Software

There are unified drivers for most SKYLOONG keyboards in the form of the notorious GK6XPlus software I've talked about before multiple times. You can find the installer on this page with the latest version at the time of testing being GK6XPlus V8.0.6.0, not to be confused with the older V6 versions. The installer downloads as a compressed file ~140 MB in size, and installation requests just over 350 MB of storage space for the software. This is a substantial increase from before, and the newer V8 versions being separately marked also made me more optimistic about SKYLOONG/Jikedingzhi having actually improved the software user experience. As seen above, installation is straightforward, although without some options, including for shortcuts and Start Menu items which get added by default, and I have few complaints in terms of system utilization itself.


GK6XPlus was originally written to be a command-line interface program, but has received a GUI over time. Javascript limitations have resulted in there being some limitations in GUI mode, such as the inability to change anything on the base layer of the keyboard, but it does offer a much easier means of customization for the average end user than typing something in CMD, of course. This does not excuse the historically poor user experience I've had with these drivers, and I know for certain that the general outlook towards the GK6XPlus software is quite negative. The newer versions seem to have done a few things to address these complaints though. For one, it scales much better than before and responds nicely to display resolution and OS scaling levels, thus not needing you to use a magnifying glass or turn down your display to 1080p, for example. Second, some of the menu elements have been re-organized to where they collectively make more sense. There is also more English now, and more helpful cues too. That said, it's still a mess in terms of having so much going on in the home page, and a lot of unnecessary bloat with so many options not even meant for this specific keyboard. Then there are features you would expect to see here, such as choosing the polling rate—this keyboard apparently supports 8000 Hz polling in wired mode—as well as choosing the time before the LEDs turn off and the keyboard goes to sleep to preserve battery life in wireless mode that are not to be found at all. SKYLOONG even promises to have a detailed user guide to using the software with the GK104 Pro, which again feels like a bandage applied over a larger, self-inflicted wound.

The slight polish to the user interface aside, this is still the same old GK6XPlus in functionality and frustration. It's not a great look when new customers will need to watch tutorial videos from random third-party users to actually use the various features. The only consolation is that it does work without bugs once you figure out how to do what. Key mapping is probably the one part where things are now fairly self-explanatory, with a plethora of options to choose from and the program visually shouting at you if you do something it does not like. The LE (Light Effect) setup is the worst though, with some generic options combined with several meant for other keyboards and random ones from different users too—I have no idea why these are even here! You can edit them, as long as you have selected that option in the settings tab, and make your own too. This is also not trivial, ending up as a line-by-line entry system that is way more complicated than it has any right to be. Oh, and you have to then select the five modes you wish to assign to numbers 1-5 that are then on the keyboard for you to toggle through. Macros are a slight improvement, albeit the pre-recorded ones are questionable in their implementation and naming, with a recorder that is thankfully adequate to just create your own. I can't wait for SKYLOONG to just dump everything and start from scratch, or at least just use an open-source compatible hardware driver and provide QMK/VIA support to make it easier for everyone. I was almost ready to tear my hair off trying to get the knob functions selected in the first place, let alone change them. They are all just placed in a bunch together, making it a lottery on which one you end up selected even after having zoomed into the virtual keyboard.


But wait, there's more! Remember that screen from before? The screen has its own specific software customization tool, also found on the same downloads page. Interestingly, there appears to be a newer version here of the program—called GMonitor—but it requires the screen to be on a newer firmware than what is pre-installed or available online. I had to go with GMonitor V2.0.0.1 instead, and SKYLOONG has a handy online user guide available. It's simple enough to use, as long as you know that you have to pry out the screen and use its own USB Type-C port to connect to the PC first. The program will then see the connection and allow you to use your own images and/or GIFs, delete all stored GIFs/images, update the date and time on the screen, choose the time format in 12 or 24-hours, and of course save the chosen files to the screen. I just went with two images that SKYLOONG provided with the software installer itself, noting that there is a 15 MB file limit on this current screen hardware version/firmware.