News - 2026/03/11 - Gateron Red PI 500+
Author: Kevin Day
Description: News post on 2026/03/11.
Keywords: Featureless, FLL, Kevin Day, Kevux, Linux, Library, Distribution, Open-Source, News, 2026

# 2026 / 03 / 11 - Gateron Red PI 500+

I previously reported on my RP500 Lap Top some time ago. Not long after that report the RP500+ came out that addressed some of the power problems, the real time clock problem, and even had a PCI Express Generation 2 hardware slot for M.2 cards like the NVMe cards. There is even 16 Gigabytes of RAM.

I thought this was great! Many of the problems or wishes I had were solved. The PCIe slot even increased performance somewhat.

But not everything is good about it. As a forewarning, I am clearly not the target audience. Loud clickity keys and blinding, flashing, lights is not a good thing. The case is also notably larger, making it more difficult to use as a Lap Top.

A custom keyboard configuration and firmware is provided to turn off all of the lights except the power button. That power button is a huge problem and dimming the power button isn't even remotely a solution to the problem. The clickity clack of the keyboard cannot be easily fixed because the grey colored Gateron KS-33 blue switches are solder in (yes they are the blue type but are colored grey for some reason).

True to my nature as a hacker, I decided to pick up a Hakko FR-301 de-soldering iron and directly solve the problem myself. I chose the Gateron Red KS-33 low profile mechanical switch. I chose the closest matching Gateron that matches the Raspberry PI 500+ Keyboard for my first attempt. I might venture on to quieter switches in the future.

The end result is a much quieter keyboard without a glaring always on power button (there still may be a small amount of light leakage).

## Turn off that Light

I think there is something wrong with computer people these days. The current popular trend is to have a disco ball as a computer. They even sell lights on RAM! That is plain crazy and really annoying. The Raspberry PI 500+ Keyboard is, unfortunately, no exception to this.

The good news is that the keyboard firmware is actually software and so this firmware can simply be updated to disable the lights (except of course for the power button light). The Raspberry PI team did a great job on documenting how to configure the Raspberry PI 500+ Keyboard lighting.

The documentation is all well and good but they mention the following: "XDA, OEM, and SA keycaps aren’t recommended because they’re taller, and can therefore produce more noise or come into contact with the keyboard frame." This turned out to not exactly be true. In fact, it ended up the opposite in my particular case. I experimentally switched to some other key caps that I happened to have that were not the low profile type. I found adding the rubber o-rings to these full profile types ended up capturing more sound and reducing the click compared to the low-profile types with the rubber o-ring added. I suspect it is because more sound escapes the low-profile cap unlike the larger caps. My caps are not contacting the keyboards base part and so there are no sounds coming from that part.

The first thing to do is to install the required software:`sudo apt install rpi-keyboard-fw-update rpi-keyboard-config.`

The firmware should then be updated and the computer should ideally be restarted: `sudo rpi-keyboard-fw-update`

The keyboard can be configured once the system is rebooted with the new firmware installed to the keyboard. The goal is to disable all lights, setting their brightness to the minimum. The lights on start up should also be disabled. The following accomplishes this: `sudo rpi-keyboard-config leds clear sudo rpi-keyboard-config brightness 0 sudo rpi-keyboard-config preset set 0 --startup-animation "START_ANIM_NONE" sudo rpi-keyboard-config leds save`

Be sure to consult the documentation regarding which preset is in use. This documentation expects the preset of `0` to be used.

## Size Matters

The Raspberry PI 500 Keyboard that was originally used in the RP500 Lap Top is relatively small. The dimensions of the Raspberry PI 500 Keyboard are `256mm x 122mm x 23mm` and has an approximate weight of `370g`. The dimensions of the Raspberry PI 500+ Keyboard are `312mm x 123.06mm x 35.76mm` and has an approximate weight of `605g`.

These larger dimensions and heavier weight push the portability of the Lap Top to the limit. The Lap Top now just barely fits into my carrying case.

Having an internal NVMe with fewer exposed cables provides for a safer and easier device to carry. The most critical improvement, the power management, is also the least obvious. The Raspberry PI 500+ Keyboard has improved power efficiency over the Raspberry PI 500 Keyboard, thereby reducing the overall power consumption despite an increase in power demand. These improvements make the RP500+ Lap Top tolerable when considering the bigger size and the heavier weight.

## Shh! Clickity Clack

I brought the Lap Top to meetings and other events and there is no end of people glancing daggers at me every time I try to type anything. It does not matter how softly I press, it still goes clickity clack. This is because the switches themselves intentionally make clicking sounds! I cannot call this crazy enough times.

Well, enough is enough. I may have very little soldering experience but I do have some. Time to permanently fix this.

There are two pins for every switch to de-solder. Gateron calls these three pin switches because they include that center plastic piece. This really isn't a pin in my book so I would more appropriately call these two pin switches.

I used the standard bit that comes with the Hakko FR-301. I believe the bit part is the N61-08 1mm Nozzle. This nozzle fits perfectly over each pin and covers enough of the side areas to be able to suck up all of the melted solder.

As for the temperature, I started on the lowest setting and gradually worked my way up until I discovered the lowest temperature that easily and quickly melts the solder. I found 450 Fahrenheit to be the correct approximate temperature range. Be sure to wait for a minute or two for the iron to completely warm up.

The process of de-soldering was simple enough once I figured it out. I placed the iron directly over a single pin with the hole going straight down on top of the pin. I ideally want to have part of the iron touching the wire part of the pin rather than the solder. However, I found that this detail wasn't too important most of the time.

All hundred or so switches have been removed. The board is nice and clean looking. It is a real shame that my personal soldering skills are a very poor match to the soldering quality from the manufacturer.

The real difficult part for me is soldering on every single one of the switches. I happen to also have a Hakko FX-888D base and iron. I had a bit of trouble with this tool. Perhaps my temperature is wrong, perhaps the tip is either defective or going bad, or perhaps I am just that inexperienced. Either way, the temperature from the tip didn't consistently maintain the temperature along the piece long enough for me to get the job done correctly. I ended up using the de-solder tool to start over.

I took a piece of black electrical tape and taped over the LED that is responsible for the power button. This piece of tape is placed on the top part of the board, below the switch. The switch had to be fully removed in order to accomplish this.

While using the Hakko FR-301 de-solder tool, I discovered that I could more easily solder with this tool. The hole in the de-solder iron tip gave me better coverage and the heat radiated to enough parts. There was still some trial and error here and there. Some areas gave me a lot of trouble for reasons I could not determine. Still, I was able to reasonably re-solder everything using the de-solder iron.

The moment of truth came after all this was completed. I added all of the caps back and completely re-connected the entire keyboard computer. The power button did not have an obvious light! The power button worked and turned on the computer. I then used the following program in X via some terminal to test every single key: `sudo showkey` The Control-C sequence is used to terminate the program.

Overall, I am pleased with this change. The switches are a lot nicer. The board did take a beating as I learned and had to fight with keeping the hot iron on or near the board longer than a second or so. But this damage due to my inexperience and lack of skill is worth it. I provided an additional picture showing some of my not so great soldering skills. (I added a link to a larger version of the picture so you can get a better view of my work.)

Kevin Day