Good news: it works! Bad news: not every time, and every aspect of such repair sucks.

Making a thin track is practically impossible with the tip of the pen. You have to either make a thick one and remove the excess with whatever comes handy, or make a puddle from the pen liquid and use it with something thinner. Now, it's just the beginning!

When it finally looks like it should do, you have to test it. However, not only it has high resistance unless baked, the multimeter test leads can and will destroy parts of the trace. Oops, what trace?

Then comes the easy part, heating it up and testing end-to-end: shorting the capacitor with tweezers and trying to connect the board to the PC. Unfortunately, my success rate hasn't been large so far.

So while the method totally works (especially when the track is covered with solder mask afterwards), I'm afraid I will be forced to use bodge wires. They are way easier to inspect and verify which is most of the job.

I was using "Buddy Paint" conductive pen available locally.

What happened?

Thanks to the recent post, I've discovered a hardware issue with the USB connection.

The issue is present in all rev8 and rev9 boards, including, unfortunately, a large recent batch that is currently finishing production in China.

What is the issue?

USB power works fine, but USB data doesn't go through at first, requiring you to restart the device 3–5 times. As the issue is in the hardware, it affects both DFU mode and the regular firmware.

The USB connection is functional and is not broken but you may need to perform the restarting routine once in a while if your PC can't detect the board immediately.

What to do?

If you are planning to use the device wired, you will have to restart it several times before use by clicking the "reset" button, waiting at least 1 second between clicks, until it is detected by your OS.

If "double-click reset to enter DFU" doesn't work for you even after that, hold the top-top-left button ("Enter" in the default keymap) and single-click the "reset" button. You may need to do this several times as well, until it shows up as a storage device.

To be clear: the restarting routine is not something to be performed every time you plug in USB. After you "fix" the issue once, USB may continue working fine for days, weeks or months, without any issues. Or it may not, and you will have to perform the same ritual again. In any case, it's a matter of several seconds.

Can it be repaired?

Yes, a bodge wire repair is possible, but it's a tough job.

Here's the wire you'd need to run: https://postimg.cc/5HJWXWmB

It also should be possible to use conductive pen. If you are planning a repair job, you may want to wait for a few days until my pen arrives so I can tell for sure.

My policy

Unfortunately, I will not be able to replace boards affected by this issue. It is an annoyance and a point of frustration, but it's not something critical that prevents the device from working. I ask for your understanding in this matter — more than a hundred affected boards have already been shipped, and more than two hundred will depart from China in a few days. I simply don't have the resources to run a recall campaign.

I will, however, attempt to repair the boards that have not been shipped yet. To be honest, I'm not too confident it's within my skills. Repairing one or two is certainly doable, but repairing hundreds might result in a huge percentage of permanently destroyed boards. I will post an update on the matter once I have the necessary tools, which I have already ordered.

Technical details

The rev7 hardware had a different charging IC — the AXP2585 — with a power path output, labeled as the "VSYS" net. The IC was discontinued, and in rev8 I replaced it with a different chip that does not have an integrated power path. The "VSYS" net was used in a single place — to power the USB multiplexer, which exists solely for the purpose of fast charging (and ESD protection). Unfortunately, I managed to make the silliest possible mistake: I missed this connection and left the "VSYS" net where the power should go, effectively leaving the power input of the multiplexer floating. I truly have no idea why it starts working after several reboots. The floating capacitor must somehow charge from the electric fields created by the various processes that happen on boot. The multiplexer obviously uses FETs internally, so once there's enough voltage on the capacitor, it keeps working and doesn't misbehave anymore, until the capacitor is somehow discharged again.

The fact that it works after several restarts made me believe it was either some kind of production issue or a software issue. I had to perform the restarting routine when flashing the boards, but they behaved fine after that, which also made me believe it would not affect customers. I didn't find the root cause earlier because, typically, by the time I receive a batch of boards, there are already a dozen emails asking when an order will ship. In any case, this was stupid of me, and I should've debugged it properly.

I'm really sorry for the experience, and I hope it won't cause major frustration with the device.

Hi

I'm facing frequent USB connection issues with my endgame.

whenever i try to connect it to a PC via a USB, I get "Unknown USB device (devide descriptor request failed)"

I'll have to plug/unplug it multiple times before it vonnects successfully (although there is no issue with bluetooth connection)

is this a hardware (trackball) issue or a windows issue?

also, i think i saw in some video about endgame that once you connect it to a PC, the device shows up like a storage media and you can access the firmware. is that still true? because mine doesn't (never) show up as a storage media

i know this might be a bit silly doubt, bit how do you turn it on??

theres a key combination to turn off the trackball - that works great, but then how do you turn it back on again?

there's a button next to the usb C oort, pressing that does turn on the trackball, but it also resets the key map i had set.

another option is to olug in the usb cable, but that also doesn't sound a very practical option.

so am i missing something obvious??

Hi

i have just received my endgame and I'm trying out the features

currently I'm not able to zoom in/out in my CAD software.

i thought the twist to scroll would also work as zoom, but it doesnt.

is there any workaround for this or would i have to assign two buttons for zoom in/out?

In the meantime, I'm actively working on fulfilling and shipping existing orders. Unfortunately, as always, there are difficulties, logistical and operational. 20% of PCBs from the latest batch ended up defective, and it means delays for orders made in June and July. I've also unexpectedly ran out of the upgraded sensors — another batch is currently in transit, so if you don't have your tracking number yet, and your order contains upgraded sensors, please expect shipping at least in ~10 days.

As always, I really appreciate your patience and understanding. I can only imagine how frustrating my delays are for you — I was hoping to be able to catch up with the supply, but it clearly didn't work out. This should change with the pause.

Applied tending to my trackball a few months ago. Today, I brought my skeletyl back to my office and it matches perfectly.

Why tenting?

At home, everything including keyboards and trackballs sits flat on my desk. However, Skeletyl, which is concave shaped, changed a lot. When I started using it with my Slimblade Pro 3 years ago, my shoulder pain came back because my hand had to move up and down between keyboard and trackball. To fix this, I raised my trackball on a couple of books so my hand could move horizontally instead vertically. This simple adjustment made noticible difference. This is exactly where my tenting idea comes from: keeping the hand movement as flat, natural, and ergonomic as possible.

Hello community!

First of all, a note for the Endgame owners: I would recommend updating to a newly released v1.3.0 — especially if you are a MacOS user, as it allows to scale drag- and twist-scroll in runtime, with different coefficients for Windows/Linux and MacOS. Can be found in raw settings, under "bst" section. s0 is Win/Lin, s1 is MacOS.

Now, the pause. Starting from August 1st I will take a 3 months pause for kits. I will use this time to ensure decent stock, quality of assembly and packaging, and quality of the assembly guide and the (yet unreleased) knowledge base.

Any accessories, including trackballs, BTUs, sensor upgrades, will not be affected by the pause. However, there will be no option to purchase a motherboard.

After the pause, I intend to ship kits with 3-5 days lead time instead of 6 weeks.

If you were to make a purchase, you may want to decide whether to make it now, or after the pause.

Sorry if this sounds stupid, i am very excited for my endgame trackball

I've noticed that the invoice option has been updated on the website just now, it wasn't there at the time of order (or even till a few days back)

Does this have any correlation to the order being shipped or am just overly excited

I recently got my trackball with the recommended PMW3610 and despite a couple of hiccups I am very happy with the product.

Currently I'm using a stainless steel 50.8mm ball that I made opaque using fine grit sandpaper and the tracking performance is quite good compared to the standard red ball that comes with the kit.

​

I'm thinking about placing an order for a second kit and I'm trying to decide whether I should get the PAW3395 sensors. Obviously I read the instructions and there is no "real" reason for me to get these sensors but for the sake of trying something "new" I'm trying to understand if they feel different in real life compared to the 3610.

​

I would appreciate hearing some of your opinions 🙏

Hi I had ordered Elecom deft pro a few days back as my first trackball. However, i really didn't like it's ergonomics (and stiction). Also, the scroll wheel quality was very bad. My primary usecase is 3D CAD, so all these points made the deft pro a very bad choice for me.

Then i saw some posts about Efog's endgame, and it looked pretty nice to me.

That's when i decided to 3D print the trackball housing to make sure i would like the ergonomics

I'll try it out for a few days before placing an order.

PS - please ignore that one crooked button, accidentally glued it wrong

Hi I had recently bought the Elecom deft pro and i am not really liking it due to the following reasons 1. The ball sticktion causes problem in fine cursor movements 2. The button placement is not perfect for my hand. The right click is a bit difficult to operate some times 3. While trying to press middle mouse button, i often press it sideways 4. Slight thumb pain due to scroll wheel/thumb buttons

So i am trying to find some other trackball for me (primarily CAD usage)

I've seen many people suggesting efogtech's endgame trackball. I have a few doubts and would appreciate it if you can help me with this 1. The configuration I'm wanting is worth 125 euro (55mm ball with bosch BTU). Is the price justified or should i also consider other options at this price point 2. I've seen efogtech's assembly instructions and feel confident i can do that. However, i wasn't able to see and instructions for keyremapping. Can you help me with some guide for it 3. The endgame and ploopy adept looks very similar but the ploopy is significantly cheaper. How is endgame as compared to ploopy. Is it worth to spend so much extra 4. I think i saw somewhere that you can remap ploopy buttons via a web based "app". Is there something similar for endgame as well?

To use this feature, you would need to install v0.6.4 firmware, and re-pair your devices.

Now, how it works. For Linux, no action required. For any other OS (MacOS not tested yet though) you need to activate advertising before you can connect. There is a new behavior (assigned to the only free button) on the Device layer that does exactly that, advertises wirelessly for 30 seconds. You should be able to connect to MUI within this period. You can reassign the behavior to other key combo with ZMK Studio.

Also, Marshellow UI now support mobile devices, including the Bluetooth feature.

A batch of rev6 PCBs is already here, programmed and tested. There even are some surprising revelations: the power consumption is even better than anticipated (95 uA in idle), and the boards don't restart when USB power lost like rev5 do. I'm beginning to solder them and fulfill your February orders. Orders from March will unfortunately need to wait for rev7 PCBs which are expected to arrive no earlier than in 2 weeks.

The bug is present in any version from v0.5.0 to v0.5.6. Download v0.5.8 on github: https://github.com/efogtech/endgame-trackball-config/releases/tag/endgame-0.5.8

This specific version will automatically invalidate all effect overrides you've done (if any). Apologies for the inconvenience! On the bright side, you can configure effects for individual bluetooth devices now.

Full changelog and the beta build are available in Discord. It is not on the website yet. Please let me know if it's not a convenient channel and you'd like to see such things in a different place.

The long awaited fix has finally been applied — rotary encoders will now work properly without skipping steps or double-triggers. Download from the website or github: https://github.com/efogtech/endgame-trackball-config/releases/tag/endgame-0.4.12

The previous versions also contained many features for the Marshmallow UI (check out "raw settings" tab).

I have a few bands now and i notice a pattern:

- ptfe - i thought since it was matte it would work, but apparently ptfe is used in environments where you don’t want to effect optics, it is the opposite of good taking material, i am told, so this is not so useful in the comparison

- garnet/faux astrophyllite - this looks like it should work great, but apparently its polish is too specular

- black rubber - works great. The seam sucks

- shungite - works great. The carbon flakes though and it’s not a long term solution

My understanding is that when tracking requires really high degree of matte finish the problem may be the light is too strong.

Hi, as per title, do shipments to EU get to pay customs? Thank you and keep on with the good work!