New Shark's Wiki page - Unicomp Mini Model M!

[sharktastica]

I recently found some time to write a wiki page on my website regarding Unicomp's spiritual successor to the IBM Model M Space Saving Keyboard (SSK). Included are design details, some insight into its design history, the teething issues experienced, and plenty of photos inside and out.

What was fun about writing this wiki page was that due to the keyboard being a contemporary release with a relatively publicly visible development history (and my experience testing this keyboard before release), writing any historical related bits was a welcomed change compared to the stuff I usually write (for keyboards from the 70s, 80s and 90s where so much detail has been lost to time and anything that remains requires a lot of digging). One thing I made a point to get write was a section on the new membrane matrix Unicomp made for this keyboard - I've seen many people claim it's 6, 8 or even 10KRO but that's not the case, but it indeed has some benefits over the class Model M matrix.

The page: https://sharktastica.co.uk/wiki?id=unicompminim

Enjoy!

[metalchipmaker]

Cool keyboard. Thanks for sharing.

[ander]

The question is, will they ever be available again?

After the lengthy certification process for a new electronic device, Unicomp was able to sell only a relatively few Mini M's before a bunch of their parts disappeared on a lost ship (or something equally dramatic?). Then one of their key suppliers went out of business, right? They now seem so clueless about when or if they'll be able to resume making them, they've removed every mention of the Mini M from their website, as though it never existed—no news, no predictions, no nothing. 

[Pretendo]

Fantastic writeup!  High quality as ever!

As for availability, the Unicomp website is now claiming that they're fulfilling orders. The exact text is:

"PRODUCT UPDATE! It's back! New and revitalized! After several months of being without a controller, we now have a significant inventory of Mini M piece parts and we are ready to fulfill orders!"
https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/MINI_M

Good times!

[sharktastica]

The question is, will they ever be available again?

After the lengthy certification process for a new electronic device, Unicomp was able to sell only a relatively few Mini M's before a bunch of their parts disappeared on a lost ship (or something equally dramatic?). Then one of their key suppliers went out of business, right? They now seem so clueless about when or if they'll be able to resume making them, they've removed every mention of the Mini M from their website, as though it never existed—no news, no predictions, no nothing. 

On the 16th April, they relaunched. The latest issue was their previous controller chip went EOL and all but run out, so they had to replace all their USB controllers with new ones that use Raspberry Pi Picos. This means for the first time Unicomp controllers can be relatively easily flashed (just need to open the keyboard to press the BOOTSEL button when you connect the keyboard). They're already shipping them in the US. I've updated the wiki page itself with some of this new info (see Design > Controller) and will add photos of the new controller once it's in my hands.

[sharktastica]

Fantastic writeup!  High quality as ever!

Thanks!

[sharktastica]

Update: now that I have the controller in my hands, I've added photos of it to the page!