okay so long story short this is the
hasu USB to USB controller converter you
can use it to convert almost any USB
keyboard into a fully programmable
keyboard using TMK or qmk so keyboard
nerds yes this thing is every bit as
awesome as it sounds
there are a few limitations but overall
it's great so if you want to buy or
build one of these you should it has the
terrans seal of approval even the
keyboards RGB still works normally as
for me I use three of them to give
myself three additional pure macro
keyboards no biggie
okay that's all folks see you next time
when I'll be discussing five reasons why
you might want to inject an RFID chip
into your app oh sorry did you guys want
more of an explanation than that fine
stick around
[Music]
the marlins screwdriver set from I fix
it features five specialty precision
screwdrivers check it out today at
ifixit.com forward slash Linus okay so
before I explain this thing let me
address a question that I get so very
often
Taron do you really need so many
keyboards can't you just use multiple
macro layers on one keyboard let me
answer your question with a question
when you board an airplane do you peek
inside the cockpit and ask the pilots do
you really need so many switches and
buttons a single keyboard and mouse
works fine for Microsoft Flight
Simulator in both cases the answer is
the same having all of your controls
laid out like this as a single layer of
dedicated keys with everything clearly
labeled means that you can work more
quickly and more accurately it just
requires more physical space so check
this out on the left I'm using dedicated
macro keys to view the production
calendar go to the graphics folder of my
current project to switch to premier to
add a specific effects and to insert a
specific sound on the right I'm doing
the same thing manually without macro
keys it takes a lot longer those seconds
really add up can we fast-forward this a
little bit okay okay thank you anyway
there are a lot of jobs that use
specialized hardware just because I had
to build and program my own cockpit
doesn't mean it was a waste of time okay
so now that we've established why
someone might want a dedicated macro
keyboard let's examine our options and
whoa-ho-oh there's actually quite a few
each with varying levels of difficulty
stability functionality and price if
only someone could sort through all this
stuff and tell us which one is best
for most people
so in third place is the Corsair k55 at
just $50 this is the cheapest of their
offerings that still supports IQ of
course there's easy-to-use software that
allows for every key of a supported
keyboard to be reprogrammed with IQ you
can create normal macros or because it
supports f13 to f24 you can use this
profile and this always running
autohotkey script to call powerful
functions with parameters like the ones
I demonstrated earlier if that sounds
pretty cool make sure you check out my
full instructional video linked in the
description below before buying a k55 in
second place for $60 we've got the Razer
cyanosis a chroma huh this is my list
and this still surprised me I've always
found Razer synapse really annoying to
use but one of its best features is that
it can distinguish between multiple
keyboards and although it does not
support f13 to f24 you can directly
launch any file from any key which
includes autohotkey scripts that is
incredibly useful oh and for your extra
ten bucks you also get perky RGB
lighting honestly the cyano so chroma is
such a great deal for a pure macro
keyboard that I suspect for most of you
it'll be more than enough so if you want
to go this route the Razer profile all
the autohotkey code and my instructional
video can again be found in this video's
description
finally in first place for just 63
dollars from one of keyboards comm you
can get the hasu USB converter or as I
call it the ultimate macro device this
is the cheapest and easiest way that I
have found to get the awesome
functionality of tmk or qmk onto almost
any USB keyboard and that's a really big
deal because boutique tmk and qmk
keyboards usually cost over 100 US
dollars all together that one that
latticed an anthony built was about two
20 bucks for the board plate case
switches and key caps and in fact the
very cheapest fully assembled TMK
keyboard that I was able to find is this
one with only 68 keys for $100 so on a
dollar per macro key basis the keyboard
converter is way out ahead of that even
when you factor in having to get a cheap
keyboard to go with it
this one's like 15 dollars so whatever
but who cares about TM k and qmk anyway
and what on earth are they I'm glad you
asked they are open-source keyboard
firmwares that are designed for specific
hardware like the teensy and the pre on
ik PCB and while I had always thought of
these custom keyboards as a toy for
people with too much money and no
knowledge of autohotkey as it turns out
only some of that is true
seriously though there's a lot of cool
stuff in here that will really appeal to
a certain kind of nerd especially the
programmers it's got macros layers and
RGB support of course but there's also
special stuff like space cadet shift
which uses your shift keys as
parenthesis if you just tap them Unicode
support which does exactly what you'd
expect and tap dance which we'll call
different functions from the same key
depending upon how many times you tap it
okay so to get this working
first you need a hex file the easiest
way to get one is to use this online
tool but don't bother because it doesn't
give you access to most of the cool
stuff that tmk or qmk is capable of so
the better way to do this is to set up a
Linux environment in Windows install git
and then download the entire qmk
repository it's easy then you'll be
ready to use a text editor to modify the
appropriate key map C file and maybe
config dot H launch a boon to CD over to
our qmk firmware folder and sudo make
ourselves a hex file now I have a full
tutorial video for that too
it's linked below but don't worry you
don't have to do any of that stuff
because you can find several hex files
that I already created for you on my
github also linked below
I recommend f24
and alt to still work normally use f24
with modifiers dot hex bringing us
finally to how you actually get this
thing working download install and open
qmk toolbox then just plug in your USB
converter by itself with no keyboard
attached and hit the little button
locate your hex file and hit flash to
flash it onto the firmware then unplug
the converter and you're done
just remember that every time you use
the converter you need to plug it in by
itself and then plug in your keyboard to
the back or it won't work
and sometimes you might have to replug
it in after a computer restart which is
pretty annoying now if you were to go
and type into a text document at this
stage you'd probably notice that it's
still sending normal keystrokes except
the caps lock doesn't work so what gives
well I lied earlier you're not quite
done yet next you'll need to download
and install autohotkey then go to this
link and download this autohotkey script
by clicking raw and ctrl s to save
create this exact folder structure and
save it here delete the stupid txt if it
appears now double click on it to get it
running a friendly icon should appear in
your taskbar now try typing into a text
documents instead of text you should be
seeing tooltips no matter which key you
press perfect after this point it's up
to you all you have to do is replace
those tooltips with literally any script
you want you can do anything
that autohotkey can do which is a lot oh
I probably should have mentioned that
you should already know how to use
autohotkey before you add a second
keyboard so if you're new this is a
great tutorial to get you started
also I strongly recommend that you place
a shortcut to the script file into your
startup folder like so
but why do it this way why not just
create the macros inside of qmk well
because autohotkey can do with thousand
times as much stuff so for my purposes I
just needed a way for my qmk keyboard to
call any of the functions that I've
already written in autohotkey and
because I couldn't figure out how to
send PS to set one make scan codes or
raw USB keyboard hid codes I had to go
with my usual method of using F 24 as an
extra modifier key I call this wrapping
a keystroke then I use this single line
in autohotkey to block those wrapped
keystrokes and replace them with
whatever I want but a few keys don't
play nicely with this method namely caps
lock num lock shift ctrl alt win apps
and pause break so before wrapping them
I replaced them with little known keys
like language international and the
Brazilian comma and that's it I'm done
for three years I've been looking for a
cheap but stable way to do all of this
and the hasu USB to USB keyboard
converter checks all the boxes even
compatibility is a strong point for it
it worked with every single keyboard and
numpad that I tried and after two other
converters I was even able to convert a
model M into a qmk macro board it's not
like I'd recommend it for this purpose
but still it works with the model M now
some of you might have noticed that
asterisk before there is a cheaper way
to do this open up your keyboard remove
the logic board replace it with a teensy
rewire everything and pray you didn't
make a mistake this is less expensive
than the hassle USB converter but this
is much easier you know what else is
easy
ting they are the mobile carrier that is
focused on customer service and customer
satisfaction first when you call ting
you don't speak to a robot you get put
directly through to a person with ting
you pay only for what you use with the
average bill being only 23 bucks a month
per device and if you're stuck in a
contract and want to switch to ting
they'll cover 25% of your cancellation
fee up to 75 dollars head on over to
Linus 2018 ting calm and try out their
savings calculator they've lowered their
mobile data rates and now data is just
ten bucks per gigabyte beyond the second
gig and every single ting customer will
be able to reap the benefits of that
change get twenty-five bucks off your
bill or $25 off a new phone at the ting
shop at Linus 2018 ting calm thanks for
watching guys liked it if you liked it
dislike it if you disliked it oh you can
watch my original video about Lua macros
but don't bother because this video
makes it obsolete
look at all these second keyboard
pictures that people have sent me since
then anyway bye submerge join the forum
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