Tab5 Keyboard

The Keyboard class controls the Tab5 keyboard controller over I2C. It supports character input callbacks, raw key matrix events, keyboard mode configuration, backlight brightness, RGB LED settings, and I2C address management.

UiFlow2 Example

keyboard input

Open the tab5_keyboard_example.m5f2 project in UiFlow2.

This example reads character input from the Tab5 keyboard and appends it to a text area.

UiFlow2 Code Block:

Example output:

None

MicroPython Example

keyboard input

This example reads character input from the Tab5 keyboard and appends it to a text area.

MicroPython Code Block:

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 M5Stack Technology CO LTD
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import os, sys, io
import M5
from M5 import *
import m5ui
import lvgl as lv
from tab5 import Keyboard
from hardware import Pin
from hardware import SoftI2C


page0 = None
textarea0 = None
tab5_keyboard_0 = None


key_char = None


def tab5_keyboard_0_char_pressed_event(kb):
    global page0, textarea0, tab5_keyboard_0, key_char
    key_char = kb
    textarea0.add_text(str(key_char))


def setup():
    global page0, textarea0, tab5_keyboard_0, key_char

    M5.begin()
    Widgets.setRotation(3)
    m5ui.init()
    page0 = m5ui.M5Page(bg_c=0xFFFFFF)
    textarea0 = m5ui.M5TextArea(
        text="textarea0",
        placeholder="Placeholder...",
        x=0,
        y=0,
        w=1280,
        h=720,
        font=lv.font_montserrat_24,
        bg_c=0xFFFFFF,
        border_c=0xE0E0E0,
        text_c=0x212121,
        parent=page0,
    )

    softi2c_0 = SoftI2C(scl=Pin(1), sda=Pin(0), freq=100000)
    tab5_keyboard_0 = Keyboard(softi2c_0, 0x6D)
    tab5_keyboard_0.set_callback(tab5_keyboard_0_char_pressed_event)
    tab5_keyboard_0.set_keyboard_mode(tab5_keyboard_0.MODE_CHAR)
    page0.screen_load()
    textarea0.set_text("")


def loop():
    global page0, textarea0, tab5_keyboard_0, key_char
    M5.update()
    tab5_keyboard_0.tick()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    try:
        setup()
        while True:
            loop()
    except (Exception, KeyboardInterrupt) as e:
        try:
            m5ui.deinit()
            from utility import print_error_msg

            print_error_msg(e)
        except ImportError:
            print("please update to latest firmware")

Example output:

None

API

Keyboard

class tab5.keyboard.Keyboard(i2c, address=109)

Bases: object

Create a Tab5 keyboard controller object.

Parameters:

• i2c (I2C) – The I2C bus the Tab5 keyboard is connected to.

• address (int) – The I2C address of the keyboard controller. Default is 0x6D.

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

from tab5 import Keyboard
from hardware import Pin, SoftI2C

softi2c_0 = SoftI2C(scl=Pin(1), sda=Pin(0), freq=100000)
keyboard = Keyboard(softi2c_0, 0x6D)

available()

Check whether unread keyboard events are queued.

Returns:

True if the controller has pending events.

Return type:

bool

set_int_enable(mask)

Enable keyboard interrupt sources.

Parameters:

mask (int) – Interrupt mask composed from INT_NORMAL and INT_CHAR.

Return type:

None

get_int_status()

Get the current keyboard interrupt status.

Returns:

The latched interrupt status bits.

Return type:

int

clear_int()

Clear the current keyboard interrupt status.

Return type:

None

get_event_count()

Get the number of unread keyboard events.

Returns:

The number of queued events.

Return type:

int

set_brightness(brightness)

Set the keyboard backlight brightness.

Parameters:

brightness (int) – Brightness value in the range 0 to 255.

Return type:

None

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.set_brightness(20)

get_brightness()

Get the keyboard backlight brightness.

Returns:

The current brightness value.

Return type:

int

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.get_brightness()

set_keyboard_mode(mode)

Set the keyboard event mode.

Parameters:

mode (int) – Event mode such as MODE_NORMAL or MODE_CHAR.

Return type:

None

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.set_keyboard_mode(keyboard.MODE_CHAR)

get_keyboard_mode()

Get the current keyboard event mode.

Returns:

The current keyboard mode.

Return type:

int

set_rgb_mode(mode)

Set the RGB LED control mode.

Parameters:

mode (int) – RGB mode such as RGB_MODE_BOUND or RGB_MODE_CUSTOM.

Return type:

None

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.set_rgb_mode(keyboard.RGB_MODE_BOUND)

get_rgb_mode()

Get the RGB LED control mode.

Returns:

The current RGB mode.

Return type:

int

read_key_event()

Read one key matrix event.

Returns:

A tuple of (row, col, pressed) or None when no event is available.

Return type:

tuple | None

get_char_event_length()

Get the byte length of the queued character event.

Returns:

The length of the character payload.

Return type:

int

read_char_event()

Read one decoded character event.

Returns:

A tuple of (modifier, text) or None when no event is available.

Return type:

tuple | None

is_pressed()

Check whether the keyboard has pending input.

Returns:

True if unread input is available.

Return type:

bool

set_callback(handler)

Register the callback used by tick().

Parameters:

handler (callable) – Callback that receives the keyboard event payload.

MicroPython Code Block:

def on_keyboard(data):
    print(data)

keyboard.set_callback(on_keyboard)

tick()

Dispatch one pending keyboard event to the registered callback.

set_rgb_color(led_num, color)

Set the color of a keyboard RGB LED.

Parameters:

• led_num (int) – The LED index to update.

• color (int) – The 24-bit RGB color value.

Return type:

None

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.set_rgb_color(0, 0x6600CC)

get_rgb_color(led_num)

Get the color of a keyboard RGB LED.

Parameters:

led_num (int) – The LED index to read.

Returns:

The 24-bit RGB color value.

Return type:

int

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.get_rgb_color(0)

get_firmware_version()

Get the firmware version of the keyboard controller.

Returns:

The firmware version byte.

Return type:

int

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.get_firmware_version()

set_i2c_address(addr)

Set a new I2C address for the keyboard controller.

Parameters:

addr (int) – The new I2C address. Valid range is 0x08 to 0x77.

Returns:

The active I2C address after the update.

Return type:

int

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.set_i2c_address(0x6D)

get_i2c_address()

Get the current I2C address of the keyboard controller.

Returns:

The current I2C address.

Return type:

int

UiFlow2 Code Block:

MicroPython Code Block:

keyboard.get_i2c_address()