Here's a little FAQ update!
Why is it so expensive/can you make it cheaper with cheaper materials/will you offer a cheaper version eventually?
Due to the cost of manufacturing, the quality of the materials, and usage of some unconventional parts, unfortunately we won’t be able to make it cheaper. We could theoretically use cheaper materials, but we will not at least for this version - we’re hoping for this to be of premium quality, durable and usable for years to come. As for eventually, maybe if this does well enough we can look into more accessible variations. Additionally, the board is going to be manufactured and assembled in the USA.
Can you do a color way in _?
The coating we’re using is cerakote which is extremely durable and has a very premium feel. We’re mainly trying to do the green colourway, the black also seems to exist already, but the white definitely needs to be created. This implies additional costs in terms of R&D and time.
Tenting/staggered/non-split/thumb clusters/hotswap?
We’re thinking about ways to tent, but as the design is right now it has rubber feet at the back to at least have a somewhat comfortable typing angle. Staggered is a no-go with this design, so are 2U keys of any kind. This is because it’ll use Kailh hotswap sockets, and it won’t have a plate so mounting stabs is pretty much impossible right now (in terms of space).
What firmware will it support?
It will use QMK; paired with something like AutoHotKey you could really romp around with this thing. The only downside is that it uses ARM microcontrollers, which cuts off a few of QMK’s features; this is a necessary sacrifice to have enough processing power to manage all the components on the board. We’re also happy to help you get your keyboard set up with your software of choice!
Can I just buy half?
Right now, we’re planning to sell both halves together.
Open source? (I wanna make my own case/source my own parts/buy everything but the case)
We’re hoping to eventually open source everything.
Trackballs are cool and all but I don’t see a scroll wheel or mouse buttons.
The OPERATOR is fully programmable, this means that the mouse buttons could be any key on the keyboard (6 and 7 are pretty well placed). For the scroll wheel the best options right now would either mouse3 and then drag or using the rotary encoders as vertical and horizontal scroll wheels, glide through those spreadsheets!
See you soon on the next update!
