Driver

Out of the box, there is really no indication of how the fully programmable SABER68 is programmed. After all, there is no manual provided, and the product page on the Originative website has nothing either. It is on their sister website, KBDist, where we find more information and a link to the online manual itself. The manual is four pages long, named TATA68, has TADA68 in its description, and really needs an update and re-direction quick lest consumers be confused. Originative Co. should not want to have a matter of brand confusion on their hands here.


Once you go through the manual, you will realize that there is in fact no software driver but, rather, an online applet you can find here. That's right, an actual web-based flash applet. I even had to implement an exception in Google Chrome's preferences to give it permission to run. There is not much else that screams out of touch as this, even if this is not really Originative's fault.


By default there is Mandarin on the applet, but a combination of browser translation and selecting English from the drop-down menu drastically increases the user experience for the better. From here, it is really straightforward. By default, there are two layers on the firmware, and you can see the second layer by clicking on it. You can also add other layers, although I have not tested what the limit is on the applet and in practice. I suspect two layers will be plenty enough for most, as I found it to be. To program the keyboard, select the active layer and click on a key to bring up a large menu of options to choose from. You are limited to whatever is in this menu, and neither can you create a macro by combining actions.

I was for the most part satisfied with the default programming available on both layers. But as you will see in the video above, I did make some minor changes. For instance, I noticed that Esc was actually assigned a secondary function (Shift + Esc was ~). This would not do for me as I use CTRL + Shift + Esc to access Windows Task Manager often and there was a dedicated tilde button on the other side anyway. I can understand why this was done, as Esc is located where tilde would normally be. On Layer 1, I added some more dedicated functions next to the arrow keys, removed the mouse movement keys, and added some more dedicated media control keys while moving the existing media keys next to these. Pressing Fn activates Layer 1, so you may want to have a second Fn key on the keyboard's left-hand side if so inclined. This also means that there is no clear way to access further layers, so I am not sure why there are even options to add more in the applet - perhaps it shares a common base with another keyboard that supports more than two layers?


Once done, hit compile and you will be prompted to save the file as a FLASH.BIN, which Windows 10 and VLC decided they could play for some reason - they can not. Now, hit the button on the back of the keyboard, assuming it is connected of course, which triggers the keyboard's firmware flash mode.


The LEDs on either end of the keyboard will flash continuously in firmware flash mode, and you will notice them do so through the holes in the case. A virtual folder named TADA68 and with a FLASH.BIN file will also open. You know what's happening next. Make a backup of the existing file, delete it, and move the new file to its location. Once done, hit Esc to "reboot" the keyboard and you are done. Note that you can not simply move over the new file to write over the existing one as you will get a "not enough space" message. As such, you have to delete the older file to proceed. Be sure not to disconnect the keyboard, and hope you don't have the power cut out during all of this as it could brick the keyboard if it is left without a working, compatible firmware file.

The SABER68 is also compatible with QMK firmware, so if you are handy with it, head over to Github and write your own firmware. There is always a limit on how many times one can flash and re-flash firmware files on a keyboard, but it being set at well past 10-20 times at the very least, most of you will be fine.

Overall, the process is fairly simple but antiquated. If Originative Co. wishes to make an impression with the masses, this is something they have to work on improving with their keyboard developers.