Flashing an Elite-Pi controller | Elite Pi

First use

When connecting a new Elite-Pi controller to your computer using a USB C cable, it will present itself to your computer as a disk, called RPI-RP2.

There are no LEDs, so there won't be anything lighting up on the controller.

You can drag a .UF2 file to the newly mounted disk to it to flash it. You can find such files for your keyboard using our Firmware Finder, or compile them yourself from QMK or Vial-based firmware.

After flashing

Once flashed with keyboard firmware, connecting the Elite-Pi to your computer or other host device will cause the Elite-Pi to show up as a keyboard. For example, as "Kyria rev3".

You should not be seeing the disk attached to your computer anymore. If the RPI-RP2 disk pops right back up, that means the flashing process has failed. Please try it again, and skip to the bottom of this page if the issue persists.

You can connect a row and a column pad with one another to output a key. You can do so with metal tweezers, a paperclip or a piece of wire. You can look at the bottom of your keyboard (the labels next to the controller footprint, like connecting C0 with R0) or at the schematics for your keyboard to see which pins you can connect.

Be careful when shorting with the VCC pin. The VCC pin has 5V output by default, but all other pins are tolerant of a voltage up to 3.3V. If you connect the VCC pin to any other pin, you'll risk damaging that pin. When testing your controller this way, you can can connect any other pin together harmlessly—just not the VCC pin.

Mind that not all combinations of rows and columns will output a key. Some combinations won't be connected in the firmware, and some combinations are connected but are mapped to a modifier or layer key. Just try a few combinations (and be sure to have your cursor's focus on a text field on your computer). Any character output means that it's good to go!

Boot and run buttons

Holding the on-board boot button (left) while connecting the Elite-Pi with a USB C cable will cause the Elite-Pi to enter its bootloader mode, which will present the Elite-Pi as a disk named RPI-RP2.

When flashed with Vial or QMK firmware, double tapping the on-board run button (right) will enter the bootloader mode, too. This is a feature specific to QMK and Vial, so this will not work if you're using a different framework or when using custom-compiled firmware such as CircuitPython.

When soldered on a keyboard, the keyboard's reset button will be connected to the Elite-Pi's run button. Also check out the pinout diagram.

If it doesn't work after troubleshooting, don't panic just yet! Please follow the instructions on Problems before using your product. We'll help you troubleshoot, and will replace the controller if need be.

Pinout diagram

Which functionality hides behind what pin? Find it in these diagrams.

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