geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: b0f0 on Mon, 04 August 2014, 01:13:11
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Hi !
Can you help me make a list of driver less keyboards or if you know a company that makes it driver-lesss and if you dont know the keyboard name you can just write the company name. I need that to decide what to buy and I need a driver less keyboard also no addtional software install needed also some say I need plug&play.
If you have or know any driver-less keyboards please write it here. :thumb:
Ducky Shine 3
Func KB-460
CM Quick Fire Ultimate
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I have not explicitly installed drivers for any keyboard on any operating system.
Under Windows I installed a CM tool to facilitate programming the macros, but that's all.
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Almost all modern keyboards I know of use the standard USB HID (Human Interface Device) drivers to function.
OP: do you know of keyboards that don't?
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Hmm you have a point. So I want a list of keyboards that dont have addtional software that needs Windows.
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Hmm you have a point. So I want a list of keyboards that dont have addtional software that needs Windows.
Might be easier to just list those that do have additional Windows-only software!
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I forgot to write that I am talking about mechanical keyboards. If that changes anything.
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I forgot to write that I am talking about mechanical keyboards. If that changes anything.
I think that's more or less a given, around here :p
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The only real answer I can give would be to not get anything with backlighting, because you may need some tool to control that. With that exception I can't see how literally anything would need some driver to work.
Even then, though, one of my gaming mice for example - it has its driver software that has profiles that each allow control of which DPI settings are available and whatnot along with LED colors and button layout. Once I finished setting it up (I never got very complex with it) it was itself causing problems with some game I was playing at the time. So I simply uninstalled the software and since the profiles were stored on the mouse I had both all my settings and no longer any conflicts. So if it did need such a tool this would be the worst case, because I also don't know of anything that does not store onboard. Even cherry POS stores onboard for its extra keys.
So no matter what the case, you can always set up windows in a VM for 5 minutes while you configure everything and then you'd no longer need it.
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Even a Ducky Shine 3 backlighting is completely controllable from the function keys - to set the lighting mode, the speed, brightness, even to set which keys are lit and which are not.
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I have not explicitly installed drivers for any keyboard on any operating system.
This. Can't remember ever installing drivers for something as simple as a keyboard, and as rowdy suggested might be easier to list boards that do require drivers.
I'd be curious :thumb:.
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I can't think of any mechanical keyboard that REQUIRES drivers / software to be installed. For some you can get added functionality from installing their software, but they all work out of the box, just plugged into the machine.
So, just choose the board that appeals to you most and has the right features for you (switch type, plate/PCB mount, size and layout, type and colour of backlighting, etc.). Then plug it in and enjoy.
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If the keyboard has a cluster of macro keys, has an LCD and looks stupid it has software.
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That's true, that one logitech rubber dome with an LCD would definitely require some kind of driver in order to make the screen useable.
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A shorter list would be a list of keyboards that require special drivers.
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Human interface device protocol = love
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A shorter list would be a list of keyboards that require special drivers.
This.
Like a Razor Blackwidow yes?
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A shorter list would be a list of keyboards that require special drivers.
This.
Like a Razor Blackwidow yes?
Yep
And corsair k90/95 and most "gaming" boards.
My ducky only needed firmware.
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All keyboards require device drivers. Nearly all of them will install with default drivers in Windows and operate as normal keyboards with zero user interaction or setup.
The only boards that should require extra drivers/software are those that try to do something out of the ordinary like programmable macro keys, on-board LCDs, or a ton of user customization options. But even those should work as basic input devices prior to installing said software. Your system BIOS relies heavily on being able to communicate with your keyboard, so for that reason they have retained legacy compatibility (even into the USB age) and require no user-level drivers.