Configuring my Vortex Race 3 keyboard • 10 Feb 2018
Recently I bought a few Vortex Race 3 mechanical keyboards, with the following key types:
- Cherry MX Red: 5mm travel, very light to press, no tactile feedback
- Cherry MX Silver: 2mm travel, very light to press, no tactile feedback
- Cherry MX Brown: 5mm travel, very light to press, with silent tactile feedback
I bought these keyboards because they're small and their keys are reproprammable. For convenience, I prefer this keyboard layout of modifier keys, and I'd like to use this layout without having to rearrange the keyboard layout in the operating system of the computers I'm using:
Since the default layer of the keyboard is not programmable, I must switch to the first layer. The keyboard lights up a red LED when the first layer is active. This annoys me, so I put a small paper on it so that it is covered:
Programming
These are the steps I use to program the keyboard to my taste:
First, replace the keycaps from the default "[Ctrl][Windows][Alt][Spacebar]" to "[Windows][Alt][Ctrl][Spacebar]". Then, execute the following keypresses to remap the keys:
| keypress | effect |
|---|---|
| Fn + right Shift | activate first (programmable) layer, red LED lights up |
| Fn + right Control | enter program mode, blue LED lights up |
| left Control | the key to modify (destination) |
| right Control | the desired function (source) |
| Pn | complete programming step |
| left Alt | dst |
| right Alt | src |
| Pn | ok |
| left Windows/Command | dst |
| right Control | src |
| Pn | ok |
| Fn + right Control | exit program mode |
The keyboard will automatically exit program mode if you don't press a key for 15 seconds.
A nice thing is that the keyboard remembers which layer is selected, even if the computer is turned off, so you only have to select the layer once.