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geekhack Marketplace => Interest Checks => Topic started by: fjen on Tue, 21 July 2020, 15:51:55
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Update 9-6-20: The first FJ60BLX prototypes have officially been ordered! As promised, this design has been fully open-sourced under the TAPR Open Source Hardware license, available at https://github.com/FJLabs-Designs/FJ60BLX (https://github.com/FJLabs-Designs/FJ60BLX).
Update 8-31-20: There has been a recent shift in vendors for this project. The search is still on for a Canada vendor. DailyClack will be the vendor for the Australia region. The current list of planned vendors is:
- BolsaKeyboardSupply - USA
- ??? - Canada
- CandyKeys - EU
- ILUMKB - Asia
- DailyClack - Aus/NZ
Prototypes are expected to be ordered on Friday and should arrive in 2 weeks!
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Update 8-27-20: An additional right-shift layout has been added by popular request. The added layout is a 1.75U - 1U - 1U right shift found on the DZ60. The Layout section has been updated to reflect this change.
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Update 8-26-20: AuraMech has been dropped as the Canada vendor due to being not responding over email. Further vendors for CA are being considered including DeskHero.
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Update 8-20-20: Lots of updates, more than could comfortably fit in a field here. See the latest email campaign for vendor and pricing discussion!
Week #5 Email Updates (https://mailchi.mp/e29c69491f7c/fj60blx-week-2-updates-5165133?e=)
Also, JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/E2ppWcW (https://discord.gg/E2ppWcW)
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Update 8-18-20: Additional vendors have been confirmed. So far, the current list of vendors are:
- BolsaKeyboards (USA)
- CandyKeys (EU)
AuraMech (CA)- ILUMKB (SEA)
Are there any other regions where people would like vendors?
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Update 8-17-20: Due to major incompatibility with the Bluetooth module placement, split spacebar support has been dropped from the roadmap. More information on this drop can be found at https://trello.com/c/N1pHo1tz (https://trello.com/c/N1pHo1tz).
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Update 8-15-20: Sorry for not having more continuous updates. Most have been concentrated to the email mailing list. Currently, I'm seeking out vendors in the SEA/Asia and Australia region. Vendors have been secured for USA/CA/EU.
Update 8-2-20: Rotary encoder support is unfortunately dropped due to major switch incompatibilities that have no known workaround. See https://trello.com/c/KpxomgQf (https://trello.com/c/KpxomgQf) for the full information
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Update 7-27-20: Currently working on adding Rotary Encoder support to the top right key [only for split backspace layout]. Would love to hear if you want it in any other locations [top-left where the tilde would be is a no-go since it interferes with the USB connector]!
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Update 7-22-20: You can follow development tasks and progress here: https://trello.com/b/xgmCQhar (https://trello.com/b/xgmCQhar)
Sign up for the email mailing list: http://eepurl.com/g-V2Dz (http://eepurl.com/g-V2Dz)
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This is the same Interest Check as the Reddit thread from last week here https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/htbuut/ic_fj60blx_pcb_60_ble_vanilla_qmk_usbc_perkey/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/htbuut/ic_fj60blx_pcb_60_ble_vanilla_qmk_usbc_perkey/). Thought I would post it here too to cover this community. Please don't fill it out again if you already filled the Reddit IC!
RENDERS: https://imgur.com/a/faD7giL (https://imgur.com/a/faD7giL) MORE RENDERS ATTACHED
FORM: https://forms.gle/m3GBG16UYqTPLPiR9 (https://forms.gle/m3GBG16UYqTPLPiR9)
Note that the renders do not show most components. Actual PCB will have components soldered. Silkscreen not finalized. Sorry if these renders suck, still learning Fusion 360 rendering. Switches are currently north-facingdepending on response, this may change.
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I'm working on a new PCB that combines a bunch of features I've seen on PCB's individually but never together in one package for some reason.
Layouts Supported:
- Standard 60% Layout
- 64-Key 60% Layout
- Stepped caps option on either Standard or 64 Key Layout
- Split Backspace
- Tsangan Style Right Shift
[attach=4]
Features:
Rotary Encoder w/ Push Button support! - Dropped due to incompatibility issues. - Full BLE support using the MDBT40 chipset
- Full QMK and VIA support [VIA over USB only]
- Using the vanilla QMK firmware, not some custom closed source version
- Using the AT90USB646 Microcontroller w/ 64KB Flash, so plenty of room to enable more advanced QMK features
- Single-color backlit keys [north facing for shine-through keycaps!]
1216 fully individually addressable RGB underglow LED's using the WS2813 Mini LED's Exact number undecided just yet. Depends on price.- 24 Underglow RGB LED's using the SK6805Mini LED's for more even color.
- Extra header available for inclusion of additional RGB strip
- USB ESD Protection
- Battery over-current, over-discharge, under-voltage protection [super rare to find]
- Option for both through-hole and SMD per-key LED's available
- USB-C connector
- Fully tray-mount compatible, supporting universal 60% cases [Tofu, 5 Degree, etc...]
- On/Off Battery Shutoff switch
- JST PH 2.0 Connector for battery
- Fully hackable with schematic and pinouts posted to GitHub before production.
- SWD pads will be left available to also hack the onboard ARM Cortex M0 of the MDBT40 if desired.
Versions:
Three Two versions of this board may be offered depending on traction:
- Fully Soldered with SMD diodes and per-key LED's pre-soldered
- Only SMD diodes with per-key SMD LED's not soldered, but pads and through-holes available
Bare PCB, with everything except diodes and LED's soldered. SMD pads and through-holes available for both.
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Miscellaneous Notes:
For full transparency, I'm aiming to sell this board near or at cost of manufacturing, instead of making a profit. Thus, prices will fluctuate depending on the actual volume and shipping cost to destination. Asking about the price, so I can know if market price will be able to meet the cost of manufacturing. I'm open to international shipping, but pricing would be at exact cost to buyer.
I'll be open-sourcing the original Eagle files, Gerber files, and BOM at the start of a group-buy process, without any licensing restrictions [except change the name] so other people can also do runs of this board if they want.[/list][/list]
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ISO Enter support is currently being worked on due to enough interest! As well, Split Backspace has been successfully added and will be featured in a future email update! Stay tuned for next week's email updates for a summary of these changes!
ISO Enter will be a separate version of the PCB. This is due to spacing conflicts between ISO and ANSI stabilizers and SMD LED pads. See the attached image, for an example of PCB mount stablizer holes contacting the area that would be for the ISO SMD LED's. There is currently no workaround for this problem, other than omitting an SMD LED for this area, leading to an inconsistent board, or producing a completely separate version.
To prevent inconsistency and to ensure the best experience for everyone, I've decided to go with the latter. Due to a much lower demand for ISO, the ISO version would be more expensive. Exact pricing is currenlty unknown and will depend on demand.
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Not for me right now, because I would need some HHKB layout support, but good luck with this. We need some more QMK enabled bluetooth PCBs!
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I would prefer south facing LED's
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I wouldn't mind grabbing one of these for my Klippe. Just wish I could find a nicer plate to use with arrow keys than the KBD fans one. I may just get a Mechanisk plate and run a standard 60% layout. The PCB is definitely looking great and is feature packed.
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I wouldn't mind grabbing one of these for my Klippe. Just wish I could find a nicer plate to use with arrow keys than the KBD fans one. I may just get a Mechanisk plate and run a standard 60% layout. The PCB is definitely looking great and is feature packed.
Glad to hear! Yea I haven't been able to find many plates that support the 1U arrow cluster layout. I've resorted to CNC cutting my own, since that's the only real layout I will actually use.
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I wonder why this thread has so little comments; I would be very interested in picking one (or two) of these up.
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I wonder why this thread has so little comments; I would be very interested in picking one (or two) of these up.
HAHA not sure either. Probably since it was a duplicate of a Reddit IC, which had a solid amount of interest. I primarily use Reddit, so I posted there first... ―\_( ͡❛ ⏥ ͡❛)_/―
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Wow!
2u left shift, split backspace!
P.s. mill max socket 0305 support? Or only 7305?
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Would love to see an SEA vendor like iLumkb on the planned list.
Loving the flexible layout options.
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Wow!
2u left shift, split backspace!
P.s. mill max socket 0305 support? Or only 7305?
Good question, 0305 and 7305 are both going to be supported. However, if I do end up offering factory soldered Mill-Max, it will almost certainly be 7305.
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Would love to see an SEA vendor like iLumkb on the planned list.
Loving the flexible layout options.
Planning on getting an Asia vendor! It's still in the works though, so far, only established US/CA/EU ones. Don't worry though, vendors are being actively worked on!
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Planning on getting an Asia vendor! It's still in the works though, so far, only established US/CA/EU ones. Don't worry though, vendors are being actively worked on!
[/quote]
Awesome! If you add split spacebars, or even if not, sign me up :thumb:
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Awesome! If you add split spacebars, or even if not, sign me up :thumb:
Just wanted to be transparent here, split spacebar has been on the roadmap for some time now actually. Unfortunately, I was reevaluating support for the various split spacebar layouts, and I realized major incompatibility issues that basically rendered the layouts impossible with the current Bluetooth implementation, and still maintaining support for universal tray-mount cases like the 5Degree and Tofu.
I've added more information to the Trello Card on this topic: https://trello.com/c/N1pHo1tz (https://trello.com/c/N1pHo1tz).
Was pretty sad this one had to go. It seemed like a fairly frequently requested feature. :-[
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Read, understand your reasons, and do agree that compatibility with common cases is a major priority.
That matters to me too.
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[Deleted]
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Awesome to see ilumkb is now on the vendor list!
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Awesome to see ilumkb is now on the vendor list!
😊 Glad to have them on board! Backup vendors are still in consideration on the rare chance that ILUMKB falls off.
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New renders galore:
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
[attachimg=3]
Also, new pricing updates in a pretty detailed post linked on the top!
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Great job so far. It's nice to have a potential new USB-C&Bluetooth option for my Tofu60.
I have questions about the battery though. What is this designed for? Like what operating voltage from the battery?
I can't tell from the renders, but does the board support rechargeable batteries and if so does it have usb charging built in?
e: Sorry I just read the mailchimp update that mentions the battery charging, but my question about the batteries' operating voltage still stands. I'm assuming it's designed for a 3.7v li-ion or lithium polymer.
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Great job so far. It's nice to have a potential new USB-C&Bluetooth option for my Tofu60.
I have questions about the battery though. What is this designed for? Like what operating voltage from the battery?
I can't tell from the renders, but does the board support rechargeable batteries and if so does it have usb charging built in?
e: Sorry I just read the mailchimp update that mentions the battery charging, but my question about the batteries' operating voltage still stands. I'm assuming it's designed for a 3.7v li-ion or lithium polymer.
The board is designed for standard single-cell 3.7V Li-Ion batteries. Most Bluetooth keyboards like the Anne Pro 2 end up using these. See the attachment for an example battery.
[attach=1]
The board has charging built-in already and uses a standard JST PH 2.0 connector with the V+ being on the right-hand pin, viewed from the top (standard with keyboards, I believe). Exact battery capacity and dimensions, however, are extremely case specific, with some cases fitting much bigger batteries than others.
While I specifically intended this board to be used with these types of single-cell Li-Po's, I see no reason why another 3.7V (4.2V_max) Lithium Ion battery like an 18650 wouldn't work. Why you would, I have no clue, but it's compatible. Anything higher than 4.2V (i.e., 2C+ batteries) are not supported.
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Sorry for the my confusion but for the Per Key Lighting are the SMDs a preset single colour (So for example you would just order one colour) or are they addressable/changeable? Plus would it be possible solder my own RGB SMDs onto the PCB. I apologize as I am not super familiar with SMDs on PCBS. Regardless I am interested.
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Sorry for the my confusion but for the Per Key Lighting are the SMDs a preset single colour (So for example you would just order one colour) or are they addressable/changeable? Plus would it be possible solder my own RGB SMDs onto the PCB. I apologize as I am not super familiar with SMDs on PCBS. Regardless I am interested.
Good question, per-key SMD is pretty rare to find, so it's understandable there is some confusion. This per-key is designed to be single-color only. There will be a version of the board with white LED's pre-soldered, but you can buy a bare PCB and solder any color SMD LED you would like. However, RGB LED's are not supported except for under-glow.
This board (all versions) support both through-hole (like most PCB's] and SMD 0805 LED's. Note that only one of those can be used at the same time.
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Those renders look beautiful, love the silkscreen art :thumb:
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New layout update has been posted!
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Prototypes have officially been ordered! The design has been fully open sourced at https://github.com/FJLabs-Designs/FJ60BLX!
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Very cool, sadly no HHKB layout support. Hope there will be a version with it in the future.
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Very cool, sadly no HHKB layout support. Hope there will be a version with it in the future.
Unfortunately, not on this version though it was heavily requested. There were major incompatibilities due to having surface mount LED's.
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Prototypes have officially been ordered! The design has been fully open sourced at https://github.com/FJLabs-Designs/FJ60BLX!
This is great news! I'm excited. I'm probably going to get 3 and stick at least one in the Saturn-60.
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Prototypes have officially been ordered! The design has been fully open sourced at https://github.com/FJLabs-Designs/FJ60BLX!
This is great news! I'm excited. I'm probably going to get 3 and stick at least one in the Saturn-60.
Man that Saturn-60 looks like an absolute unit. Would be sick.
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What is the latest on this very interesting PCB?
Would love to have a board with 24 underglow LEDS.
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There was a bit of a setback, partially related to the LED's actually, but it's still in development and back on track.
Come join the Discord if you're interested! https://discord.gg/E2ppWcW
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Is this project dead? I don't use discord.
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Is this project dead? I don't use discord.
"Dead" is a bit of a strong word, development has been temporarily suspended. Likely the board will be completely redone with some new knowledge I gained along the way and hopefully will be better.
No timeline as of now, it's a bit of a low priority, since it kind of started as more of a PoC. If I were to give a conservative estimate, release will probably be around early next year? I know it's a bit of a wait.