Fried my Varmilo VA68M, ponders about a controller swap

[Hoffman]

First things first, here's some IC porn for you electronic necrophiliacs



The IC that I fried is Nuvoton NUC123LD4AN0, but unfortunately Varmilo didn't share their firmware for this controller.
Therefore, my options are (a) to write a firmware for the micro-controller, and (b) replace the controller with a one that has an open source firmware, like qmk, right?

So now I'm searching for a qmk compatible controller that will ideally have a PIN diagram that is identical to the NUC123LD4AN0 (datasheet), that will allow me to replace the controllers one-to-one, with on ghetto wiring.

I guess that it might be hard to impossible to such a controller, so I'm thinking about a different controller but other than voltage, I can't think of any properties to look for in the new controller that will make my life easy.

I'd love to get some advice.

[Leslieann]

Not a chip but the MF68 pcb is built to fit inside that case and LFkeyboard also makes a compatible pcb.
Both are programmable and the mf68 pcb can be found pretty cheap last time I looked, even getting one made is reasonable.

[Hoffman]

Not a chip but the MF68 pcb is built to fit inside that case and LFkeyboard also makes a compatible pcb.
Both are programmable and the mf68 pcb can be found pretty cheap last time I looked, even getting one made is reasonable.

It seems like LFkeyboards are not selling their VA68 compatible pcbs anymore, it's not on their website.
Regarding to the MF68, I read it is made for MagicForce layout, are you 100% positive that it'll fit in a VA68 case?

Thanks!

[pixelpusher]

Not a chip but the MF68 pcb is built to fit inside that case and LFkeyboard also makes a compatible pcb.
Both are programmable and the mf68 pcb can be found pretty cheap last time I looked, even getting one made is reasonable.

It seems like LFkeyboards are not selling their VA68 compatible pcbs anymore, it's not on their website.
Regarding to the MF68, I read it is made for MagicForce layout, are you 100% positive that it'll fit in a VA68 case?

Thanks!

https://www.lfkeyboards.com/lfk78/

Just choose 68 key layout in the checkbox.  It's compatible.

[_haru]

The LFK fits the Varmilo, but the MF68 does not.

Edit: the layout is actually the same, not different as I thought. I'm still not 100% sure if the two are compatible, though.

[Leslieann]

I'm not 100% sure of the MF68 (sorry, I thought I phrased it differently), but I seem to remember it was, unfortunately info on it is a bit scattered. I would advise more research.

Personally, I'd go for the LFK regardless.
Finding the MF68 can be a challenge, it may not be as cheap as you initially think and you may have to collect all the parts and assemble it yourself. LFK can be ordered ready to go, has more options and I just expect it to be less of a hassle.

[hasu]

Thanks for the porn pic :-)
I wonder how you fried the chip ?

[Leslieann]

Hasu brings up something I missed. What did fry it?

I would go into bios (or use a monitoring program such as speedfan) and check voltages. Check 5v and DO NOT just look at it and dismiss it, watch it for a while. I had a psu years ago that would every 10 seconds or so send 12v down the 5v line. Luckily, most was covered under warranty but the system never ran right again. If it's showing low voltage don't get too happy either as it can be just as bad. I had another psu (in a mini system I got for free) that was not sending enough down the 5v rail, it didn't cause the magic smoke to escape like the other one but what it did do was minor damage to multiple thumbdrives which started dying at an alarming rate. I ended up recycling the entire computer as nothing in it could be trusted anymore but 4 months later I was still finding damaged thumbdrives. 

If you have a power strip, I'd be tempted to replace that as you may have had a power spike and this took the brunt of it and if tis was run through a hub I'd be tempted to toss the hub and power pack as well.

Seriously, don;t mess with power, it will bite you in the butt sooner or later, I spend lots on good power supplies these days as it's just not worth the risk. Plus, good power supplies mean a more stable system and they're an investment, a good one can handle multipple system upgrades before needing to be be replaced. I have one that's 10 years old that I'd still trust with anything and was in my server until just recently.