First of all, I'd like to thank whoever didn't forget about this IC, I certainly haven't and that's why it's coming back.
Since it's been almost 6 months since I posted this IC, I figure I should give some kind of update. If you're an active member of various Discord servers there's a chance you've seen my TKL design, Seulgi, bouncing around. I ran a very small quantity of these (not in GB format, I paid for production and only accepted payment once I received the items in-hand) and I think it went very well.
Now that I have a better grasp of what will be required of me with something like this, I'll lay out some good news and some semi-bad news for Yves' future:
GOOD- I've completely redesigned Yves to be a bit more in-line with what the modern (mid/late-2019) enthusiast wants, and that does not mean gasket.
- I've developed the beginnings of a great relationship with a reputable factory with my run of Seulgi. I am changing manufacturers because I believe the prototype I posted originally was a manufacturing fluke. Further testing of that factory led to less than desirable results.
- This will NOT be a group buy. This will be an in-stock sale.
SEMI-BAD- The buy is probably at least 2-3 months out.
- The buy WILL NOT be held on Geekhack. I have a storefront that will be used for this.
- The buy will be semi-private*.
- PayPal WILL NOT be an option for payment.
- There will be 20-25 units.
- The price will definitely be higher than what I have listed in the OP.
In some other miscellaneous details, I've decided to ditch the Voyager PCB and commission a PCB from a well-known, reputable designer who will remain nameless for the time being.
I hope I don't disappoint too many of you, but this model gave me great results and makes realizing these designs possible, so I hope you understand.
As I do not plan on running this on Geekhack, I'm gonna go ahead and plug my Discord server here:
https://discord.zekk.works -- all updates, info, progress, communication once the buy starts, and miscellaneous discussion is gonna happen there. I'm always available via this server or in general on Discord (zekkin#0001) if you want to chat about any of this.
Thanks again for your support.
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* The definition of semi-private will vary from person to person so as a clarification, in this context, semi-private means that as long as you're active in the community, not a complete no-name, and not a complete *******, there's a very high chance you'd be eligible to buy this.