I currently have a Logitech G910 keyboard and a G502 X Lightspeed mouse and run Kubuntu (though I want to try CachyOS soon). For the keyboard I use GitHub - zocker-160/keyboard-center: Application for mapping macro keys on Logitech keyboards · GitHub to remap the macro keys and for the mouse I rely on the onboard memory (which can be modified using the On Board Memory Manager for Windows). Piper does not correctly detect either of them.
I’d like to eventually switch over to peripherals that have proper Linux support so I don’t rely on “random” GitHub projects or need Windows to remap buttons. But there’s also a few other requirements, so I’m hoping to get a better idea of what options are out there.
For the keyboard I want a numpad (so no TKL), media keys, a German layout and remappable macro keys that can perform:
a simple key combination (for example Ctrl + NumPad 9)
a keypress of F13 or the other F-keys
left click every x ms while the button is pressed (a toggle would also be okay)
left click every x ms with control held while the button is pressed (a toggle would also be okay)
The mouse needs the forward and back side buttons, a DPI switch button* (unless someone knows another solution for having a certain DPI for desktop use and the minimum sensitivity in some games still being way too high with that) and preferably a remappable thumb button as well (like the G502). Being wireless is also a bonus (assuming very low latency of course).
*perhaps that can also be done via a keyboard key?
I wouldn’t mind having to installing extra tools for some of my requirements as long as it requires no Windows at all (I really want to not need it anymore) and it’s a well maintained project (and not some vibecoded one off project).
My favourite gaming mouse is TurtleBeach (former Roccat) Kone XP Air.
It has enough buttons, in the perfect positions, it is light, medium size and never had problems.
What I do is, connect it on a Windows computer (or VM) push the settings via its software, and then I use it on Linux. All of its settings, even lighting, are stored on onboard memory, therefore it does not need any software running to function.
You can even program keys to send keystrokes, like shift+], and then use them in the games.
While I haven’t used one which supports it, but Keychron has “Launcher” which is a web based config tool for their newer stuff. So no app required, just internet. But that could also be a bad thing that you maybe not be able to change stuff once the site goes offline.
You can try the launcher with demo devices to see if the macro stuff would be able to do what you want.
Or get a keyboard where QMK/ZMK exists and build the firmware with all your macros yourself. I dabbled with QMK to get my keyboard to be exactly how I want and it is great. Never needed any macros, though.
Earlier this year I bought a Keychron Q6 Max and that works great with customising the layout or colours through the web launcher (though that only works on chromium browsers). So yeah, no need for any other apps to set that up and that was an important reason to look at Keychron.
I can also configure the RGB on the bord through openRGB. I could go nuts on all kinds of configurations even. Though I keep it at a steady single colour
And I have a Steelseries Rival 3, which I can also manage through openRGB.
I never set the mouse options from standard though, but you might want to look at what mice Piper supports. I didn’t need it for mine, but it is a popular option as a replacement for setting up buttons on mice which only have Windows applications to manage them.
I’ve used solaar (can’t post links, look on GitHub at pwr-solaar/solaar) for a bit with my Logitech superlight with pretty good results. I know you mentioned you don’t want a random one-off project but this is a pretty solid project, and it could / would leave you not buying more peripherals.
I’ve had about 3 Roccat Kones many, many years ago. They lasted about 1.5-3 years each and were not overall good for the price. Their software was really slow and when I bought a Roccat keyboard, I found out it can only handle one product at a time, so I decided to never bother with them again. And I also would like to not even need a Windows VM.
Regarding the Keychron Launcher: Can such sites be downloaded and still function locally? If so, then I don’t see any problem with it - I’ll just back it up so if it does go down, I’m safe.
Piper is not an option. It lists both my mouse and keyboard as supported devices and yet neither of them work. I’ve tried Piper from various sources and even built it myself and none worked. I’ve spent so many hours on it, across multiple installs of Kubuntu as well. So I don’t really trust it to work.
I’ve gotten solaar to work with my mouse (after a lot of hassle) but either I am too stupid for the button remapping or it is not great. I only use solaar to see my battery level now
You can’t just download the website… Or at least not to have a functional local copy.
But! Those keyboards which support the launcher are all QMK/ZMK compatible, so you can use any configurator to set up the keys themselves.
QMK is open-source firmware for microcontrollers, so you can just use the freely available toolkit to reprogram your keys: https://qmk.fm/
ZMK is open-source firmware for wireless controllers, which you can also just use freely. Keychron just seems to be one of the larger adopters of the tech: https://zmk.dev/
Combine that with openRGB for the RGB configuration and you don’t need anything from Keychron themselves if it comes down to that.
