Support Articles
Configuring Your New Launch Keyboard
QMK firmware
The Launch keyboard uses a System76 version of QMK firmware and it may differ from upstream QMK firmware. You can read more about QMK here.
Layers
The core idea of "Layers" is that one key can be used for different actions. For example, on our laptops, holding the Fn then pressing the F5 will lower the volume. Pressing F5 on its own will perform a different action, like refreshing a web page in the browser. You can read more about layers here.
Firmware Updates
Firmware updates for the Launch line are handled using fwupd and our Firmware Manager (which can be installed on Arch and Fedora using this article) can be used to apply the update. When you get a notification about a firmware update, you will need to unlock the keyboard using Fn + Esc (Launch Lite is Left Ctrl + Right Ctrl + Esc).
ℹ️ If you changed your layout and moved any of these keys, you will need to press them wherever they are now located.
When the keyboard is unlocked, you will see the following keys light up in sequence:
- U N L O C K E D
Once the keyboard is in this mode, you can apply the firmware update. When the update is complete, you will need to unplug and reconnect the keyboard to exit this mode.
Keyboard Configurator
You can download the configurator application here On Pop!_OS the configurator is available in the Pop!_Shop. An AppImage is provided for Ubuntu and other Linux OSes as a standalone file. Recent changes to Ubuntu will require that you install the libfuse2 package for AppImage support and can be done with the following command run in a terminal:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libfuse2
You can also download the configurator from the Arch Linux User Repository (AUR). The main version is built from the latest release, which is recommended for most users. You can find more information here. The git version is built from the latest commits to the project (this version will have the very latest fixes and features) which can be found here.
There are also builds of the Keyboard Configurator for Windows and macOS at the same location.
Remapping Keys
The keys are defined in the firmware of your keyboard, and you can re-map the keys using the Keyboard Configurator. After opening the Keyboard Configurator, select the key you would like to re-map, then select an item from the available mapping options shown in the list below the keyboard diagram. Refer to the included video for more details. Please note the "Layer 1" and "Layer 2" at the top of the configurator. Layer 1 is what the keys will do normally and Layer 2 shows what the keys do when "Fn" is held down.
Changing LEDs
In the Keyboard Configurator, you can change keyboard back light color and behavior for the whole keyboard in the LEDs section of the application by changing the 'Layer Color Pattern' using the dropdown. If you want to change the lights per key use the 'Per Key Solid' from the 'Layer Color Patter' dropdown.
Tech Docs
We have documentation that goes over changing the keycaps, switches, and more on our Tech Docs site: