Using a programmable shortcut keyboard — SayoDevice, Lichifit, etc — part 1

1. TL;DR
2. Intro
3. Using the keyboard — just plug it in
4. Programming — where do I get the software?
   1. Connect to the device
5. Basic programming
6. Use on various platforms
   1. Ctrl vs Command ⌘ key for Apple devices
   2. iPad hides the normal pop-up keyboard
7. More

TL;DR

• To use: just plug it in to a USB port of your device. (No drivers etc needed.)
• To program: Simply visit webpage: https://sayodevice.com Yes really! No software download needed! It only works in the Chrome/Edge/etc browsers currently. (WebHID api support)
• What programmable feature exist? See below.

For more information on any of those, see below.

Intro

I do a lot of work from my iPad and the lack of various keys (arrow keys, TAB, etc) on the pop-up keyboards is limiting. I’ll give some examples below. So I bought the following eight key programmable keyboard.

It apparently works in the same way as SayoDevice model.

LICHIFIT 8 Keys Keyboard USB Interface Custom Copy Paste Shortcuts Mini Mechanical Keyboard for SayoDevice

No instructions come with the device, and the internet is full of people asking where to find the programming software for such devices, and some reporting that the software they downloaded included viruses! So here’s a short user guide.

Using the keyboard — just plug it in

There’s even some folk asking where to find software drivers to use the keyboard. None are needed. All the features run from the keyboard. The USB specifications include HID (Human Interface Devices), which allows all device types to support various keyboard types.

Programming — where do I get the software?

Simply visit webpage: https://sayodevice.com

Then click the blue Search Sayo-Device button, and select the appropriate device from the list, see more below. There’s help online (and offline)?) at https://manual.sayodevice.com/

So now you can stop hunting for software to download. No need to install and run some random program from some sketchy website and risk viruses! Simply visit that website.

That connects the keyboard using a feature called WebHID which currently works on Chromium-based web browsers only — so Chrome, and Edge. Unfortunately, Firefox and Safari do not support that feature, apparently for privacy reasons, so if you’re using an iPad like me then you’ll need to crack out your laptop to program the device. (Currently all web browsers on iOS wrap the Apple-provided Safari engine due to Apple safety rules.)

Connect to the device

After clicking the Search Sayo-Device button, the web browser pops-up a dialog box listing any matching devices you have plugged into your device to show you to select one.

Then you see this screen to program the device.

If your web browser doesn’t support the WebHID api, then you see this instead. “Please use a support Web HID browser, the support list can be queried: https://caniuse.com/?search=webhid”

Error pop-up when the browser hasn’t WebHID support

Basic programming

• Click the box that represents the key on the keyboard that you want to edit.
• Change the settings on the right-hand side panel.
• Click Submit to save that key’s settings locally.
• Optionally, edit more keys.
• Click Save to Device at the top to update the keyboard.

For basic single keypress use mode “Default“, and select first any Modifier keys, then select which General Key from the keyboard that pops-up, see below. Here as an example, I’ve got “Aa”, “Zz”, Ctrl+Alt+Del, PrtScrn, and a long string to enter using Password mode,

The modifier keys displayed for me are Left and Right versions of Ctrl, Shift, Alt, GUI(win). The last is presumably the Windows key on Windows, and maybe the Command key on Apple.

This is the keyboard to select from.

And the “Only Linux Key” tab there.

I’ll probably write more at a later date on other programmable features.

Use on various platforms

Ctrl vs Command ⌘ key for Apple devices

Since I’m using the keyboard with both Windows and iPad, I’d like say Ctrl+C to work on both platforms, ie do Ctrl+C on Windows etc, but do ⌘+C on Apple devices.

Thus, I use Ctrl as the Modifier key, and on my iPad in Settings > General > Keyboards > Hardware keyboards > The keyboard > Modifier Keys, I set the mapping for the ^Control key to be ⌘Command. The iPad then converts the Ctrl modifier into the Command modifier and all works fine.

That wouldn’t be useful of course in the case where you wanted to use both Ctrl and Command modifiers. In that case don’t apply that device settings flag but use the “GUI(win)” modifier key on the keyboard which apparently behaves as the Apple ⌘Command key.

iPad hides the normal pop-up keyboard

I keep hoping Apple adds another feature there. When I plug in this mini keyboard or even my Yubikey the iPad deactivates the normal pop-up keyboard. Thus one has to frequently tap twice to Show Keyboard on-screen to get the normal keyboard to appear.

That could be solved by Apple could adding a new yes/no setting “Is a full keyboard” for each keyboard connected.

More

See Part 2.

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