Hi guys. Sorry I've been quiet lately. Wanted to give you an update, as I think some of you were waiting for the keyboard and nothing new was here from my side.
So, things were a bit hard lately. I had a pretty busy time. Had to focus more on my work and family and had to put a lot of things on hold. There was also a huge change in tax rules last year in Poland (my home country). Generally impression was that event if I would finish the board I could not really sell it to anyone, or I would have to move to a different tax rate that would probably cost much more, than I could ever earn from sales.
Second part of the story is the case, which I have designed, but did not manage to find any workshop to produce it in reasonable price. Generally it's a bit hard to get any company out of China to talk with you if you don't have much experience in manufacturing and quoting thousands of parts. It got me a bit discouraged and dragged the project a bit more.
Things got a bit more positive last week, when I had a call with an accountant. It looks after "the dust has settled" that it wouldn't be that bad and I could actually sell the board without tax issues. Maybe we have all overreacted last year when tax rules changed.
To wrap this up: my idea right now is to run a last round of prototype for the PCB. Then, if everything is fine, I'll publish a small site/form to get a list of people that are interested in getting just the PCB, without the case (it's BM40 compatible, and I'll publish 2 or 3 3d printable cases I have designed for myself, so you might get some case to use it). For final version - with case, you'll need to wait a bit more. I'm not so good at mechanical engineering and finding workshop to build it.
I'm sorry if you we're waiting for the board and I know that it really takes ages from my side. I don't want to give you any false hopes, so I won't give you any specific date. This keyboard is still my main driver, and I use my prototypes every day. Hope I'll be able to share with you soon.