Thank you for the feedback and survey results. We're going to collectively address the constructive posts/suggestions here so far.
The Gap: As we said over on Deskthority, "We've discounted adding in spacing between the G H and B keys as we think that would feel unnatural to people who are used to standard spacing (not to mention, it would make two of the rows essentially ortholinear and would look odd as hell). However, other than making keys without cutouts for the trackpoint and of course printing the alternate functions (which may be moot as the keyboard is programmable) we're not going too far out there on making this so unique you can't mod it."
Switches: Cherry MX is the target at the moment.
Middle-button Fn: Noted, great idea. Will be implemented.
Layout, costs, LEDs: LEDs are the least cost prohibitive option, and surprisingly (so far) the majority of people want no backlight at all! We're going to include white LEDs that can be toggled in the final version of the XtaC 01, and we'll explore other options later (RGB is the minority and would bring some engineering issues when it comes to per-key lighting). As far as layout goes, it has been made abundantly clear that 60% is far and away the preferred layout.
USB 3.0/Feature creep: USB 3.0 was discussed at length and discounted due both to time, resource, and cost constraints, as well as our survey showing quite strongly that most folks prefer 2.0 or have no real preference. We discussed this at length earlier while tossing around the idea of a modular keyboard (see more below), and we're decided on having the XtaC 01 having a USB 2.0 hub and aren't looking at anything crazy just yet.
The XtaC 01 will be aiming at the enthusiast market, because that can help us launch into (hopefully!) a real brand. We have many ideas on what we would like the board to look like, and after reading feedback we're already seeing a lot of interest in some configurations we didn't anticipate (though our predicted majority was spot on). In particular, the mouse button crowd has been almost evenly split in our survey between regular keys and ThinkPad buttons. We also didn't anticipate the "M13" crowd, which wants buttons most similar to the Model M13, which feels the most "natural" when it comes to using a keyboard with a TrackPoint as a mouse over a traditional mouse. We're now modifying our design to explore modular button design, which means you will be able to swap out mechanical keys for ThinkPad buttons, or for an M13 button module.
There's been a lot of "we discussed"/"we would like to explore" talk above, and since the final design has not been created yet we cannot confirm what will be in the XtaC 01 definitely (yet), but the take-away from this post is the following:
- Cherry
- USB 2.0 Hub is the most likely inclusion in the XtaC 01
- The Mouse Buttons are most likely to be swappable in the XtaC 01, with options to "plug-n-play" mechanical keys and ThinkPad buttons for sure, and we would like to also include M13 buttons. Beyond that, there will be documentation on making your own button modules.
- 60% seems to be the current dominant layout preference.
Lastly, renders and prototypes, aka tangibles. At the risk of misrepresenting our progress, we can (with conservative estimates) announce that we have a site in the works that will launch with survey results in a fun little infographic, the current development status, and a prototype PCB design available for viewing by this weekend.
Please continue filling out the survey and let us know what you think, we're all ears!