Disassembly

There are several Phillips head screws holding the CODE together. The first set, on the back, keeps the top panel piece in place, and there are three hidden screws - one each under the keyboard's feet that needs to be removed for access and a third under the rather conspicuous "do not remove" sticker. Once done, there are multiple tabs keeping the plastic panel pieces together, and you would need to use a thin, flat object to pry them out. The tabs require a lot of force, and as a result, I did end up leaving small dents in some places, but that also means there is no way the keyboard will come apart easily without you helping it. Once done, the top plastic panel piece can be removed.


The steel plate is seen here, and we can also see that the CODE uses plate-mounted switches that are soldered through into the PCB. Parts of the dual layer PCB are seen here, and there is in fact a secondary PCB above the arrow key cluster that we will get back to shortly.


Some more screws on the steel plate need to be removed for the bottom plastic panel to come loose. Dislodge the internal USB connector, and you can separate it completely to take a look at that third PCB here. This is simply to help make the CODE a detachable cable unit, and I appreciate it nonetheless.


The primary PCB, as with the others, is green in color, and solder quality is good here, relative to the rest I have seen so far, with no solder peaks and a tangible distance between any potential short-out issues. The only things to see here are the dip switches and the internal USB receptacle. So where are the microcontroller and LED driver? See those pins in the last picture above? Those are connected to the control PCB on the other side, and this is what we saw earlier, above the arrow key cluster. All PCBs, including the primary one, are dual layer in design.


Pry out the PCB and you can see that is where the meat of the action is. The CODE is powered by a Holtek HT82K94E USB-based 8-bit MCU with a 24C02H 32 bit EEPROM memory module. What looks like the LED driver is masked off on purpose to prevent identification, something most companies do to prevent design copies, but such also prevents identification by people like me.

Before we take a look at the driver, be advised that disassembly will void the warranty and that TechPowerUp is not liable for any damages incurred if you decided to go ahead and do so anyway.