20240414 My Right of Way

 No one ever goes to Amcorp Mall except for obvious reasons. You either have an Office there or you're dealing with Toys. Or Collectibles. Or well, vintage stuff. The excuse of going to closed/ now open/ about to close/ and still open A&W doesn't even cut it close.

 When NSK replaced the outgoing Giant, things changed. This, I suppose would attract the weekend crowds apart form the usual suspects. So, my Wife is quite acceptable to going to Amcorp Mall now, because of that. The only issue is the parking, which is located at the front. Not only were the charges steep but there were quite a lot of those guys carrying small black bags and getting you to buy their spray cans.

 So, I showed her another parking area which, despite having a Guard at the Lift Entrance, it is still quite dark. But this is still much better than confronting those spray can guys. However, I am starting to change my mind as we exit the parking area, through the downward winding ramp...

Despite his passenger (girlfriend?) pointing to the 'Exit' sign indicating there are right, the car behind us and I were quite patient. No angry horns nor shouting and eventually, he realised his mistake. We patiently remained on the spot so that he can maneuver safely out of the spiral. Thank goodness both of us were not going too fast and had our headlights on..

I realised what had happened. He obviously had parked in the basement and the only exit is the spiral ramp. In the middle of the ramp, there is an opening on his left (ground level) where he is supposed to get out. But yeah, instead, he continued upwards, where the ramp is now against him. So, if another car followed him, it would be a very difficult stand-off.

The Amosphere

 I can say that the place is almost devoid of people. Maybe it was because I arrived at around half past three in the afternoon where most booths are starting to clean up. But then again, about the booths, there were not many around either. So, I can surmise that most are still in the Hari Raya mood. With the clock ticking, it's time for me to finish my mission as quickly as I can...

I was hoping to catch a friend of mine who has a booth set up but he was nowhere to be found today. So, I decided to visit some shops and man, I was so tempted with this one. These are from Haslab before they cut-off small time loyal dealers, forcing us to deal directly with them.

Next up is this wonderful looking Viper. Since I'm a hurry to meet up with my Wife, I did not ask for the price. Looking at the box, it could be a 1/32 die-cast. OK, just Google it. It s an Eaglemoss and the price is, "Oh my God".

Next stop is V Store Collectibles where they deal mostly with 1/6 figures and 1:18 from Joy Toy.

Do I want it? Yes.
Will I buy it? I dunno, there's no display space where I'm going.

 

All bags must be sealed with a cable tie.
I am not sure about the reasoning from NSK but maybe its to make sure Customers do not put unpaid items into the plastic bags form other shops. So, someone must be doing their job to the letter.
Other places would tie the bags first or make sure other bags are properly locked before putting the cable tie.

A small purchase for the spare parts which I will eventually use.

20240404 My very own Makita

  I now have a Makita (Dark Green). I was hoping for a Hilti (Red) or a Bosch. But I have a Makita. More than a decade ago, that brand made an inroad and to me, it did gather traction alongside Hilti. And most of the contractors at the Site either had a Makita or its knock-off.

 Long ago, after acquiring a used Hilti tool box, I was besotted with their sci-fi like design. Yeah, some were even on sale on eBay but for a very ridiculous price. In all that, the only power tool I had was a Makita Knock-off due to its dark green took box. But today, I have, in my hands, the real thing.

Actually, it's a...

...Cordless screwdriver/ impact drill. It was all the rage back then because of its tremendous torque which got a lot of screwing done instead of by hand. Yeah, contractors value efficiency and thus they always had a cordless screwdriver with them and they would only lend it to you if they liked you.

 So, yeah, we do need one and with my Wife's blessing (and her Lazada account), I got it for a better deal than using my Shopee methods.

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3

So far, each batteries took about slightly more than an hour to charge but I will soon know when I exhaust them later on. Lithium ion packs do have some charge in them when it arrives to you. First impression is that it does feel wired maybe because of its rubberised surface. The instructions are pretty generic because it covered other tools without much graphics. Still, having used some in the past, I got things figured out. All except for "1" and "2" at the top which I have no idea what it's supposed to do. It even has a level gauge at the top but I'll have to test this later.

The charger is not your typical power tool charger where you snap the battery pack on. Rather, it was a plug which you plug into the battery pack. You will know your battery is ready when the LED turns from red to green. Still, playing with the battery pack, I have concurred that it is very important not to drop the whole drill. Maybe that is what the wrist strap is for...

The small-ish case is nice with two black plastic locking clasps. But I can foresee that if I used it too often, the folding part of the case will break since it is just thin hollow vac-formed plastic. This is when I would need some metal hinges after I figure out a way to fill in and reinforce the insides first.

It comes with two batteries, a simple charger, some drill bits, the orange thing is for you to screw yourself into corners.

 

20240304 Dat Sponge Thingy

 So, the sponge thingy arrived. Which means over the next week's Hari Raya holidays, I can take down my Bengmobile2's front bumper and began the installation process. Yay.

 Except that it's not going to be.

 The sponge that came was soft. I have not felt the original sponge yet but I do feel that the replacement sponge are too weak. It's as hard as a dish washing sponge.

The Plan

 The whole reason for these sponges were to create a basic box where the aircond condenser's (that looks like a radiator) fan does not pull in the hot air from the engine next to it. All is well but in my mind I was thinking, what if the car was moving at 100km/h or more? The tremendous rush of wind would cause the whole sponge to collapse.

 And so, I have ordered some EVA Foam with 60° (I am not sure what kind of hardness measurement this is) which I hope will be able to withstand the wind buffeting.

 

The only thing I can do with these sponges right now is to use them as cutting template for the coming EVA foam. I intentionally ordered this without the double-sided tapes for reasons unknown. At least, that proved correct.

 

20240401 The one with the Rat issue

 Catching rats is not something I like. I just hate being the chauffeur because it was much kinder to relocate them than ending their lives there and then. Knowing they're pests, many would be killed at the first opportunity. But it is a living animal which is does what they do.

 The only difference is that they do not understand the concept of property, something which we all hold dear to. To them, I presume, its just obstacles preventing them from getting food, or source material for their nests.

The 'Cat' Burglar

 It takes me a few days before the trap was sprung. But in the workplace environment, while I was busy, I tend to forget about it until the next morning or, when I had the opportunity to get some food. Not only that, this little rat is quite smart because despite how sensitive the trap was, it managed to eat the bait. Every time.

 It took me about 2 weeks to catch this little guy after the usual methods with the trap did not work. From adjusting the sensitivity to digging the bait deeper, it failed. So, in the end, I had to rely on the rat's or rats's (assumed) greediness.

Setting the Trap

  So far, there are two rat traps available to my disposal. One is the sticky kind which in theory, can catch more than one but their disposal means death. The other, is more expensive but it will make sure they are still alive. For this instance, I am using the latter.

This is the smaller version but the principle is the same. Despite all the ones I saw on YouTube which catches them in hoards, they do look complicated. Unless the rats are bending metal or chewing through them, this simple cage was always the best.

 And so, it begins

20240318 After placing the trap yesterday, I went for lunch and managed to take back a piece of chicken meat wrapped in some serviette. I put it inside the trap and went on with my Duties. And I totally forgot about until the next morning. This proves the rat or rats are hungry as the tissue was pulled and torn outside the trap.

20240323 I wished I had set up a CCTV to see how this was done. Bear in mind, in this second attempt the piece of chicken meat was about a cubic inch and the serviette was soaking in the oily sauce. Plus, I've forgotten about the trap again.

20240323 On the same day, sometime in the afternoon, I raided the common pantry and got a small little biscuit which I firmly stuck to the metal hook.

20240325 Come Monday, the rats got away. This is the third time the rats won despite my having set the trap to be as sensitive as possible. Plus, there were no debris or objects to stop the trap from closing.

20240325 OK, there's no more food except for the cucumber in the trash. And once again, I have set the trap to be as sensitive as possible. It would trigger even if a rat sneezes (does it?) while inside.

20240326 And in the next morning, the bait was gone. Seriously, I should have gotten some CCTV to record this. It's like they're so good at it, I was thinking, maybe I can catch and train them to rob heavily guarded stuff like we see in the movies.

20240328 So, I decided to go out for Lunch and successfully secured another piece of chicken. And yeah, it's gone the next morning.

20240329 I decided not to go out for lunch since I was not in the mood with these rats. And so, I used some of my sandwich as bait. Bear in mind, it is covered with my own home made chili oil.

20240330 Well, well, well. It even loved my chili oil. I think I am starting to like the rats and I do think they're Malaysians rats.

20240330 Since this is a Saturday, I have another tactic but first, I need to secure some bait and there it is, a piece of the chicken leg. Its just deep fried skin over bone and ligaments.

20240330 This time I moved the trap elsewhere in case the previous spot really affected the triggering. I balanced the trap on the inside edge (which becomes the fulcrum) of this counter and hooked the chicken real deep. One, if the rat pulls the chicken leg, it will spring the trap. And two, if the rat was greedy and went in to the far end trying to get the bait, its weight would make the trap would fall a little, causing some vibrations which would then spring the trap.

20240401 Tadaaa! The small little tyke is caught! Being one of the earliest to the office means the trap is untouched. What I saw is quite scary.
The reason being is that the trap had moved out of its place and if you see the yellow lines, it moved a lot. Either the small rats got angry and shook the cage or, there are other rats trying to free it.

20240401 So, for the next 8 hours, its gonna chill in there, along woth the chicken leg gnawed to the bone. Heck, I can bet that it was caught on Saturday which means, it was unable to feed itself for two days.

20240401 After work, I took it to another place and freed it. In the meantime, the car does smell of its piss and all, but no poop. Sometimes, the ones I caught not only made a mess of the paper but it would pee and crap all over.
One of the guys said they can kill it if I can catch it. So, I caught it, he got cold feet instead.

 

20240329 Suddenly screen-accurate

 When it comes to props (aka theatrical property) there are some terms to describe them which I am wary about. Perhaps it is industry speak which by their labels indicates the origin of the prop. If you want to know more about these terms, showreelrelics.com has a much better explanation. Some props comes with COA and other forms of documentation, which increases their authenticity. But, in some reports, even authentic props were discovered (too late) to be not what it was. Below are the two terms I've often encounter but there are more here, from OriginalProp.com.

Screen Used

 Let's look at this term. It is basically saying that the prop appeared on the screen. But the question is, how can this be proven? In real life, actual props are quite rough so they do have 'tells' or unique markings which would identify them. These props can be a Hero, stunt or background props. And it can be made easier if that was a one of a kind prop. On the Internet, most have preferred to use the term, "screen matched" instead.

 One of the more reliable source to determine its authenticity is to trawl through prop Forums such as TheRPF, which is still going strong. Through the search, one can gleam information such as their history, unique anecdotes and methods to verify the prop.

Screen Accurate

 This is a much more interesting term. This applies to a prop replicas which, if held against the screen, matches in every detail. So, you would see this term often when its about the replica's accuracy, especially when the main intention is to sell it. This is also the time where each detail would be 'defended' and speculated, and everyone learns from it. I mean EVERYONE from makers to recasters to sellers to customers to... well, you get the picture.

 Apart from the tells and painting and details, there is another factor which makes screen accurate props more authentic, and sometimes, to the point of being an original prop. And this happens when the production or prop makers decide to use readily available, commercial replicas of the prop. It can be a scale model kit or a toy.

 The thing is, this has been happening for quite some time. For example, Star Trek uses scale model kits of the Enterprise while Doctor Who does the same with their Sonic Screwdrivers. . Imagine you waking up one morning to realise one of your toys is a screen accurate item. However, you won't get much out of it because everyone else who has it, has the same screen accurate item.

Using commercial replicas

 Propmakers are often under pressure to deliver a working props within budget and on time. But what happens if the production needs a hundred or two of the working props? They have to plan on how many would be Heros, stunts or even background props. I think, any number more than two or three is enough to be considered a problem. And this is where the idea of using toys or scale models come in to play.

Ghostbusters

 So, yeah, for Ghostbusters: Afterlife which needs 198 ghost traps, they went shopping at Wal-Mart. And I am sure, overnight, everyone who has one, would be overjoyed that their toy suddenly became, "screen-accurate". (I have yet to have one myself and I am sure, I will be able to come across one, or two.)

 

 

 In Ghosbusters: Frozen Empire, thanks to Adam Savage, who revealed that the prop masters actually used a Haslab Proton Pack! So, what does this all mean? The Wal-Mart Ghost Traps and Haslab's Proton Packs are now screen-accurate items. So, when (eventually) I open my Haslab pack, it is already a screen used props sans weathering, I guess

The shell (top) and the cyclotron are from Haslab.

 

 

 

 

20240328 Servicing my Bengmobile2

 

 

 I can tell you that today is a very special day for me. After more than 25 years of owning a car, I finally know how to... change the engine oil. I've seen the guys do that everyday but today, I get to do it by myself (i.e. unsupervised). And just to clarify, I bought my own engine oil and stuff, plus we had to wait until after all the other cars were done.

 It's a very simple process where you drain out the oil at the bottom and fill it up at the top. The main thing is to know which tools to use, how to get the car oriented properly in the bay, which nut to release and, for my Bengmobile2, where the oil filter is hidden. Oh, and also, make sure the engine is cooled down somewhat. Don't ask how my fingers got... nevermind,

During the session, I learnt a lot about my car and some preventive maintenance too.

 

See the date? It's more than 4.5 years already and they battery is still going strong!
That's Europower for you. Previously, it was an Energizer, which lasted 4 years.

Got a little worried there as a few months ago, aswe kinda sucked out the brake fluid months ago.
The guys said it was most probably the dirty oil cap which was not cleaned.

Next would be the Aircond which, during the day, was never cold. We discovered that the left sponge (many thanks to WL Autoparts for the picture) is missing. These two black sponges acts as a kind of makeshift cold air intake and thermal barrier from the hot engine air next to it. Yeah, it's basically, a heat shield. So, I need to get them soon.

Anyway, after watching some videos on Youtube, this one is giving me ideas since the double-sided tapes are claimed to be weak.

20240324 Homemade Chili Oil

 Ever since I realised I could mix ketchup with chili sauce at KFC, eating there became an adventure. Decades later, when I found out that the Clownhouse also had Black Pepper, it was even better. At that age, I have come to accept that most of us Malaysians must have some kind of sauce for our food. Never mind if it is already flooded with its own sauce or drowning in it. We would still be looking for some sauce. It's already a (bad?) habit and in some establishments, I suppose that it can be considered an insult to the Chef. I mean, at the back of the kitchen, they worked their magic to come up with a delicious meal and you'd still be asking, "So, can I have some... ketchup?"

Where's the Sauce?

 While I was abroad studying in the UK, and working in other places, sauces or rather, condiments, were usually not readily available and if they do, it comes in the the boring form of vinegar based ketchups. So, for a Malaysian like me, eating with the lack of sauce was torture. In Malaysia, we have sweet ketchup and the Heinz ketchup for a start. For chili sauce, we have the sweet ones, the famous Lingam variety, the Thai version, the garlic version and so on. Within these parts of the World, there are a lot more sauces than just mayo variations.

The Red Chili Oil

 I cannot remember when was the first time I've encountered chili oil but I do know its from some Chinese restaurant. This little oily red mound of chili flakes which is spicy yet crunchy really got me hooked. And if I could, I would be eating them by the bowls accompanied with steaming white rice instead of the main dishes. By the turn of the Millennium, I was buying bottles of them and later, in the mid-2010's, I kinda moved on to Lao Gan Ma.

However, it was not until recently that I came across some recipes on how to make chili oil. After reading a few of them, I came up with some theories.

- It is the aromatic oil which is very important

- The hot aromatic oil is used to 'cook' the chili flakes mix at the final stage

- I still have no idea how to make it crunchy

Making my own

 The ingredients for this is basically very simple and since this is my first try, I am going to use what I is in the house. But I'd have to buy the chili flakes (non-Sichuan) and Spring onions.

Ingredients

Main

100gm of chili flakes (2 packets of 90gm each, close enough)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

pepper ('some' because we ran out)

 

The Garlic Mix (Important: Read this)

This is the part which was not in any of the recipes I've gone through. My intention is to deep fry them with the infused oil, hoping for a crunchy garlic. The aftermath is anything but.

3 bulbs of garlic, chopped ( I got smoked ones instead, but not sure about this)

3 fresh chili api (the small ones which gives you that, "OMG" taste)

3 fresh chili the bigger ones that is hot but not too hot

In the background are the ingredients to infuse the oil.

  

Oil Infusion

3x spring onions (bulb and stalks) , cut roughly

1½ cup of cooking oil

1 inch of ginger, sliced to 2mm thickness

4 cloves of garlic, taken from above, smashed and roughly cut into 3 slices each

 

Preparing the Chili Flakes

Put the two packets of chili flakes into a glass or porcelain bowl (they will be heated up later).

Mix in one teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tsp pepper

While mixing, slowly add in 1 Tablespoon of water.

Mix thoroughly and add in another Tablespoon of sugar, salt and water.

Mix again, and finally, add a Tablespoon of Oil

Preparing the Oil

Pour half of the oil and heat it up. You will know its ready when you throw in a thin slice of ginger and it starts to bubble. My infra-red thermometer said it was about 208ºC.

Add in the ginger and leave it alone for 30 seconds.

Add in the garlic and leave it alone for 15 seconds.

Add in the spring onions and leave it alone for 15 seconds or so

Lower to oil to about 80ºC and let it sort of simmer for 3 minutes or so.

Once you get the aroma, remove the ingredients, leaving only the oil.

 

After removing the ingredients from the oil, I kept the oily garlic and ginger. The spring onions was a little too soft.

 

Now comes the most controversial part. I heated up the oil to about 150ºC, then threw in the garlic mix and deep fried them very quickly. It did not work so I lowered the oil temperature to let it simmer.

'Cooking' the Chili Flakes

 Lastly, I added the remaining 1½ cup of oil and heated the wok again to about 150ºC. Slowly, pour some of them onto the chili flakes and stir. Bear in mind, there is a lot of oil, so it took me about four or so attempts. If I were to pour them all, the chili flakes would be burnt.

The bubbling was quite fast and it's not easy to capture then while pouring the hot oil.
You have to do this but by bit so as not to burn the whole thing.

 

The first sample on the left is so-so. It kinda taste better with some last minute sprinkle of salt and plus 2 Tablespoon of sesame seed oil.

Even without adding a tablespoon of light soya sauce, the chili oil is kinda dark already.

The verdict

Well, it kinda tasted OK for a first try. I am spoiled with the commercial ones like Lau Gan Ma. It's nice but just tasting the chili flakes in kinda boring. So, on the next try, I will need to get some actual szechuan chili flakes, bay leaves, star aniseed, some pepper and paprika.

The 1½ cup of oil gave me about two medium sized jars.
This photo was taken about 4 days after where the first jar is almost empty because my eldest and I whacked them at every meal. I think by now, the ingredients are fusing with each other and it tastes kinda nice.

20240315 Termite Attack: 20 years later

The Silent Destroyer

 When you hear sounds in the wood, it is never a good sign. The house is not shaking because it was built on a firm foundation. And besides, the railway is about 2 kilometers away. This can only mean one thing: Termites. And I hate Termites. I also hate Silverfish and Mosquitoes but Termites is right at the top of the list.

 It is the very pest which destroys every thing that is moist and pulpy in its path. It is also the same pest which also destroy things you hold dear and to add insult to injury, whatever it ate is replaced with its brown gunk aka poop. By the time I was in my early thirties, I have amassed a lot of stuff to which some might say, junk. And I like store them junk in boxes so that I won't trip or accidentally stepped on them.

All is lost

Around this time, in the early 2000's, the surrounding neighbours were renovating their house like every few months. So, if one of the house has a hidden termite nest, the construction work would have disturbed it causing them to relocate to another house. And months later, if that house also has some renovations, it would move on to the nest house and so on.

Unfortunately, we do not have any plans to renovate the house (yet). And so, unknown to us all, our house was the next target. Nobody noticed the termites until I did a routine quarterly check on my stuff. And on that day, I had a very bad day. We quickly checked on other spots but apart from my Parent's bedroom and the Kitchen, everything was still standing.

 With a sad heart, I had to rummage through the debris to recover what I can. Most of them were model kits and some of them were Special Editions or Limited Editions, whatever. By the time I have separated them from the gunk, I laid them on to about three big basin containers. Sadly, because they were so big, whatever available makeshift covers were not enough when the rain came. Most of the stuff, tiny little parts, carefully separated from the poop were washed away into the drain. Also, because of my panicking, I tipped one of the basins over, thinking they contained only plastic bags.

 

This photo was dated: 27th August, 2004 at 7:03:42PM.
I remembered holding the wet plastic bag of Revell's Special Edition USS Voyager. At that time, I described it as holding a dead cat by the skins while its insides were at the bottom. That was how I felt. The plastic bag is the original factory packed which the termites found a hole and had a field day.
It's been 20 years and I was almost at the stage of forgetting the event and cutting my losses until I discovered this image on a Hard Disk. Now I am sad all over again.

 

20240313 Custom Macro Keyboard

The QWERTY exercise

 Being the lazy bugger that I am, sometimes I hate the Function keys in situations where I need to use them repeatedly. If you look at the keyboard layout, the function keys are way up above the QWERTY keys while my lazy hands like to just comfortably lump themselves at the bottom. Having said that, there are some software which allows for customised (and sometimes common) keyboard shortcuts but for the rest, that's another kettle of fish.

 When I place my hands on the keyboard, they would assume their natural pose which is more like upside-down cupping. OK, actually, the natural pose of the hands and fingers on the keyboard resembles more of a pianist. But unlike the pianist who moves their hands horizontally, typists have the extra displeasure to contend with 6 horizontal rows of keys. In other words, your fingers curl and lengthen all the time, as if its looking for a mine or something. It's OK to just type but after some time, the fingers would start to rebel if you stretch them for the numbers and Function keys at the top.

The Macro Keyboard

 OK, *ahem*. So this is a nice excuse to get a macro keyboard and its no secret that I've been eyeing them for years. Oh, you didn't know? Maybe that's because I did not tell anyone out loud. The only set back at the time was that I was not too involved with Circuit Board Designs and CAD software. OK, I was into SektchUp and Inkscape but those commands are normal alphanumerics which involves a combination of CTRL and SHIFT keys.

 Still, its a good time (than never) to get one now despite having to pay close to RM100 for it. Originally, it was much higher but that was years ago. There are a lot of uses for macro keys where you can string a multiple command at the press of a button or even use them for faster response in a game, I suppose. For my case, I just want to invoke command/ options without having to search for the right key, wasting precious mili-seconds and breaking my concentration.

First Impressions

When I opened the package for the first time, I was shocked that some of the keys fell out. Then I realised, this is a good thing because this means, they key switches are interchangeable. Although these are the RED LINEAR keys, I can later change some of them into the BLUE CLICK keys, starting with just the top row.

The build of the Macro Keyboard is, how shall I put this, feels like a homemade DIY kit or something from a Kickstarter project. Don't get me wrong but I am thinking that at some point in time, they came like so. It's all built with Laser cut acrylics, 3D printed sides and screws centering on a single Printed Circuit Board. So, if it really came out as a kit, I'd would have bought it there and then.

I chose this version which has white keys.
It has optional Bluetooth connection but I'd still need the USB-C port to charge the battery.
The port can also be used as wired option and is really needed to program the keys.

The Macro keyboard is made of four physical layers (I just forgot to label the last bottom layer which is laser cut acrylic). Here is the business end where all the cables and options are made possible. Note the same name LAYER BUTTON which expands your keyboard from 15 to 45 macros.

When it arrived, some of they keys fell out. After a few seconds of dismay, I realised that these keyboards are interchangeable (and also, because I did not scroll down where the seller said these are Outemu Switches and are interchangeable). Right now, they are linear types where they are silent and has no tactile feedback. So, as time goes by, I can actually swap them for different key types.
Update: 14.03.2024 This is also the very same key switch location that is not working. I have swapped with other switches and it still does not work. So, I'll have to open it up soon.

This is how I will place my hand and the intended orientation of the Macro Keyboard. Although I have yet to test it fully, the only thing I need to improve is to have the thing stop sliding about. It has some heft but still light enough to move around unintentionally. Plus, I might want to cover the round chrome knobs with some anti-slip tapes or strips.

Maybe some thin rubber feet might help and I am thinking about 6 to 7 small pieces.
Once the protective sticker has been removed, it would be a very good surface to stick on.

The Software

Of course, needs software of some kind to enable the Macro keyboard. I know this because after plugging in the USB-C cable on both ends, nothing happened. I had to trace back to the seller's page which read:

Instructions and customized software are available after purchase

And try as I might, there were no further communication apart from the usual pleasantries that comes after taking your money. Luckily for me, a quick Google search lead me to the supposedly manufacturer, SIKAI.

After downloading the software, configuring the 'Hot Keys' is very simple just as long as you remember that programming can only be done via the USB-C cable. The software offers various macro shortcuts from keyboards, to mouse, to multimedia and even LED colours (only available if you use the USB-C cable). And the only time you need to use the software (and cable) is when you need to program the hot keys.

There are quite a few variation to the design. Had I know about the LAYER feature, I might not have gotten the 12-key version but maybe, a more modest 9-key vertsion.

 

 

I am very sure there is another software version as this one looks quite generic since it displayed 16 keys instead of 12. But man, I am having fun with the Macro Keyboard and on my EaglePCB software, it worked like a charm!

 

 

 

One more thing

 As long as you use the USB-C cable, the light up LED features will be available to you. So, the following options are self-describing and it was nice. But after a few minutes, I decided (for now) that it is best not to have them lit up. Maybe it's a little too distracting or there is not enough light effects that suite me (but Mode4 was the closest) or maybe, I'm just not in the mood this evening.

4. RGB Lights: Red、Orange、Yellow、Green、Cyan、Blue、Purple.

LED Mode0: Close the Light.

LED Mode1: Steady on (All Keys)

LED Mode2: Fast Glow (From First to Last Keys)

LED Mode3: Fast Glow (From Last to First Keys)

LED Mode4: Light Up when Pressed (Single Key)

LED Mode5: White Light (All Keys)

 

And another thing

Remember I talked about Layers? After testing it for a while, where different software have different keyboard shortcuts, each Layer must be used for different software. All of a sudden, the three layers were quickly used up. Damn.