Ideazon Merc Gaming Keyboard

robgs - March 22, 2007

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Installation:

As there are no additional ports like audio or USB, the physical keyboard installation is simple as pie. Just plug in the USB connector to a spare USB port. The software installation turned out to be a different story though. If you just want the basic driver functions and will never be updating the software, use the install CD. I made the mistake of installing the software from the CD and found that the update feature didn’t work and the functionality was very basic. I went straight to the Ideazon website and downloaded the latest software, uninstalled the old version, and installed the newer version.

You may have noticed with other USB peripherals that you usually leave the item disconnected when you install the driver. The Merc, however, must be connected before attempting the install. Reading further on Ideazon’s website, I found that there is a known issue with installing the software with the keyboard disconnected and that they were working on the issue. It's nice to see that, at the very least, they are on top of it.

Once the new software was installed, I immediately noticed a change. There were more options in the drop down menus and most of the “mod” files on their website were now available for selection. Mod files are pre-configured keyboard maps, which I will explain in a little more detail in the next section.

The next thing to do is update the mod files. I noticed when I was on the Ideazon website that there are a total of 121 mod files and all of them are compatible with the Merc keyboard. Under the “Tools” menu, select “Check for Ideazon Mod/Device Updates”. This action opens an update window, and the ZEngine software starts communicating with the Ideazon website to find any updated mod files.

If it finds any updated mod files, they are shown in the list displayed in red or green text. Red signifies an “outdated” mod and green signifies a “new” mod. Put a check beside the mods you want to download and select “update”.

Action, role playing, and shooter are the three categories that the mod files are sorted by. The list doesn’t include all games, but has a very broad cross section of very mainstream games as well as some more specialized and obscure flavors.