Ok so, Gondo update again.
I have thoroughly checked with suppliers and fabs and as far as they can tell, all components but the MCUs are well available and easy to find.
The MCU itself is the problem. Due to the shortage, getting your hands on hundreds of those has gotten pretty difficult. My idea was to check with suppliers if any variant (*) was better available or cheaper, but it turns out all variants are highly priced, yet available, so I just decided to leave the PCB as it is.
This has been communicated to Jaxx.
If you guys just wanted the update, that is it. The PCB files are "good"-to-go (or at least as "good" as good gets) as they are in terms of availability and possible cheapest price attainable.
If you want more detailed information, read below.
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(*) Nerd timeAs of right now, the ARM MCUs QMK can confirmedly use are STM32:
- F072
- F103
- F303
- L072
- F411
- F401
- G431
- G474
- L433
- L443
Each of these having a plethora of sub-versions (pin number, packaging, thermal range, military use etc), some of them having up to eight sub-versions -- as you can imagine this makes choosing and sourcing them in multiple suppliers a logistic nightmare, specially so in this pandemic. I've spent the past three weeks talking to vendors and suppliers digging some version that would be available and cheap. Mind you, some of these models are a straigh out overkill for a keyboard PCB (floating point unit and high-resolution ADC in a keyboard kek) but hey, if they work, they work. As it turns out, pretty much all of them are triple- to quadruple- the normal price, so I decided to go with the cheapest one (F072) which the PCB already uses and, albeit the heightened price, can be obtained by the fabs in the hundreds. Some of them also require additional components to work (for instance USB pull-up or termination resistors, external EEPROM, crystal) which should not be expensive per se but will make the PCBs a couple dollars more expensive due to a more complicated design, additional parts, additional solder joints and so on.
The problem now resides in Jaxx's capability to, well, prototype and make the PCBs. The big problem is that GB prices considered normal pricing for the PCB, but that situation has changed due to the higher price for the PCB components and services -- effectively making Jaxx work with an income deficit there which is completely out of my power unfortunately. I have done everything in my power, as the PCB designer, to make this go forward.
I will take questions in my Discord PMs. Please be kind.