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Posted by JLO64 4 hours ago

Keychron announces first open-source firmware for gaming mice(www.digitalfoundry.net)
171 points | 80 commentspage 2
JLO64 4 hours ago|
I’ve had positive experiences with Keychron products in the past, but I’ve moved past them as I now prefer orthogonal layouts. That said, I loved their support of QMK on my Q1 Pro and I really hope this ends up on that same level.
abhinavk 1 hour ago||
Do you mean really ortholinears like Planck or columnars like Corne, Sofle, Kinesis?
loloquwowndueo 3 hours ago||
Ortholinear, surely?

Which one do you use/have now?

Tade0 2 hours ago||
I stumbled upon this brand when I was looking for a hall effect QMK keyboard.

Glad to see them introducing this - I might make a purchase as while my current mouse is great, I can't customise it because the associated bloatware runs only on Windows.

userbinator 1 hour ago||
Never have I thought "I want a mouse with modifiable firmware", IMHO this is only going to lead to more bugs arising from the associated increase in complexity and the "we can always fix it later" mentality. All the mouses and keyboards I've used have a mask-programmed MCU, and essentially no bugs to speak of.
rincebrain 1 hour ago||
I think the point is less to add features and more to lower the barrier to entry for people making mice, since, as you said, in large part keyboards and mice are appliances to the degree that it should rapidly converge to a stable set of features.

Plus, on a human level, I wouldn't be surprised if the teams working on mouse development were annoyed they couldn't show their past work in the same way...

Neil44 1 hour ago||
This is going to be used for cheating / hacking in games.
matchstickman23 3 hours ago||
Very interesting. I've been eyeballing a mouse/trackball project for a while based on some of the open source designs like Ploopy and the like. Slap a Nordic chip on it and a joycon battery. Even better if you can cook up a wireless charging mousepad like Logitech offers!
WithinReason 3 hours ago||
I hope this leads to macro programmable mice, the only brand I know of that saves macros on board and supports while loops is A4tech
effnorwood 2 hours ago||
Keychron announces it has too much time on its hands while never being Datahand.
boobsbr 1 hour ago|
If you want a DataHand replacement, take a look at https://svalboard.com/. Costs an arm and a leg, though.
effnorwood 1 hour ago||
My brother. TY
echelon 4 hours ago||
I suspect that a lot of hardware will start shipping open source firmware soon. Routers, IP cameras, etc.

It'll be a selling point for everyone tinkering with vibe coding, and it's no longer a moat.

Companies that don't do this will have their firmwares dumped with open source models and tools. Companies that do this will have community goodwill and extra distribution that comes from having people talking about your product.

kube-system 3 hours ago||
That might happen in niche enthusiast verticals like PC gaming. It's not going to happen in the broader market because there is no broader interest in it.

Most people want open source firmware for their router like they want open source sewing patterns for their pants. Primarily these are consumer products where people buy the product as a way to intentionally avoid spending time dealing with the problem they solve.

Open source pants might sell well in a Hobby Lobby and an open source IP camera might sell well in a Micro Center, but neither would sell well enough to get shelf space in a Walmart... and the best selling one in Walmart sells a tiny fraction compared to whoever can land an Xfinity contract.

RobotToaster 2 hours ago||
Tangential but open source pants are very much a thing https://freesewing.eu/
kube-system 2 hours ago|||
Of course they are, as are open-source IP cameras and routers. My point is not that they don't exist, my point is that these things have interest only within relatively tiny bubbles.
jerlam 59 minutes ago|||
A seam ripper will "de-compile" any garment you like.
drnick1 3 hours ago|||
> Routers, IP cameras, etc.

Those already exist: OpenWRT, OpenIPC. I wish more hardware was available though, especially for cameras.

loloquwowndueo 3 hours ago||
Do you have any cameras that support openipc you’d recommend?

I need surveillance cameras (outdoor mostly) but the cheap ones I found are a horrid proprietary mess. I even bought and returned one after the setup was complex and invasive.

Basically all I need is access to the live stream from a raspberry pi where I can store and process the video.

drnick1 3 hours ago||
> Do you have any cameras that support openipc you’d recommend?

I don't, unfortunately. My suggestion would be to use cameras that stream over RTSP, an open protocol, so you don't need to use any proprietary tools/apps. Make sure the cameras are air-gapped.

warmwaffles 4 hours ago|||
I suspect a lot of that firmware has NDAs with Broadcom attached.
tancop 3 hours ago||
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dmitrygr 4 hours ago||
> Companies that don't do this will have their firmwares dumped with open source models and tools

This is not as "one and done" as you make it sound.

lstodd 4 hours ago||
I still wait for someone to beat logitech m500 (released 2009) in ergonomics.
landver 2 hours ago|
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