I’ve spent a few days now with my uConsole and this keyboard is just horrible. It’s near useless… and not for the reasons you would expect. I have no issues with the form factor nor do I have an issue with the key actuation. My issue is with the horrible firmware on the micro controller itself. At least that’s what I assume is the culprit of the stuck keys, repeating keys, and wacky trackball. I updated the firmware to what seemed like the latest. It was the one in the zip file along with the flash script and added the FN scroll feature. You can’t do any really hacking or programming in terminal because it constantly repeats keys or doesn’t register presses. It seems like the space bar is the worst offender. I don’t think it’s an issue with the switches as they seem very tactile. One time I just let the space bar go to see how many spaces it would add and it just kept going until I finally stopped it after a half a page. I did some searching and found other complaints very similar to mine but no real solutions. I also saw that someone ported QMK over but the link was dead and I didn’t see anyone report back on how well that worked. For the trackball, it seemed to work decently at first but then quickly went wacky resorting to only horizontal motions. I had ordered a set of replacements before hand from Amazon and so I also tried those with the same result: they would work fine for a while then the same issues. I had a BB Pearl back in the day and then a Curve that used this trackball and only had issues with those after a year of use which would require a clean out so the design is capable but there is something seriously wrong with the implementation on the uConsole. It’s a cool device but will probably stick mine on the shelf beside the PocketChip. Interestingly as bad as the PocketChip keyboard was to type on, I never had any issues with stuck or repeating keys.
This is a link to the newest version of the QMK firmware for the uConsole. I just downloaded it and it works. Just flash per the instructions on the first post.
I’m running it on my uConsole and works way better then the stock firmware and I had the same issue with the space bar.
This is the replacement trackball I used and it's worlds better, I'm not sure what one you used.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802802650565.html
Some people got bad ones of these and ordered a few to get a good one.
Thanks Rex. I’ll give that a try right now. Here are the trackballs I tried: Amazon.com: DKARDU Joystick Sensor BlackBerry Trackball Breakout Board ICSH044A 360° Trackball Module 2.5V~5.25V Hall Effect Sensors with Trackball Replacement Parts Connection Cable,for Arduino : Video Games They were better than the stock one but didn’t seem to last.
Okay the QMK firmware made a huge difference so far! I took the trackball out and replaced it with another spare so that’s working better for now until I can get some more ordered from Aliexpress. Thanks again Rex!