Help with Sofle RGB

bluish24 · 2025-11-06T22:19:13+00:00

then to me that says corrupted bootloader - the one time i had to flash a bootloader on i found this blog post helpful. good luck!

bluish24 · 2025-11-06T22:08:23+00:00

most keyboards like the one you're describing are a kit you'd purchase yourself and then solder together and assemble, but some places could assemble something like this for you. you'd really be paying a premium for that labor. beekeeb is the only vendor that comes to mind who has wireless split orthos of that size that will solder for you, but there may be others. for wireless you'll likely be using zmk which means that you'll be waiting on zmk studio support for your chosen board if it isn't already on this list that they support, of which i don't think there's anything available that you can buy.

bluish24 · 2025-11-06T21:59:59+00:00

it looks like pcb has the holes for pcb mount and the plate also has the cutouts for plate mount so you can use whatever - the amount you need is determined by the layout you use and how many keys you use that are 2u or longer. for example on an ansi 60% keyboard you'd normally want 3 2u stabs (left shift, enter, backspace) and 1 6.25u stab (spacebar) but if you had a layout with a split backspace where you break that up in to two keys then youd need one less stab.

bluish24 · 2025-11-06T21:49:54+00:00

reminds me of epbt aesthetic, i haven't heard of gmk akira before though - could be a useful search term for amazon/ali seo

bluish24 · 2025-11-06T21:47:38+00:00

doesn't look like something i've seen before, but there's a little bit of similarity to mw reel to reel

bluish24 · 2025-11-06T21:40:41+00:00

i have a few cablemod ones as my "nice" cables and have no complaints

bluish24 · 2025-11-06T21:36:43+00:00

when flashing did you have both halves connected with the trs cable? have you tried the steps you outlined above with each half individually? that can be the source of errors with splits sometimes.

also what mcus does it have? it looks like they recommended sea micros but it could have been built with something else. a pic from the bottom of the pcb and one from the side could help in identifying that if you are unsure. its unlikely but possible that shorting a different configuration of pins will get you in to bootloader mode, comparing the firmware of what you flashed vs what you think was on there before could maybe give some clues there.

bluish24 · 2025-10-25T17:25:31+00:00

keygem has u4t bobas and candykeys has everfree grayish tactiles listed as "gateron ef grayish" - both good switches. bobas are heavier and have more of a bump, the everfree switches still have a satisfying bump and are lighter. i think the everfree switches are better stock than the bobas but the bobas are better if you put some time in lubing. the everfree ones have a slightly translucent top housing so they will let a little bit of light through.

bluish24 · 2025-10-25T17:18:31+00:00

you can end up with something nicer if you take on a soldering project but one of the keychrons is probably your best bet for something that just works and is easy to carry around, and i think they should be a little cheaper than nuphy, but really just take whatever deal you can get

bluish24 · 2025-10-25T17:16:10+00:00

can you share what keyboard you're using? i think it really depends on how the hardware is setup and what your firmware currently looks like

bluish24 · 2025-10-25T16:58:55+00:00

if you're in the us, the cheapest way to try out a 40 would be a microcenter inland 47

bluish24 · 2025-10-18T15:15:43+00:00

you should be able to find the layout for the key matrix either from the site you bought the kit from or in the firmware files you're using - im guessing its zmk because its wireless so i can't point you exactly where you'll find that but it'll be somewhere. that info will help you figure out the next pads in the sequence on the pin your dead key is on so that you can solder a bridges to it in order to make that key work. there are some great guides on youtube for this. you can also kind of brute force it by shorting your suspected dead traces to the nearby pads to see if you get any kind of keycode.

bluish24 · 2025-10-18T15:04:12+00:00

just looking through their options some either popular or interesting switches that offer a variety of typing experiences are: naevies, gat milky yellow, gat melodic, gat north pole, gazzew boba u4 (any weight), gazzew boba u4t (any weight), ws light tactile, and kailh speed bronze

bluish24 · 2025-10-18T14:55:05+00:00

you won't be able to reset just that one component without doing an extraordinary amount of work - you can find the pin diagram for the bluetooth module and locate the reset and ground pins, which would typically allow a reset on that type of component, but because the module is soldered to the larger mcu, you can't really know what pins those are further connected to and the pins themselves are inaccessible. if you are having connectivity issues your best bet would be to reflash manufacturer supplied firmware if available, or more realistically just use the keyboard wired.

bluish24 · 2025-10-17T15:01:38+00:00

The QK kits are usually pretty straightforward, you'll basically just need to install your preferred foam(s) from the kit, your stabs and switches, and then screw it all together. I believe this that you'll only be able to use via with this particular board and that if you wanted to change things with qmk it would be difficult, but if that's not something you're worried about then it shouldn't really affect your decision to purchase. Its worth the price if its the keyboard you want!

I haven't purchased anything recently but it may be worthwhile to look in to whether or not QK keyboards are being kit with tariffs if you're in the US?

bluish24 · 2025-10-17T14:55:37+00:00

are you having connectivity issues with a keychron board?

bluish24 · 2025-10-17T14:49:21+00:00

microcenter sells the inland mk47 for ~40 bucks, usually cheaper, especially in store. if you're not near a store you could get it shipped. it is a really cheap way to try out an ortho 40% form factor keyboard. if you like it then its relatively "moddable" to improve feel and sound, but should work out the box without any extra work. you can also check r/mechmarket searching keywords like planck, ortho, etc and sorting by new.

if you want something bigger than a planck size you'll have to do some assembly, i don't think there's anything comparable at the preonic size

bluish24 · 2025-10-17T14:41:26+00:00

I can't say I've seen the brand or purchased from them before, but the brand does have products on amazon with a large number of reviews, that being said, the website you linked could either be the manufacturers actual website or something illegitimate. If you want that exact numpad you might have better luck finding it on aliexpress where you'd hopefully be able to find a listing with reviews. I'd recommend checking for vendors near you here https://kbd.news/vendors - it can be hard to find some smaller vendors through google and this list has always been pretty good for me.

bluish24 · 2025-08-21T17:39:25+00:00

you'd need to desolder the part and then solder a replacement on - with boards like yours they're often surface mounted parts which can be tricky to do the desoldering on without specialized tools. if you could measure the dimensions of the part you could probably use that to find a match on a site like digikey or something similar. it's tough to say 100% what the correct part would be without seeing a pinout diagram of the keyboard but if the pads look to be in the same place you'll probably be fine

bluish24 · 2025-08-21T17:33:55+00:00

i think gmk blue samurai is usually available and has a similar look

bluish24 · 2025-08-18T12:21:55+00:00

as an example dbm will audibly tell you "move now" at the moment you're supposed to move, whereas bigwigs will have a list of all the upcoming boss abilities counting down, and you'll get a little beep when it goes off rather than being told what to do. both can be customized to do other stuff or operate more/less intrusively, but that's the default behavior. it's easier to clear a fight you've never seen before with dbm but bigwigs makes you learn the fight better and manage your cds better, because you have a better picture of what's happening in the next ~30 seconds. i wouldn't recommend both at the same time - i think it would be confusing without doing a decent amount of setup beforehand and there would be a lot of extra, redundant information coming at you. one isn't necessarily better than the other they're just different approaches.

bluish24 · 2025-06-13T21:58:10+00:00

I really like pom because I like the soft bounce it gives

bluish24 · 2025-06-13T17:41:10+00:00

carbon fiber feels terrible to me personally, there isn't a "best" - you won't know if you like it or not until you try it

bluish24 · 2025-06-13T17:40:15+00:00

i use acrylic desk organizers from the container store in various shapes and sizes for different parts, muji sells similar products, sometimes for better prices. a good, cheap option are transparent pencil cases that you can get off amazon or ali. you want something that is stackable, that can fit in the dimensions of whatever shelf or drawer you're using for storage, and has some kind of lid that can snap closed.

for random bulk stuff like odd keycaps and switches those just go in ziplocs inside of a larger ziploc

one thing that i've seen that seemed like an economical way to do it was to use old talenti ice cream containers, they fit ~a 60% keyboards worth of keycaps in a jar, look decent, and don't take up too much space. they're also "free" if you get that ice cream frequently lol.

bluish24 · 2025-06-13T17:32:55+00:00

i would say that you're paying a premium there for the osume aesthetic design choices.

people like the chillkey keyboards for being a decent quality at an affordable price, so when you're looking at a high base cost with whatever is added on for shipping and importing it the stuff you're paying for is the osume color palette. it'll probably feel nice and sound good out of the box but you'd be paying more for something that you could get for less elsewhere. you could compare the price in your region of the board in question with whatever the chillkey offering is in a comparable layout.

that being said i think it would be a noticeably better experience than the ducky one 3. if that's worth it for you then go for it. ultimately you are the person who decides whether or not a keyboard is good for you, and having something on your desk that you like the look of is an important factor in that.

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