Will there be any geekhack community test runs before you move to crowd funding. Don't take this the wrong way acid fire, I seriously respect your work, I'm just a little sad that no prototypes ever went out and community feedback gathered. If you haven't noticed you now have members of geekhack mutilating ergo dox pcbs to improve it. People here are desperate for a ergodox successer, including myself though I want to keep my Keycaps and wrist rest.
Fear not, there are still plans for community feedback. I'm currently about halfway through designing what should be the final injection molded cases, which did require a bit of a tweak to the PCBs (already done). On the current 3D printer I have access to, it'd take about 2 days worth of time to print out all the parts, and since I'm using a machine without dissolvable support material, they'll be a bit rough in some spots. When I have a final, working prototype that I feel confident in, the selected beta testers will be notified and I'll begin printing & packing units to go out. While that is happening, the campaign will go up and when funding is complete (fingers crossed), the beta testers will be the first to get preproduction cases to test out (along with those who purchase at a particular reward level). I won't order a full run for the cases until I've received enough feedback from the beta units.
Key caps you should be able to keep without issue, tho the numbers are a bit different than an Ergodox:
22x 1.5u
62x 1u
I'm not sure how your wrist rest will fit (haven't checked the dimensions) but it should be pretty close.
Since I have recently discovered this awesome keyboard project, I have been searching through the posts, but have not caught any hint about how to program its layout - maybe I have missed it, and I am not experienced in keyboard creation.
Can I use the ergodox layout creator or would I have to write any layout file by myself?
Someone, if not AcidFire will probably have a layout creator ready to go by the time the keyboard is released.
Which reminds me. How close are we to lift off?
Neither, by the time the board is delivered to backers config software will have been written to make it easy to manage. We're currently looking at doing it in java as it seems to be the safest way to deliver cross platform but if there are other/better suggestions we're totally open to it. And of course with it being open source, I fully expect to see alternatives to what we provide as well
Question for when the kickstarter (crowdsupply?) goes up;
Will there be an option without keycaps, in case someone has a set they'd like to use instead?
Yup, they'll be a couple of DIY options. On some solid advice I've received, only the DIY kit will have the option to skip the keycaps during the CrowdSupply campaign and I plan to offer assembled versions without caps down the road.
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Now, onto the campaign launch. Currently I had targeted to have everything ready to go before the 15th of this month, however between the acrylic units being damaged and some very exciting developments with the case design, I'm pushing it back a bit with a projected launch date of July 1st.
So why is this new case design so important, you may ask? If everything continues along the path it's currently on, I should be able to offer all three configurations in the box, as well as keep the adjustability I've been aiming for all these months
As I hope you can imagine, this is exciting as it means no waiting for the extra designs, as well as reducing production costs & complications on our side.
And since I've been dropping hints here and there about something else we're working on, I have some equally exciting news. I've been in touch with the fine folks at Matias, and we're currently working on a Matias produced, Cherry MX compatible switch. The aim is to launch with equivalents to the Blue & Brown switch, with other options to follow shortly after. These switches have a couple of long standing community requests as well (can't say any more for the time being). This development leads to three more announcements:
1) Switch availabilityThese custom switches will be made available to the community at either Matias' current switch price or a little more (we're still looking to nail it down). For those of you who don't know, you can currently get Matias switches for about 200/$50
2) RGBWhile it won't be a part of the initial campaign (feature creep!), I'll be ordering these Matias switches in clear, allowing me to develop full RGB boards without having to worry about the Cherry MX versions.
3) PricingUnless something changes drastically, I'm looking at two price points.
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DIY - $170 -
Assembled - $200Yes, both of those include switches and laser etched keycaps
These are the prices the campaign will launch with, however the campaign price will also have the shipping cost built in ($20).
Lots more to come!