- Note that since I managed to brick one adapter trying to do this I disclaim responsibility if you, dear reader, try it and fail. On the other hand, I searched the Internet high and low for anyone else that was successful flashing these adapters without a physical Windows machine. Finding nothing, it seemed wise to write up my success.#
- TL;DR#
- 1. Start Fusion 12 and a Windows 10 VM.#
- 2. Download the drivers for the adapter and the updated firmware onto the Windows VM. #
- 3. Install the drivers for the adapter in Windows before plugging it in.#
- 4. Plug in the adapter. MacOS will claim it. #
- 5. Unload the driver and the ECM kext bundle from a Terminal prompt:#
sudo kextunload /System/Library/DriverExtensions/AppleUserECM.dext#
sudo kextunload -v -c com.apple.driver.usb.cdc.ecm- 6. Finally, attach the adapter to the VM with the
Virtual Machine->Bluetooth and USBmenu option in Fusion. Run the autorun.bat file as an Administrator and it should flash successfully.# - The long story.#
- I am in the process of reconstructing my home lab and have several NUC-form-factor machines that don’t have any free PCIe slots, but do have USB 3.1. As I just upgraded to a Mikrotik 10 GbE switch, I would like to have faster than 1 Gb ethernet to them, so I purchased 4 QNA-UC5G1T adapters. William Lam’s excellent website had an article on them indicating they should have their firmware flashed to 3.1.6 (available here) to get the best performance. Unfortunately the flash utility only works under Windows.#
- My first attempt at flashing the adapter under VMware Fusion 11 was a failure. I bricked the device, and QNAP was kind enough to RMA it for me and send me a new one.#
- I’ve since upgraded to Fusion 12. Starting my Windows 10 VM, I plugged the adapter in and told Fusion to attach it to the VM instead of the Mac. I was greeted with a message indicating the host machine had already claimed the device.#
- I found the device in the Network PrefPane and removed it, but that did not help. I realized I would have to go a little deeper.#
- MacOS’s System Information tool showed me that the driver being used for the adapter was /System/Library/DriverExtensions/AppleUserECM.dext. I unloaded this kext from the terminal#
sudo kextunload com.apple.driver.usb.cdc.ecm#- and also unloaded the ECM bundle#
sudo kextunload /System/Library/DriverExtensions/AppleUserECM.dext#- At that point I was able to attach the adapter to the Fusion VM. Following the instructions in the firmware zip file, I successfully flashed the adapter.#
- There’s something about computer keyboards…even in this age of tablets and phones they remain the primary way we get significant amounts of text and code into computers. I’ve spent time with the original IBM Model M “buckling spring”, the first generation Kinesis Advantage, ThinkPad keyboards (still one of the absolute best laptop keyboards ever), the abysmal Dell Latitude d610 (stiff as a board, required significant force just to press the keys), the Apple Extended Keyboard, various MacBook Pro keyboards, as well as lots of terrible rubber-dome and membrane keyboards.#
- I’m in the minority in that I actually like the 3rd generation butterfly keyboard on the 2019 and later MacBook Pros. I like its tactile feel and the short travel of the keys.#
- When I started at SaltStack I was introduced to the mechanical keyboard community by some co-workers. Some of the above might qualify as “mechanical” keyboards, but I had no idea that there was such a cult surrounding them.#
- I was intrigued by the ErgoDox and participated in the MassDrop for the unassembled keyboard, bought a soldering iron, and like a Jedi padawan, I constructed my own keyboard. I used it for about 8 or 9 months, and sold it in favor of a Filco Majestouch 2 with Cherry MX Brown switches. That was a great keyboard, and I still have it.#
- When the Keyboard.io folks initiated their Kickstarter for the Model 01, I was completely hooked. I ended up getting two of those (one for work, one for home). The learning curve was surprisingly steep, but I grew to really appreciate the palm buttons.#
- Through a fortunate happenstance another co-worker participated in the kickstarter for Keyboard.io’s latest creation, the Atreus. He had irreconcilable differences with it, and was willing to sell it to me. I’ve spent the last few days with it, tweaking the layout and getting used to it, and I think it might be the best keyboard I have ever owned.#
- This unit came with Kailh BOX Brown switches (here’s a comparison article on Kailh switches),
QNAP QNA-UC5G1T on a Macthese are tactile but non-clicky like CherryMX Brown switches, which I had on my Majestouch and ErgoDox. I like these much more, however. They seem “tighter” somehow, there’s no discernible wiggle in the keycaps. Actuation force is slightly less than my other keyboards. My typing speed on the alpha characters actually increased over my Model 01.# - I had been eyeing the Atreus for a while but was highly concerned that I would not be able to get used to the lack of a number row at the top of the keyboard. Losing real function and Escape keys to the Apple TouchBar has been a sore spot. I took a closer look at the layout and realized there were plenty of keys available to use for layer shifting.Paradoxically I’ve noticed that fewer keys enables more accuracy for me. I think it’s because the keyboard is so small my fingers don’t get “lost” as easily.#
- It will take a while to get used to my custom layout. I include an image below for anyone who finds this article and is curious about how others have setup their Atreus.#
- The above is from this Google Sheet. Feel free to copy if you want to make your own layout. Many thanks to Github user mattmc3 who created that sheet and posted it in this PR discussion on adding Atreus layouts that are similar to the Model 01’s.#
- If you pay for the privilege of Amazon Prime, Amazon has a new feature they have quietly rolled out that changes the way your family members interact with your Prime Membership.#
- The tl;dr is that if you are grandfathered into the older method of family management that enabled you to share your Prime benefits with three adults, do not touch your Prime settings. If you change anything you will be migrated to the new Households features and you will not be able to go back.#
- I’m not sure who at Amazon designed the new Teen Logins feature, but it is a wreck. If you read the basic information on the Teen Logins Parent’s Page it sounds like a great deal, seeming similar to the way Family Sharing works with Apple’s iOS ecosystem. Teens can pay with a parent’s card, and the parent gets a notification to approve or deny the request. They get Prime shipping benefits, and parents can restrict where a teen can ship. Teens can “Shop, stream and explore Amazon from your own login.” But here’s what the page does NOT say:#
- Teens can only access their Teen Login account from the Amazon App on a smartphone.
- If a teen already has an Amazon login, to link their existing account to a Teen Login account, the existing login cannot have any payment methods, nor any digital content.
- They cannot stream digital video to anything other than a smartphone.
- Teen Logins cannot access shared family content.
- So for those of us that already had accounts for our kids and had other safeguards in place to protect them, we basically cannot move themto the new Teen Logins feature and at least one member of our family loses access to Prime Shipping.#
- I was on Chat with Amazon representatives for 45+ minutes this morning. I only found out about these limitations from them, I could notfind anything on the Amazon site about it. And the 5 representatives I talked to were either unable or unwilling to switch my account back to the way it was before. They were, however, perfectly willing to suggest that I spend an additional $59.50 per year for the “Prime Student” membership for one of my kids.#
- I know that people abuse the Prime Membership features, but ironically I was trying to do the right thing when I started this process — I was in the process of removing my oldest from our Amazon account because he was moving out.#
- My recommendation to Amazon would be to scrap the Teen Login program altogether and switch to simply allowing up to 5 or 6 household members to share a Prime subscription. Maybe only allow the first two members to ship to any address, and the remaining ones to only ship to the address. Or, at the very least, remove the draconian restrictions on the Teen program (can’t use a web browser? WHA?!?).#
- Amazon Teen Logins. Just say “no”.#
- Note that since I managed to brick one adapter trying to do this I disclaim responsibility if you, dear reader, try it and fail. On the other hand, I searched the Internet high and low for anyone else that was successful flashing these adapters without a physical Windows machine. Finding nothing, it seemed wise to write up my success.#
- TL;DR#
- 1. Start Fusion 12 and a Windows 10 VM.#
- 2. Download the drivers for the adapter and the updated firmware onto the Windows VM. #
- 3. Install the drivers for the adapter in Windows before plugging it in.#
- 4. Plug in the adapter. MacOS will claim it. #
- 5. Unload the driver and the ECM kext bundle from a Terminal prompt:#
sudo kextunload /System/Library/DriverExtensions/AppleUserECM.dext#
sudo kextunload -v -c com.apple.driver.usb.cdc.ecm- 6. Finally, attach the adapter to the VM with the
Virtual Machine->Bluetooth and USBmenu option in Fusion. Run the autorun.bat file as an Administrator and it should flash successfully.# - The long story.#
- I am in the process of reconstructing my home lab and have several NUC-form-factor machines that don’t have any free PCIe slots, but do have USB 3.1. As I just upgraded to a Mikrotik 10 GbE switch, I would like to have faster than 1 Gb ethernet to them, so I purchased 4 QNA-UC5G1T adapters. William Lam’s excellent website had an article on them indicating they should have their firmware flashed to 3.1.6 (available here) to get the best performance. Unfortunately the flash utility only works under Windows.#
- My first attempt at flashing the adapter under VMware Fusion 11 was a failure. I bricked the device, and QNAP was kind enough to RMA it for me and send me a new one.#
- I’ve since upgraded to Fusion 12. Starting my Windows 10 VM, I plugged the adapter in and told Fusion to attach it to the VM instead of the Mac. I was greeted with a message indicating the host machine had already claimed the device.#
- I found the device in the Network PrefPane and removed it, but that did not help. I realized I would have to go a little deeper.#
- MacOS’s System Information tool showed me that the driver being used for the adapter was /System/Library/DriverExtensions/AppleUserECM.dext. I unloaded this kext from the terminal#
sudo kextunload com.apple.driver.usb.cdc.ecm#- and also unloaded the ECM bundle#
sudo kextunload /System/Library/DriverExtensions/AppleUserECM.dext#- At that point I was able to attach the adapter to the Fusion VM. Following the instructions in the firmware zip file, I successfully flashed the adapter.#
- There’s something about computer keyboards…even in this age of tablets and phones they remain the primary way we get significant amounts of text and code into computers. I’ve spent time with the original IBM Model M “buckling spring”, the first generation Kinesis Advantage, ThinkPad keyboards (still one of the absolute best laptop keyboards ever), the abysmal Dell Latitude d610 (stiff as a board, required significant force just to press the keys), the Apple Extended Keyboard, various MacBook Pro keyboards, as well as lots of terrible rubber-dome and membrane keyboards.#
- I’m in the minority in that I actually like the 3rd generation butterfly keyboard on the 2019 and later MacBook Pros. I like its tactile feel and the short travel of the keys.#
- When I started at SaltStack I was introduced to the mechanical keyboard community by some co-workers. Some of the above might qualify as “mechanical” keyboards, but I had no idea that there was such a cult surrounding them.#
- I was intrigued by the ErgoDox and participated in the MassDrop for the unassembled keyboard, bought a soldering iron, and like a Jedi padawan, I constructed my own keyboard. I used it for about 8 or 9 months, and sold it in favor of a Filco Majestouch 2 with Cherry MX Brown switches. That was a great keyboard, and I still have it.#
- When the Keyboard.io folks initiated their Kickstarter for the Model 01, I was completely hooked. I ended up getting two of those (one for work, one for home). The learning curve was surprisingly steep, but I grew to really appreciate the palm buttons.#
- Through a fortunate happenstance another co-worker participated in the kickstarter for Keyboard.io’s latest creation, the Atreus. He had irreconcilable differences with it, and was willing to sell it to me. I’ve spent the last few days with it, tweaking the layout and getting used to it, and I think it might be the best keyboard I have ever owned.#
- This unit came with Kailh BOX Brown switches (here’s a comparison article on Kailh switches),
QNAP QNA-UC5G1T on a Macthese are tactile but non-clicky like CherryMX Brown switches, which I had on my Majestouch and ErgoDox. I like these much more, however. They seem “tighter” somehow, there’s no discernible wiggle in the keycaps. Actuation force is slightly less than my other keyboards. My typing speed on the alpha characters actually increased over my Model 01.# - I had been eyeing the Atreus for a while but was highly concerned that I would not be able to get used to the lack of a number row at the top of the keyboard. Losing real function and Escape keys to the Apple TouchBar has been a sore spot. I took a closer look at the layout and realized there were plenty of keys available to use for layer shifting.Paradoxically I’ve noticed that fewer keys enables more accuracy for me. I think it’s because the keyboard is so small my fingers don’t get “lost” as easily.#
- It will take a while to get used to my custom layout. I include an image below for anyone who finds this article and is curious about how others have setup their Atreus.#
- The above is from this Google Sheet. Feel free to copy if you want to make your own layout. Many thanks to Github user mattmc3 who created that sheet and posted it in this PR discussion on adding Atreus layouts that are similar to the Model 01’s.#
- If you pay for the privilege of Amazon Prime, Amazon has a new feature they have quietly rolled out that changes the way your family members interact with your Prime Membership.#
- The tl;dr is that if you are grandfathered into the older method of family management that enabled you to share your Prime benefits with three adults, do not touch your Prime settings. If you change anything you will be migrated to the new Households features and you will not be able to go back.#
- I’m not sure who at Amazon designed the new Teen Logins feature, but it is a wreck. If you read the basic information on the Teen Logins Parent’s Page it sounds like a great deal, seeming similar to the way Family Sharing works with Apple’s iOS ecosystem. Teens can pay with a parent’s card, and the parent gets a notification to approve or deny the request. They get Prime shipping benefits, and parents can restrict where a teen can ship. Teens can “Shop, stream and explore Amazon from your own login.” But here’s what the page does NOT say:#
- Teens can only access their Teen Login account from the Amazon App on a smartphone.
- If a teen already has an Amazon login, to link their existing account to a Teen Login account, the existing login cannot have any payment methods, nor any digital content.
- They cannot stream digital video to anything other than a smartphone.
- Teen Logins cannot access shared family content.
- So for those of us that already had accounts for our kids and had other safeguards in place to protect them, we basically cannot move themto the new Teen Logins feature and at least one member of our family loses access to Prime Shipping.#
- I was on Chat with Amazon representatives for 45+ minutes this morning. I only found out about these limitations from them, I could notfind anything on the Amazon site about it. And the 5 representatives I talked to were either unable or unwilling to switch my account back to the way it was before. They were, however, perfectly willing to suggest that I spend an additional $59.50 per year for the “Prime Student” membership for one of my kids.#
- I know that people abuse the Prime Membership features, but ironically I was trying to do the right thing when I started this process — I was in the process of removing my oldest from our Amazon account because he was moving out.#
- My recommendation to Amazon would be to scrap the Teen Login program altogether and switch to simply allowing up to 5 or 6 household members to share a Prime subscription. Maybe only allow the first two members to ship to any address, and the remaining ones to only ship to the address. Or, at the very least, remove the draconian restrictions on the Teen program (can’t use a web browser? WHA?!?).#
- Amazon Teen Logins. Just say “no”.#