible connections on the columns.  There is a strange trace connecting the the diode for R_ALT to something off to the right though, so is the work of a pro

A nice clean mod and it's reversible - good work