Phantom Custom Keyboard Group Buy (CLOSED)

[tsangan]

If it doesn't lock down I can live with my left window key being a Fn key so I can access the tenkeypad with the right hand

[hazeluff]

If it doesn't lock down I can live with my left window key being a Fn key so I can access the tenkeypad with the right hand

Should be possible.

Just thinking about the numlock on keyboards. I believe that it's a signal transmitted to the keyboard. Since If i plug a 2nd keyboard in it knows whether certain locks are done. Does anyone know?

[bpiphany]

If there are unused pins.

I don't think there are any usable pins left on the Teensy. The actual microcontroller, ATmega32U4, is listed as 26 IO-pins (I think) but pjrc says the Teensy only has 25, and they are all used.

[hazeluff]

I don't think there are any usable pins left on the Teensy. The actual microcontroller, ATmega32U4, is listed as 26 IO-pins (I think) but pjrc says the Teensy only has 25, and they are all used.

Bummer, maybe should use my electronics saviness to have 2 LEDs work on one pin @_@. Or just give up one of the lights.

[tsangan]

I can't decide now if I want my 2nd phantom to be PHANSI or PHANSIWIN

Stupid hazeluff making a awesome layout and now I need to buy 2 of these ;<

[dorkvader]

Bummer, maybe should use my electronics saviness to have 2 LEDs work on one pin @_@. Or just give up one of the lights.

Only if you want both to be on at the same time. If you want to control both LED's independently from one pin, you'd have to use it to send some sort of digital signal to a decoder chip, which would turn the proper LED on or off. In short: It's possible, but not without extra circuitry.

Hmm, how much is a phantom, maybe I'll get two.... No! I must save up for the ergodox!

[F u r u y á]

if only teensy had at least one free interface (I2C or SPI)... we could do lots of things with it using that idea (comunicate to extra circuitry to do many things!)

[hazeluff]

Only if you want both to be on at the same time. If you want to control both LED's independently from one pin, you'd have to use it to send some sort of digital signal to a decoder chip, which would turn the proper LED on or off. In short: It's possible, but not without extra circuitry.

Hmm, how much is a phantom, maybe I'll get two.... No! I must save up for the ergodox!

My phantom turned out to be like ~$130 for all the bits I think (on my order email).

Hmm I can do 4 LEDs if I use the 2 LED pins and run them into a DeMultiplexer and by changing changing the values really fast (kind of like how we use PWM to control brightness)...

if only teensy had at least one free interface (I2C or SPI)... we could do lots of things with it using that idea (comunicate to extra circuitry to do many things!)

you can do I2C and SPI but you'd need to write out how that interface works yourself. There may also be libraries around.

[TheProfosist]

Well im still looking for someone to translate my layout into firmware as im not great in that area. Some queues should be able to be taken from hazu's firmware.

[hazeluff]

Well im still looking for someone to translate my layout into firmware as im not great in that area. Some queues should be able to be taken from hazu's firmware.

I could for you, but I would rather have my teensy and be able to debug on hardware.

I've had a look at it and I get the jists of it, but I would like to have like something solid to explain what everything is and what the protocols are.

[TheProfosist]

I could for you, but I would rather have my teensy and be able to debug on hardware.

I've had a look at it and I get the jists of it, but I would like to have like something solid to explain what everything is and what the protocols are.

DOX, hazu, and ishotob should know something i knowishtob said he could modify hazu's firmware for the DOX to my DOX layout which would be similar what would be different would be applying it to the Phantom PCB so the backend would point to different locations I believe.

[hazeluff]

DOX, hazu, and ishotob should know something i knowishtob said he could modify hazu's firmware for the DOX to my DOX layout which would be similar what would be different would be applying it to the Phantom PCB so the backend would point to different locations I believe.

I just spent the last 10-20 minutes reading over the Firmware code. I get it 100%. = D Should be able to change it quite easily. Has someone written up firmware yet for a Phantom?

Also what's this about an emulator, if someone could just quickly share that to me, I could mess around and maybe write up a template for all (If it hasn't been).

[hashbaz]

I'm also planning to do custom firmware stuff.  I'll be happy to help others out with questions, or possibly even coding requests, in the future.

[litster]

Phantom firmware source code.

[TheProfosist]

Phantom firmware source code.

Thanks much!

[litster]

Only 3 days left!!!!

[7bit]

Only 3 days left!!!!

Yes, and we still need more orders!!!!

Code: [Select]


TEENSY           |  1|   18|Teensy controller
PHANTOM          |  1|   35|Phantom PCB
PHANSI           |  1|   15|mount plate ANSI
PHANSIWIN        |  1|   15|mount plate ANSI with WIN keys
PHISO            |  1|   15|mount plate ISO
PHISOWIN         |  1|   15|mount plate ISO  with WIN keys
PH7BIT           |  1|   15|mount plate 7BIT
MXRED            |  1|  0.6|MX red   plate mount switch (0.45 EUR)
MXBLUE           |  1|  0.8|MX blue  plate mount switch (0.6  EUR)
MXBROWN          |  1|  0.6|MX brown plate mount switch (0.45 EUR)
MXCLEAR          |  1|  0.6|MX clear plate mount switch (0.45 EUR)
MXBLACK          |  1|  0.8|MX black plate mount switch (0.6  EUR)
MXGREEN          |  1|  0.8|MX green plate mount switch (0.6  EUR)
MXGREY           |  1|  0.8|MX grey  plate mount switch (0.6  EUR)
MXDARKGREY       |  1|  1  |MX grey  plate mount switch (0.8  EUR)
DIODE            |  1| 0.01|n-key rollover diode
RESISTOR         |  2|  0.1|Resistor
STAB200          |  1|  2.5|Costar 2    units stabiliser
STAB625          |  1| 2.75|Costar 6.25 units stabiliser
STAB700          |  1|    3|Costar 7    units stabiliser
PHANTOMFUN       |  1|    2|Phantom function key
PHANTOMMOD100    |  1|    2|Phantom 1    unit  modifier key
PHANTOMMOD125    |  1|    2|Phantom 1.25 units modifier key
PHANSIREDKIT     |  1|  142|Teensy/PCB/ANSI plate/MX red   with stabs
PHANSICLEARKIT   |  1|  142|Teensy/PCB/ANSI plate/MX clear with stabs
PHANSIBLACKKIT   |  1|  162|Teensy/PCB/ANSI plate/MX black with stabs
PHANSIBLUEKIT    |  1|  162|Teensy/PCB/ANSI plate/MX blue  with stabs
PHANSIBROWNKIT   |  1|  142|Teensy/PCB/ANSI plate/MX brown with stabs
PHISOREDKIT      |  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ISO  plate/MX red   with stabs
PHISOCLEARKIT    |  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ISO  plate/MX clear with stabs
PHISOBLACKKIT    |  1|  160|Teensy/PCB/ISO  plate/MX black with stabs
PHISOBLUEKIT     |  1|  160|Teensy/PCB/ISO  plate/MX blue  with stabs
PHISOBROWNKIT    |  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ISO  plate/MX brown with stabs
PHANSIWINREDKIT  |  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ANSI Win plate/MX red   with stabs
PHANSIWINCLEARKIT|  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ANSI Win plate/MX clear with stabs
PHANSIWINBLACKKIT|  1|  160|Teensy/PCB/ANSI Win plate/MX black with stabs
PHANSIWINBLUEKIT |  1|  160|Teensy/PCB/ANSI Win plate/MX blue  with stabs
PHANSIWINBROWNKIT|  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ANSI Win plate/MX brown with stabs
PHISOWINREDKIT   |  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ISO  Win plate/MX red   with stabs
PHISOWINCLEARKIT |  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ISO  Win plate/MX clear with stabs
PHISOWINBLACKKIT |  1|  160|Teensy/PCB/ISO  Win plate/MX black with stabs
PHISOWINBLUEKIT  |  1|  160|Teensy/PCB/ISO  Win plate/MX blue  with stabs
PHISOWINBROWNKIT |  1|  140|Teensy/PCB/ISO  Win plate/MX brown with stabs


Code: [Select]

PHANTOM.........74
TEENSY..........79
PH7BIT..........11
PHANSI..........27
PHANSIWIN.......17
PHISO............5
PHISOWIN.........7
DIODE.........7230
MXBLACK........280
MXBLUE.........794
MXBROWN.......1428
MXCLEAR.......4045
MXGREEN........329
MXGREY.........417
MXRED.........3186
RESISTOR........21
STAB200........221
STAB625.........23
STAB700.........43


[Zehkul]

4000 MX Clear? What the ... ?

[laden3]

stupid question... what are the resistors for? it is too long and I am too lazy to read every thread...

[slueth]

maybe its for the leds to make them less bright, not sure.

[bpiphany]

Resistors are needed for most LEDs. There are LEDs with internal resistors, but the range of colors and other properties is not as great as with general LEDs. The resistance needed is dependent of the specific LED. So there is really no reason to get resistors.  LEDs and fitting resistors will be included in the kits. If you want to use other LEDs, you will be best of buying your own resistors anyhow. Resistors+LEDs would perhaps have been a more appropriate item. I donn't really know the reason they were put on the item list to start with, perhaps litster can explain =)

[7bit]

Always wondered about the resistors, so I throw them out.

[Autolyze]

A few last minute questions:

Do we have to source our own LEDs now? I don't see them on the order list anymore. What if we're having alaricljs or someone do the soldering?

If we want our stuff shipped to someone for the soldering service, is there a way that we should indicate that in our orders? I noticed that "SOLDERING" is no longer an order option.

litster, will those acrylic cases be available for the 7bit layout? How about ANSI-Win with the combined arrow-home cluster setup?

[hazeluff]

stupid question... what are the resistors for? it is too long and I am too lazy to read every thread...

The correct answer is, so the LED doesn't burn out.

The LED usually work at a voltage lower than the power supply, thus we need the resistor to drop the voltage.

[bpiphany]

I think litster decided there will be 2 white LEDs and matching resistors included in the sets. Those 4 components could possibly replace the resistor item. That is replace RESISTOR with LEDKIT. But that isn't really up to me to decide.

[hazeluff]

A few last minute questions:

Do we have to source our own LEDs now? I don't see them on the order list anymore. What if we're having alaricljs or someone do the soldering?

If we want our stuff shipped to someone for the soldering service, is there a way that we should indicate that in our orders? I noticed that "SOLDERING" is no longer an order option.

litster, will those acrylic cases be available for the 7bit layout? How about ANSI-Win with the combined arrow-home cluster setup?

I don't think litster planned on doing a 7bit layout case. But so far there's you, tsangan and me who are interested in it. Maybe if we get enough people it can be part of the GB for cases.

[F u r u y á]

you can do I2C and SPI

How if there are no pins availabe?

[Autolyze]

Hmm.... Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm a little tempted to do the soldering for this myself. I have absolutely no experience with soldering and I'd have to buy the soldering iron and whatnot, which would be more expensive than having someone do the soldering for me, but I feel like it would be a good/painful bonding experience for me and my Phantom.

Is there anything in particular I should be aware of when planning this? I shouldn't need to pick up a second PCB in case of supremely screwing up the soldering, should I?

[hazeluff]

How if there are no pins availabe?

Oh well you're screwed. I didn't speicifically thought of how many pins there are, I just meant that you could do it with the teensy.

Tho you can still do stuff with the two LED pins. Might not be I2C/SPI.

[F u r u y á]

Oh well you're screwed. I didn't speicifically thought of how many pins there are, I just meant that you could do it with the teensy.

Tho you can still do stuff with the two LED pins. Might not be I2C/SPI.

But that's the point I'm saying, with Teensy+Phantom you can't (no pins available)!

Yes some stuff can be done with the two LED pins but just simple or not too complex stuff.

[hazeluff]

But that's the point I'm saying, with Teensy+Phantom you can't (no pins available)!

Yes some stuff can be done with the two LED pins but just simple or not too complex stuff.

You'll need some external parts. But like simply we could use a Demux that's like having 4 pins instead of 2. Or if you get something that does timing/FSM, you can get a variety of functions.

I have no experience with I2C and SPI, but I had a look at I2C and it's a 2 wire bus. So if you make the teensy the master and have some externals for slaves, you can give up the LED pins and implement the LEDs on the slaves?

We can actually implement anything we wanted from 1 or 2 pins by using time as a dimension. Say we needed 4 pins "0110". We just use one pin and output "0" -> "1" -> "1" -> "0" and have another circuit interpret it. But I'm just speculating theory. Its probably not worth the time.

[F u r u y á]

Oh right, I2C only two pins! Completely forgot about that. So all we need is take some I2C implementation (unless you're willing to implement by yourself) and an extra circuitry then we can do almost anything!

Yeah, it's possible but it would take a lot of work (that's why I was willing to use well known serial protocols).

[hazeluff]

Hmm.... Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm a little tempted to do the soldering for this myself. I have absolutely no experience with soldering and I'd have to buy the soldering iron and whatnot, which would be more expensive than having someone do the soldering for me, but I feel like it would be a good/painful bonding experience for me and my Phantom.

Is there anything in particular I should be aware of when planning this? I shouldn't need to pick up a second PCB in case of supremely screwing up the soldering, should I?

There are some really cheap soldering irons (no temp display, cheap stand).

As for screwing up, If you're really worried, go buy a veraboard (its like a PCB with tons of holes and copper strips across it) and you can just try soldering wires/resistors to it. Its not hard so a bit of practice to familiarize will be all the learning you need.

Oh right, I2C only two pins! Completely forgot about that. So all we need is take some I2C implementation (unless you're willing to implement by yourself) and an extra circuitry then we can do almost anything!

Yeah, it's possible but it would take a lot of work (that's why I was willing to use well known serial protocols).

The protocol seems quite simple. But how much do people need to implement?

[F u r u y á]

The problem is how to validate your implementation. For us who fortunately have easy access to oscilloscopes it's easy to do, but why bother when there's plenty of implementations out there? Still, in order to validate those I think the only way is to verify the output signals in a osciloscope.

[mkawa]

it seems like the problem is actually fitting more stuff on the board. the board layout is final at this point, so you could need to jam this stuff in on a daughterboard or free-floating

i suspect it would be wiser to just use a teensy++ on rev.2 of the board.

the firmware is pretty straightforward, btw.

[litster]

Wow!  So many replies since I went to bed!

LEDs:  Each PCB order will come with 2 LEDs and 2 resistors, no need to order separately unless you don't like white LEDs.  If you don't like white LEDs, you are getting it anyway, :-) because it is a free gift for ordering PCB.  Really, they are cheap enough that we can just include it and one thing less to worry about.

Case:  Acrylic cases is not available with this group buy.  It is too expensive and only a few people are interested in it.  Sorry.

Teensy++:  There is no room for a Teensy++ on a tenkeyless keyboard footprint.  Designing Phantom to fit in a Filco case (a very good thing!) is also limiting where the controller can go the PCB.  If we do a next version, and you want more pins, you will want to do a full size keyboard, or get a different controller that is also small like Teensy, or design the PCB to use a surface-mount controller and have a shop make the PCB and mount the components for us.

[7bit]

A few last minute questions:

Do we have to source our own LEDs now? I don't see them on the order list anymore. What if we're having alaricljs or someone do the soldering?

If we want our stuff shipped to someone for the soldering service, is there a way that we should indicate that in our orders? I noticed that "SOLDERING" is no longer an order option.

litster, will those acrylic cases be available for the 7bit layout? How about ANSI-Win with the combined arrow-home cluster setup?

LEDs: 2 white LEDs come with the PCB.

You need to order your own LEDs from elewhere. because there are a lot of color-options so a group buy would be useless.

I've removes SOLDERING because you need to find someone on your own to do that and pay directly.

The acrylic cases will be available for 7bit layout. Just order them and cut out the section you need switches to be put on.

[7bit]

I think litster decided there will be 2 white LEDs and matching resistors included in the sets. Those 4 components could possibly replace the resistor item. That is replace RESISTOR with LEDKIT. But that isn't really up to me to decide.

I had only a few blue LED orders. Don't see a reason to add LEDs again.

[mkawa]

really? i find this hard to believe. it's only 0.8in longer. an academic question regardless, as i don't need or want any fancy LED scheme.

pity about the cases though. i will be attempting to get the campus machine shop to fab something up for me. wish me luck!

[litster]

really? i find this hard to believe. it's only 0.8in longer. an academic question regardless, as i don't need or want any fancy LED scheme.

Yes, really.  Believe it.  Take a look at the Filco bottom case.  Try fitting the larger Teeny inside that bottom case, IF you find room to fit the larger Teeny on the PCB that doesn't interfere with switches.  I already have to cut a centimeter of supporting rib on the bottom case to let the USB cable pass through.  Very simple to cut and no ill effect the case  though.

[mkawa]

oh, i haven't actually seen the filco case internals. ok, i believe it.

[litster]

LEDs: 2 white LEDs come with the PCB.

You need to order your own LEDs from elewhere. because there are a lot of color-options so a group buy would be useless.

I've removes SOLDERING because you need to find someone on your own to do that and pay directly.

The acrylic cases will be available for 7bit layout. Just order them and cut out the section you need switches to be put on.

Hehe, out posts crossed.  We still need a way for people to tell us where to ship their kits to for their soldering service.  You can just submit your soldering service's address as your mailing address.  In any case, it is the group buyers' responsibility to make sure that we have the information we need and who and where to ship your order to.

[hazeluff]

Has anyone looked into writing the firmware for a keyboard with media keys? I'm having troubles figuring out how to implement Pause/Play, Next Track and Prev. Track. They aren't simple keys with keycodes defined in the USB HID standard. There are values for Vol. Up and Vol. Down tho.

[mkawa]

ok now i'm confused again. will there be cases of any kind available with the group buy?

i would write/find a driver that dumps scan codes and hit the keys you want to mimic.

[hazeluff]

ok now i'm confused again. will there be cases of any kind available with the group buy?

i would write/find a driver that dumps scan codes and hit the keys you want to mimic.

Litster is doing an acrylic case for TKL. It's not really specific to this.

Probably I'll edit the usb_keyboard.c file then...

Also @Litster: I don't want to cut up your nice case for 7bit = (

[TheProfosist]

A few last minute questions:

Do we have to source our own LEDs now? I don't see them on the order list anymore. What if we're having alaricljs or someone do the soldering?

If we want our stuff shipped to someone for the soldering service, is there a way that we should indicate that in our orders? I noticed that "SOLDERING" is no longer an order option.

litster, will those acrylic cases be available for the 7bit layout? How about ANSI-Win with the combined arrow-home cluster setup?

If I am doing it I have ben buying the parts and having the person who wants it built pay me

EDit changed people are paying for their own stuff and having it shipping with mine.

[TheProfosist]

Litster is doing an acrylic case for TKL. It's not really specific to this.

Probably I'll edit the usb_keyboard.c file then...

Also @Litster: I don't want to cut up your nice case for 7bit = (

Couldnt he just edit his design a little and make the 7bit layout work?

[dorkvader]

Case:  Acrylic cases is not available with this group buy.  It is too expensive and only a few people are interested in it.  Sorry.

At least make the case 'open hardware,' so those of us interested in an acrlyic case can make their own without having to reinvent the wheel.

Has anyone looked into writing the firmware for a keyboard with media keys? I'm having troubles figuring out how to implement Pause/Play, Next Track and Prev. Track. They aren't simple keys with keycodes defined in the USB HID standard. There are values for Vol. Up and Vol. Down tho.

Really? I thought there were. I know openbox can accept them as events, and worked fine with my cmstorm, once I edited the config file.

How fast is the USB signaling? I could maybe capture what it sends on my 'scope, but the triggering is a little flaky after all these years.

[TheProfosist]

Has anyone looked into writing the firmware for a keyboard with media keys? I'm having troubles figuring out how to implement Pause/Play, Next Track and Prev. Track. They aren't simple keys with keycodes defined in the USB HID standard. There are values for Vol. Up and Vol. Down tho.

I think they have keycodes. Its the Mouse presses im worried about. I dont know how to do it all I do know is that hazu's firmware supports it as well as mouse presses is there like a about or readme for his code?

[digitalleftovers]

Hmm.... Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm a little tempted to do the soldering for this myself. I have absolutely no experience with soldering and I'd have to buy the soldering iron and whatnot, which would be more expensive than having someone do the soldering for me, but I feel like it would be a good/painful bonding experience for me and my Phantom.

Is there anything in particular I should be aware of when planning this? I shouldn't need to pick up a second PCB in case of supremely screwing up the soldering, should I?

This will be my first adventure in soldering, too.  I went to my local thrift store and grabbed some cheap stuff to practice on.  Even radio/alarm clocks have PBCs inside.  Its good to note as you practice what condition you leave the bored in during soldering/desoldering since that is what you are worried about.  If you don't have enough heat in about 2 seconds, let it cool and start over because you could damage the board.  That is what I've been told.