Boards · Akko

Akko 5108 V5 keyboard software

sharkfin identifies and reads the Akko 5108 V5. Free and open source. Use it in a Chromium browser with nothing to install, or download the desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux. Either way it runs entirely on your own machine: no account, and the browser version makes no network requests once the page has loaded.

4 revisions of the 5108 V5 ship under this name. They are on different controllers, so they are genuinely different hardware and not just a firmware bump. sharkfin does not ask you which one you have: the board reports its own device ID when it is plugged in, and the right command set follows from that.

What sharkfin does with the 5108 V5

  • Command set not on file. sharkfin asks the board which one it speaks when it is plugged in, and writes once you allow it. A board that cannot say stays read-only.
  • Setup. The app's Setup page allows changes and checks them one by one: keys, lighting, profiles, one remap. Your answers keep the board working on your computer, and the report they produce, sent from the Contribute tab, is how it gets an entry for everyone. See Setup.

sharkfin draws the 5108 V5 key by key, so you remap on a picture of your own board. That applies to the revisions marked drawn below; the rest show a slot grid. The picture sharkfin has for the 5108 V5 knows the board's shape but not yet which internal slot each key lives in, so the first connection includes a check: the drawing is matched against the keymap your own board reports, you confirm it once, and from then on you remap on the picture. Until then the app shows a plain grid. The check exists because two boards can share one picture and still disagree about which slot a key lives in, and a wrong guess would send a remap to the wrong key. sharkfin trusts your keyboard over its own files.

5108 V5 at a glance

BrandAkko
Model5108 V5
USB ID3151:5002, 3151:504c, 38ee:0005
Device ID3285, 3405, 3543, 3739
Protocol familyunknown
Settings writableafter the board answers, once you allow it
Drawn layoutvaries by revision
Onboard profiles4

A protocol family of “unknown” means the command set is not on file for this revision. sharkfin asks the board when it is plugged in and writes once you allow it; a board that cannot say stays read-only.

Connecting

Plug the 5108 V5 in with a USB cable. Over a 2.4 GHz receiver sharkfin reads whatever the receiver relays: some carry the settings channel, some carry nothing, and the same model ships with both, so plug the receiver in and the app says which yours is. Writes need the cable. Bluetooth has no settings channel. Settings are stored on the keyboard itself, so everything you change keeps working wirelessly once you unplug. sharkfin never flashes firmware. On Linux, the AppImage and the browser build need a one-line udev rule before they can open the keyboard; the .deb and .rpm install it. And if you are hunting for a polling-rate or report-rate setting: there is none in sharkfin, because this hardware does not expose one.

If the 5108 V5 stops responding

It happens: the firmware stops answering and the app says the board needs a replug. Typing keeps working the whole time. In order:

  1. Close sharkfin, or the browser tab. While either is open it keeps trying to reach the board.
  2. Unplug the cable, wait ten seconds, plug it back in. The board needs to lose power, not just reconnect.
  3. Fn + Home turns the lighting back on if the backlight looks dead.
  4. Fn + Esc, held for about three seconds, resets the board's settings.

None of this touches firmware; nothing here can leave the 5108 V5 unusable.

5108 V5 revisions

Device IDUSB IDControllerFamily WritableLayout
32853151:5002yc3123_5108v5_socunknownasks the boarddrawn
34053151:504cry6609_akko_5108s_v5_3m_8k_8kunknownasks the boardafter a one-time check
354338ee:0005ry6602_akko_5108_v5_3m_1k_1kunknownasks the boardafter a one-time check
37393151:504cry6609_akko_5108s_v5_3m_8k_8kunknownasks the boardafter a one-time check