Programming the Vortex Tab 90M

[PhoenixUNI]

I'm having an issue attempting to program some keys on my Vortex Tab 90M. Things like moving the up arrow to Fn+I work ok.

However... by default, the Tab 90M has its media keys on FN+F1-F6. I want to move those to FN+Q/W/E/S/D/F, matching what the Pok3r does. I've yet to find a way to reprogram those. Is this possible, or is that baked into the firmware of the board? If the latter, is there a better/different firmware that I should be using?

[AJM]

I only have a few Vortex ViBEs and a Race 3, but I can't see, why it shouldn't be possible to program that what you mentioned.
With every generation they change the programming steps a little bit, but according to the manual this should work for the first key:

I assume a programmable layer has already been selected by PN + M, < or >

PN + LCTRL
FN + Q (if green LED doesn't start flashing, press a second time)
FN + F1
PN
PN + LCTRL

[PhoenixUNI]

PN + LCTRL
FN + Q (if green LED doesn't start flashing, press a second time)
FN + F1
PN
PN + LCTRL

Ok well I'm not crazy at least. These are the exact steps I've tried to follow, but nothing seems to get bound when I do this.

[AJM]

But you say, you have successfully programmed Cursor-Up to FN+I ?
Like this?:

PN + LCTRL
FN + I
UP
PN
PN + LCTRL

If you don't have programmed a lot of keys already, it is often helpful to make a factory reset by holding both ALT keys for about 5 seconds.
As far as I can see there is only the initial firmware version V1.0.0 available, so there are no other options in that regard.

Does a green LED light up, when you press PN + LCTRL?
Does the green LED start flashing, when you press the key combination to which you want to program something? In both cases or only in the case, where it works in the end?

[PhoenixUNI]

Yep, I followed those steps exactly to rebind the arrow cluster to IJKL.

For whatever reason, it doesn't like to rebind a FN+?? key. And I don't know how else to chord in Play/Pause, Prev, Next, etc.

Also... somehow, somewhere, I found a 1.00.04 firmware update. My board came with .03 installed on it. Gonna need to figure out where the hell that came from.

[AJM]

I've just noticed, that FN+I = Cursor-UP and the rest of the arrow cluster is STANDARD for most Vortex boards!
Sorry for the question, but could it be, that you haven't actually programmed any keys successfully yet, because that's how they already were?
Which makes the question all the more important: Do the LEDs give the feedback, that is described in the manual, during programming?

[PhoenixUNI]

The Tab 90M doesn't have the arrow cluster programmed to FN+IJKL by default. Here you can see a list of all the defaults: http://www.vortexgear.tw/db/upload/webdata4/6vortex_201912152312042325.pdf

Also, yes, the green light under Caps flashes like expected when going through the programming steps. While I have yet to confirm, I'd be that when attempting to program FN+F5 onto FN+W, I'm probably just getting F5. Guess I could test that really easily in a browser.

(FWIW, there are no stupid questions, and I really appreciate you helping me triage this)

[AJM]

Vortex manuals are well known for being incomplete, so a preprogrammed key combination could exist, although not mentioned in the manual, but - ok - in case of a keyboard with physical arrow keys, a preprogrammed alternative arrow cluster isn't really needed.

It's certainly strange. Also that you found a newer firmware, than the one on their website.
If you decide to use it, it could be necessary to start the firmware program with right-click - "run as Administrator".

To see, what codes are actually sent by the keyboard, I can recommend the tool "EK Switch Hitter" (if you're using Windows).

[PhoenixUNI]

One thing I do wonder: I rebound FN to CAPS earlier, and have been using that as a way to bind my keys. But I wonder if for some reason, I have to use the original FN key when I do this? IDK. I'll play around with a few things and see what I can figure out.

[PhoenixUNI]

Turns out that I'm just an idiot, and/or I just didn't try hard enough, because following the exact instructions and consciously thinking about what I was doing allowed me to rebind these with ease.

Thanks again for your help, AJM.

[AJM]

That's great to hear. 
And I should have thought of - and mentioned - earlier, that during programming, the keyboard changes into the standard key configuration. It makes a lot of sense, because otherwise one wouldn't be able to swap keys (like <A> reprogrammed as <B> and <B> reprogrammed as <A>). But this really should have been stated in the manual.
(Like the fact that you have to press the key, you want to reprogram, twice, if it has already been reprogrammed before.)