Looking for a recommendation on a macro pad

[apastuszak]

I think my solution for having programmability (for macros more than anything else) and still be able to use the keyboard of my choice is to go with a numpad with extra keys or a macro pad.

So, I'm looking for something that has hot swappable switches and supports QMK/VIA.

I found the Keychron Q0, which looks interesting.

But I think it would be cool to have a strip of 8 buttons I can fasten to the top of an AEK II or a Model M.

I don't want to build something. I'd like a ready built solution.

[kbdfr]

You should consider (no surprise here ) a Tipro macro pad like this one:
https://www.ebay.it/itm/295252836950
Every key is freely programmable on 4 layers, and using the pad does not require any software (while programming does, but can be achieved on another computer as the programmed configuration is stored in the pad itself, which registers as a standard keyboard).
You can program even very complicated macros, including delays to cater for the computer’s speed, commands not included on your keyboard, and much more. The software is available for free from the manufacturer. Be sure to buy a USB model if you are using a 64 bit computer.

It uses (obviously not hot swappable) plate-mounted Cherry MX black switches,and regarding your request for QMK/VIA support - I have no clue what QMK/VIA is (the curse of old farts - they often lack knowledge of most basic modern things )

[Muirium]

Tipro surely doesn't have QMK or VIA support; but hardly needs it as Tipro provides all the reprogrammability they offer, built in as standard.

A quick explainer:

QMK is a *firmware* for keyboard controllers which offers a wealth of programmability. I use it myself in my IBMs, as it runs fine on their aftermarket (Xwhatsit) controllers. Many modern keyboards have QMK support built into their controllers. It will also run on the same external converters as Soarer's converter firmware. But no vintage keyboards will run it natively themselves.

VIA is a modification of the QMK firmware to run with that particular app.

[hellothere]

Pretty sure this has everything you want and a bit more. I'm not 100% sure. Depends on if, "The shaft body can be replaced, and the high-quality shaft seat of Kaihua is used. The replacement of the shaft body does not require welding, and it is compatible with most MX mechanical shafts," means "hot-swap switches" or "you can replace the key caps."

[kbdfr]

Pretty sure this has everything you want and a bit more. I'm not 100% sure. Depends on if, "The shaft body can be replaced, and the high-quality shaft seat of Kaihua is used. The replacement of the shaft body does not require welding, and it is compatible with most MX mechanical shafts," means "hot-swap switches" or "you can replace the key caps."

Quite impressive description of the item in the link, I must confess: looks like it works like a Tipro, with even more layers.
My point would be the limited number of keys (only 12), forcing the user to memorize or even write down what’s on which layer, and the giant knobs which seem of little use for macros.
Aaaaand, of course, the hint about the software: "Now it has the Chinese version only, but it is easy to understand, the interface of software as these pictures." (followed by a few screenshots with some English translations added).

[Muirium]

Cute little piece of kit.



Are those relegendables?

[kbdfr]

[…]Are those relegendables?

Looking at the pics in the eBay listing description, obviously yes.

[Muirium]

Thanks. Semi rhetorical question. My phone won’t show higher reduction thumbnails than I posted above.

Any idea if those dials produce analogue outputs to the host computer? Could be useful for midi music making if they do.

[apastuszak]

Ok, I guess I need to provide more detail here.

This is for my work computer. I cannot install any software on my work computer, so I need to be able to save the keyboard settings in hardware on one computer and them move it to another computer and have it just work™ without needing to install any software.

I know that QMK will let you do this. But unless you also support VIA, or have hardware supported in the mainline QMK, you need to edit the QMK source code to program your keyboard.

So, you'll find cheap Chinese numpads that support QMK, but they basically forked QMK, got it to work on their numpad and then walked away. So, you're never going to get software updates, and you need to learn how to program in C to get your keyboard working.

I wanted something that will last a while, and has out of the box QMK support. I ended up spending more than I wanted to and buying the Keychron Q0.

https://www.keychron.com/pages/keychron ... number-pad



It's programmable. Has 4 layers. Hot-swappable switches. I got the Gateron Pro Brown switches. It will be here on Wednesday.

I'd still like to get some other macropad for my person computer.

[apastuszak]

Pretty sure this has everything you want and a bit more. I'm not 100% sure. Depends on if, "The shaft body can be replaced, and the high-quality shaft seat of Kaihua is used. The replacement of the shaft body does not require welding, and it is compatible with most MX mechanical shafts," means "hot-swap switches" or "you can replace the key caps."

Quite impressive description of the item in the link, I must confess: looks like it works like a Tipro, with even more layers.
My point would be the limited number of keys (only 12), forcing the user to memorize or even write down what’s on which layer, and the giant knobs which seem of little use for macros.
Aaaaand, of course, the hint about the software: "Now it has the Chinese version only, but it is easy to understand, the interface of software as these pictures." (followed by a few screenshots with some English translations added).

Looks great and has a decent price. But the whole "Chinese version of software" has me concerned. It's another one of those generic products that has a fork of QMK that will never get updated.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I want to future-proof myself bu having mainline support in QMK for these devices.

All those numpads and macropad seem to be either these low-end Chinese manufactured things, or are "group buys," so they're not a continuously shipping product that will get software maintenance.

Whenever I see one of these numpads, I go the QMK Configurator site and see if it comes up on the hardware list. If it doesn't come up, then I move on and keep looking.

It just sucks that I had to pay $89 for the Q0. That's the same price as a lot of keyboards on their site.

[hellothere]

I know it's moot, at this point, but you could just get an ortholinear keyboard and use that as a macro pad. You'd need a Hasu USB to USB converter.

[apastuszak]

I know it's moot, at this point, but you could just get an ortholinear keyboard and use that as a macro pad. You'd need a Hasu USB to USB converter.

I han't thought about that. That's actually a pretty good idea. That would make a huge numpad with a lot of options.

[kbdfr]

I know it's moot, at this point, but you could just get an ortholinear keyboard and use that as a macro pad. You'd need a Hasu USB to USB converter.

I han't thought about that. That's actually a pretty good idea. That would make a huge numpad with a lot of options.

Not sure whether you missed my post above.
Tipro is a leading manufacturer of point of sale equipment. The eBay item I linked to in my post belongs to their former ("MID") range of keyboards, but is fully supported by the actual software (needed only for programming).
I can vouch for that: my own daily driver, composed of three MID Tipro modules coupled together, has been in permanent (and heavy) use for more than 11 years now and still works flawlessly. I still routinely reprogram keys according to my present needs.

[apastuszak]

I know it's moot, at this point, but you could just get an ortholinear keyboard and use that as a macro pad. You'd need a Hasu USB to USB converter.

I han't thought about that. That's actually a pretty good idea. That would make a huge numpad with a lot of options.

Not sure whether you missed my post above.
Tipro is a leading manufacturer of point of sale equipment. The eBay item I linked to in my post belongs to their former ("MID") range of keyboards, but is fully supported by the actual software (needed only for programming).
I can vouch for that: my own daily driver, composed of three MID Tipro modules coupled together, has been in permanent (and heavy) use for more than 11 years now and still works flawlessly. I still routinely reprogram keys according to my present needs.

I tried to find a similar model of keypad on US eBay and couldn't find one. I also checked the website and didn't see any Mac software for this device.

I like all the extra keys on top of the numpad area.

[kbdfr]

[…] I also checked the [Tipro] website and didn't see any Mac software for this device.

The software is Windows-only, but once programmed the pad can be used with any OS, - Mac, Linux, you name it.
It registers as a standard device and sends the programmed scan codes sequences to the computer.

I like all the extra keys on top of the numpad area [in the staggered module].

Terrific, isn’t it?

[vyquad]

IBM Model M50 https://i.imgur.com/j1Bl2fl.jpg

[apastuszak]

[…] I also checked the [Tipro] website and didn't see any Mac software for this device.

The software is Windows-only, but once programmed the pad can be used with any OS, - Mac, Linux, you name it.
It registers as a standard device and sends the programmed scan codes sequences to the computer.

I like all the extra keys on top of the numpad area [in the staggered module].

Terrific, isn’t it?

Does it do macros, or just key remapping?

[apastuszak]

IBM Model M50 https://i.imgur.com/j1Bl2fl.jpg

That looks cool. How do you program that?

[kbdfr]

[…] I also checked the [Tipro] website and didn't see any Mac software for this device.

The software is Windows-only, but once programmed the pad can be used with any OS, - Mac, Linux, you name it.
It registers as a standard device and sends the programmed scan codes sequences to the computer.

I like all the extra keys on top of the numpad area [in the staggered module].

Terrific, isn’t it?

Does it do macros, or just key remapping?

Complete macros.
One of my favorites is very simple: type (, type ), type LeftArrow. The result is the complete bracket with the cursor inside it.
Of course I have much more elaborate macros like the complete sequence needed, when opening a google search, to reject all cookies, advertising and tracking, select the maximum number of answers (100), save the preferences and trigger the catcha code.

And by the way, you can freely program every single key as desired, even the space bar

[Muirium]

Of course I have much more elaborate macros like the complete sequence needed, when opening a google search, to reject all cookies, advertising and tracking, select the maximum number of answers (100), save the preferences and trigger the catcha code.

Intriguing. Didn’t know there was a keyboard-only way to do all that. Care to share your work sometime?

I can vouch for the productive speed boost of intense macros with Karabiner, too. (We have different routes but aim for much the same goal.) I’ve shared a bunch of them over here. Always keen to see other people’s tricks, that I might pinch.

[kbdfr]

Of course I have much more elaborate macros like the complete sequence needed, when opening a google search, to reject all cookies, advertising and tracking, select the maximum number of answers (100), save the preferences and trigger the catcha code.

Intriguing. Didn’t know there was a keyboard-only way to do all that. Care to share your work sometime? […]

I achieve that kind of thing by navigating the pages with the tab and arrow keys and an occasional page search inbetween to position the cursor, adding delays where appropriate.
viewtopic.php?p=14789#p14789
The more complicated the sequence is, the more trial and error it requires.

[apastuszak]

The Q0 came in today.



This thing is really heavy for a little numpad. Time to program some macros.

[hellothere]

I know it's moot, at this point, but you could just get an ortholinear keyboard and use that as a macro pad. You'd need a Hasu USB to USB converter.

I han't thought about that. That's actually a pretty good idea. That would make a huge numpad with a lot of options.

Not sure whether you missed my post above.
Tipro is a leading manufacturer of point of sale equipment. The eBay item I linked to in my post belongs to their former ("MID") range of keyboards, but is fully supported by the actual software (needed only for programming).
I can vouch for that: my own daily driver, composed of three MID Tipro modules coupled together, has been in permanent (and heavy) use for more than 11 years now and still works flawlessly. I still routinely reprogram keys according to my present needs.

If "you" meant me, too, then, yes. Yes, I did: I was just trying to cover all the bases. I do like the idea of Tipro and I think it'd be great for macros, but it doesn't satisfy the requirement of "hot swap," except for maybe the modules. I also can't find anything in the manual that says that the Tipro supports QMK, so that's another requirement not met.

[kbdfr]

@hellothere: I actually meant the thread opener and was aware you offered solutions covering all the requirements, but obviously Muirium had made the QMK requirement moot in combination with Tipro.

The Q0 came in today. […]Time to program some macros.

Curious to read how it does.

[apastuszak]

@hellothere: I actually meant the thread opener and was aware you offered solutions covering all the requirements, but obviously Muirium had made the QMK requirement moot in combination with Tipro.

The Q0 came in today. […]Time to program some macros.

Curious to read how it does.

I have no complaints (other than the price).

The thing is HEAVY. I like the OSA keycaps. I like the USB-C connector. I like the fact I can program it with VIA. I'm hoping at some point, it will get VIAL support. VIA only supports 15 macros. VIAL will let you do the full 32 macros QMK supports.

It's a pretty good numpad.

[apastuszak]

I will say that I would have preferred that it was a numpad with more keys on it; like a combo numpad + macro pad.

The problem with a lot of these devices is that they do support QMK, but support is in their own fork of QMK, and not in the main QMK repository. So, you can't use VIA or QMK Configurator to program them. You actually have to hack the QMK C source code in order to reassign keys and create macros.

I'm not tied to QMK.I just need hardware-level programmability, so I can program it on my Mac and use it on a Windows machine. I liked the Tipro with all the extra keys. But I can't program without a Windows computer which I don't have.

The only thing I wish this numpad had was Matias switches. I ordered it with Gateron G Pro Brown switches. I'm tempted to order some lubed Glorious Panda switches for it, but I don't think that I will. I don't use it often enough to warrant spending the money. The macros are a single keypress. And when I do want to enter numbers it's only for a minute or two. I don't type on it all day.

The numpad has backlighting, which I don't see the point to. But there is no option to order it without RGB lighting. So, I am paying for a feature I don't need.

One of things I use macros for at the hardware level is the password to my password manager. I can now create a very complicated password for my password manager and enter it with a single keypress. I know people will argue that this may not be good security practice. But I'd rather my password manager be secured with a very long and complicated password. Then someone would need to hack into my computer, figure out that I am using a VIA macro for my password, launch the VIA software and figure out which layer and macro number my password is in.

I find that risk to be a lot lower than having a weaker password on my password vault.