geekhack Community > Input Devices
Razer Orbweaver Chroma MCU mod
Lostdotfish:
Just registered to say this is awesome! I'd been thinking about how best to make a keypad that was independant from Razer's software for the last couple of months. No other vendor seems to offer the amount of control on the thumb that Razer's products do, so I was just starting to look at the possiblity of modding them with a QMK MCU.
I wonder if a custom PCB could be designed in the same footprint as the original Razer MCU board to try and eliminate the breakout board and breadboard. It should be possible to make a carrier for the Elite-Pi RP2040 then move the FCC and JST connector over to the new PCB making it a little more plug and play... (you could of course go the whole hog and design the whole RP2040 onto a custom PCB but that would be a much bigger design task...)
How is the pad in day to day use? Am I right in understanding that there is no reprogramming of the keys/rgb without recompiling the firmware?
Lostdotfish:
--- Quote from: Lostdotfish on Thu, 20 April 2023, 02:56:54 ---Just registered to say this is awesome! I'd been thinking about how best to make a keypad that was independant from Razer's software for the last couple of months. No other vendor seems to offer the amount of control on the thumb that Razer's products do, so I was just starting to look at the possiblity of modding them with a QMK MCU.
I wonder if a custom PCB could be designed in the same footprint as the original Razer MCU board to try and eliminate the breakout board and breadboard. It should be possible to make a carrier for the Elite-Pi RP2040 then move the FCC and JST connector over to the new PCB making it a little more plug and play... (you could of course go the whole hog and design the whole RP2040 onto a custom PCB but that would be a much bigger design task...)
How is the pad in day to day use? Am I right in understanding that there is no reprogramming of the keys/rgb without recompiling the firmware?
--- End quote ---
RE - custom PCB - something similar to this project
https://github.com/Ayehavgunne/pypad
mmrvn:
--- Quote from: a_marmot on Sun, 05 March 2023, 23:42:26 ---I decided to embrace the RGB...
With QMK, calls to rgb matrix effects are built in. So it's actually a convenient way to manage key-layer specific color maps. But it also provides a programming environment for custom animations (in this case based on the key-layer specific color maps).
--- End quote ---
could you drop the code in the github?
shifttymike:
Excellent mod! I just got my hands on the non chroma and intend to do something similar. I may add a screen in lieu of RGB.
One question I had, does the non chroma version have the same 18pin FPC cable? I want to order a breakout before I start, but don’t want to have to disassemble it just to confirm, especially if someone else has already :)
shifttymike:
Curiosity got the better of me, I stripped the unit and replaced one key switch and LED as a test. My non-Chroma unit had Razer key switches which could be a rebrand, but more likely just cheap generics. They’re very inconsistent in feel and clicky and I don’t like them.
- The non-chroma also uses an 18pin ribbon cable. Currently waiting for that to arrive, eta 6 weeks if I’m lucky
- I don’t see any mention of the LEDs on the thumb cluster. I want to use them as layer indicators. When I’ve established the pinout then I’ll drop that info here
- I plan on adding 2 buttons. One for layer switching and one for boot loader. I have micro switches of different heights so I may make the bootloader one flush with the case to prevent accidental presses
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