Support for Alternative Layouts
This is a summary of how alternative layouts have been supported by kits such as Colevrak and Homing. It is not a discussion of alt layout performance and development, but if that interests you I highly recommend starting with Pascal Getreuer’s A guide to alt keyboard layouts (why, how, which one?). It’s a concise and comprehensive overview with links to some great sites that go deeper. He also has a separate Links about keyboards page. The Keyboard layouts doc he recommends explains layout goals and metrics in detail, summarizing the alt layouts discussed here as well as more than one hundred others. Sculpted-profile The majority of custom keycap sets are sculpted-profile (Cherry, SA, MT3, KAT, etc. - more on profiles generally here) so let’s start there. Because each row has a unique keycap shape, alt layouts require a unique keycap for each legend that moves off its QWERTY row. At first there were two The Dvorak layout was patented in 1936 by August Dvorak & William L....
Apr 23, 2024
You can set a key to respond with the standard alphanumeric a-z0-9, CTRL, Super/GUI. You can set Windows and multimedia keys; calculator, play, volume +/-, etc. You can set "key-combos" that allow you to set a key to Ctrl or Alt + [a key that is allow singly]. There are a few other features that some might find useful as well.
So, I would take a good look at the program on its own before you plug in your VA12M. That left-mouse-click key thing still bugs me, but I'm stuck post-flash.
With saying all that, I contacted Varmilo and received a rar that has allowed me to reprogram the keypad. "I will send you the software via wetransfer. you can find the manual in attachment, this is the only file I have for VA12M." I take absolutely no responsibility for it. It's is Varmilo's. For some reason they don't post it on their site. They even gave it to me via a temporary file share site, WeTransfer.
Enjoy ... ? VA12M software.rar: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/5d4125b56255a387f3744d2b3d35f65020171227054622/6a0c1226bb84543ab6cc0e1bf00a77f220171227054622/8465b7 (WeTransfer will delete it on 3 January, 2018.) If you find some way to get around these limitations, PLEASE let me know. I screwed with it all last night and came up empty besides being able to catalog some of its limitations. I'm not sure if I like it better or worse, but I'm stuck where I am now.
UPDATE: I messaged Varmilo back about the limitations I found. Suddenly they found more files. "I sent you two files via wetransfer, one is for upgrading, one is for programming."
This file appears to be the same flashing software as the first .rar they sent my way. This one just comes with the simple instructions in English instead of Chinese. VA12M.zip: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/12249971b2887a65e81662b4cb20403e20171228015220/df8758bbfd2da189a8b0643a8b19b1fe20171228015220/b63249 (Will be deleted on 4 January, 2018)
This zip contains an .exe & accompanying .dlls & .ini that will update the VA12M to a firmware that will output 0-9, Enter, and LCTRL. I was hoping to modify the .ini to customize the layout, but it doesn't look possible. If you find a way, let us know. MTP OnLine Update_FF91H_V108.zip: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/241b5862021538dc5f6a5d1a5629c2e120171228021605/12f8700cf5540f6b51be2344600810ae20171228021605/38fd51 (Will be deleted on 4 January, 2018)
P.S.: can it be used at boot time (BIOS screen, bootloaders, etc...) after being programmed?