howardbeware

There's plenty of firmware tucked away in places other than the main processor. On other boards, it's proprietary.

The same argument could be applied to nearly any product. Knowing how to use the product is the user's responsibility and helping educate users is the manufacturer's responsibility. If you don't have data back ups, regardless of the type of computer, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

And that's pretty much what ORWL is.

They explicitly address several attacks here: https://www.crowdsupply.com/design-shift/orwl#specific-attac...

There's also the rackmount version in case you want to put it in a colo.

I love that it reuses PCMCIA connectors, receptacles, and enclosures. All that hoarding I did in the 90s will finally pay off!

I played with one of the prototypes. It's quite nice.

The comparison table ( https://www.crowdsupply.com/krtkl/snickerdoodle#comparison-t... ) includes a bunch of common, but under powered platforms (Arduino, RPi, BBB). It should really be compared against higher-powered FPGA-based platforms like the Numato Opsis.

1. The problem wasn't in creating the shape we wanted - that's easy with CNC. The problem was creating the cross mounting post for Cherry. The process that ended up working was somewhat as you suggested: we basically used a lathe to remove material from a standard key cap until just the post was left and then we attached the post with a good adhesive to our custom key caps. The problem with this process is that it is very expensive in terms of labor/time and requires a high degree of precision to ensure uniformity. I think I might eventually make a keyboard using Cherry MX switches using this process, but for the current project the goal is to produce at least 100 keyboards while keeping the cost down. We tried for several months to make the Cherry MX Red work, but ended up deciding Matias was the better option in this case.

2. Modding key switches works well for a single keyboard, but really causes costs to soar if used in production. This wouldn't work for us because one of the main design points of the keyboard we're working on is making it financially accessible to a wide range of people.

4. This is a fair point. Honestly, I'm not too deep into the mechanical keyboard world beyond this one project, so I don't have a good feeling for other people's use cases. My hope, though, is that people do some really strange things with these switches and start innovating in ways I wouldn't have thought of.

Thanks for all your feedback - it's been really helpful. I haven't yet updated the campaign page to reflect it all, but I will soon.

We plan releasing the source files for all custom hardware, including key caps, that we're designing and making for our own keyboard. We have prototypes that we're mostly happy with, but haven't yet nailed down the exact dimensions. Also, our files are in the form that a CNC mill could understand, but as far as I know not suitable yet for a 3D printer. I really like that idea, though, and will keep it in mind for when we do offer our keyboard.

Ah, yes, I agree that it doesn't make a lick of difference for audio connectors and that advertising gold plating is just a way to jack up the price. For this type of mechanical switch, though, I don't think the copper oxidation would wear away since it's a very light touch and there is very little rubbing movement, just blunt contact. Also, I'm pretty sure that there would be no incentive for companies like Matias to offer gold plating if it weren't really needed - it's just an extra expense and the high-end mechanical switch market is basically nonexistent compared to the high-end audio market.

Since we're manufacturing the key caps ourselves, it's actually a much cheaper way to go for us.

There are quiet versions of Matias switches, but they are all clicky, which we explicitly don't want because even quiet clicky switches are loud and because of the associated fatigue. Our switch is quiet and non-clicky, which up until now hasn't existed in the Matias line.

I'm not sure I understand your question about wanting money. As much as it would be great to give them away for free, the reality is that it cost us money to produce them and it will cost us money to ship them. We're running this campaign in order to simplify the logistics of offering our extra keys to other people.

Regarding custom key caps, another commentator was correct in saying that we're milling entirely custom shapes from raw materials (aluminum in our case).

As for the circulation of Cherry MX Reds, I could only find them available in small quantities for what seemed to be very high prices, when I could find them in stock at all. The Cherry MX is a great line of switches, but Cherry is doing a poor job of helping people (well, me at least) make new products.

I haven't noticed the Matias switches being super wobbly, but I also don't have a full keyboard built yet. I'll keep an eye out for this.

We evaluated Cherry Reds for the project, but there were several things wrong with them. In order of our priorities:

1. It's very difficult/expensive to make custom key caps that mount to Cherry MX stems. By custom key cap, I mean a completely new shape, like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g_Bi0FseNUk/VGBKMdshu-I/AAAAAAAAAe...

We actually did come up with a method for doing this with Cherry MX switches, but the cost was prohibitive. I'll add more detail on the campaign page to make this clear.

2. The actuation force of Cherry MX Reds was just a bit too high. We're making a stenotype keyboard, which should have a very light touch. The Cherry MX Red might have been marginally acceptable, but we're much happier with the lower actuation force of our switch.

3. As you pointed out, the availability of Cherry MX Reds isn't great.

4. The price of Cherry MX Reds is much higher.

Regarding the Topre switches, I agree that 30g is almost too low. Also, the mounting post for the Topre switches seemed challenging from the perspective of creating custom key caps, though we didn't actually try.

As for the openness of the project and there being only one manufacturer, is your concern about availability, control of the IP, or something else?

Thanks for the pointer to the clear Cherry housing. I hadn't seen that. I'll look into it more and update the page accordingly.

Regarding the gold plating, what's dubious about this claim?

The economics of this project aren't based on funding the entire MOQ, which is much more than 3,000 switches. We'll be using many of the switches for our own project, but think there will be plenty left over. The $1,000 funding goal is the amount that makes it worth going through the effort to sort, package, ship, and other logistics. I'll make this clearer on the campaign page. Thanks for the feedback!

I'm one of the people behind this project. Yes, the custom key shapes + low activation force are the primary reason we're interested in creating these key switches.

This isn't quite as clear cut as it might seem. See, for example, the first comment for Mandarin:

http://wals.info/valuesets/44A-mnd

The video is good for a laugh (not the first one - couldn't get through that, but the one farther down in the page). Reminds me of this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGiQOCX9UbM

Ah, Austin Powers.

This is actually a nice little kit, especially the price point. Competitors all seem to be significantly more expensive (and often more full of features):

* SparkFun RedBot Kit * Parallax Boe-Bot Robot Kit * Pololu 3pi Robot * Sparki * Arduino Robot * Lego Mindstorm

Nice. Providing actual app code is really helpful. Android coming soon, apparently.

I saw this on Instructables' FB page this morning and was reminded of some similar open source BLE efforts. Some of the notable ones are:

Tah: BLE central role AND periperal role AND iBeacon; USB HID via male USB and programmable over USB, 12 analog inputs, 7 PWM outputs, 20 digital I/O; https://www.crowdsupply.com/revealing-hour/tah-open-ble-ardu...

BLEduino: BLE peripheral role only; USB HID via micro-USB; 9 analog inputs, 6 PWM outputs, 20 digital I/O; http://bleduino.cc/

Blend: BLE peripheral role only; USB HID via micro-USB; 10 analog inputs, 6 PWM outputs, 17 digital I/O; http://redbearlab.com/blend/

Bean: BLE peripheral role only; no USB; 2 analog inputs, 4 PWM outputs, 8 digital I/O; http://punchthrough.com/bean

As for pricing, they all seemed about the same, $30-$50, but it was hard to tell because some of them included free shipping (e.g. Tah) and some didn't.

1. Enjoyment, health, cost, in that order.

2. I don't, but my partner does.

3. Slow-cooked meats, fresh veggies, broths, fermented foods (e.g. yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, buttermilk).

4. We attempt a gluten-free, grain free diet, with no processed foods (especially sugars), full fat oils (e.g. olive, coconut, lard, butter, ghee), no seed oils (e.g. canola, corn, safflower). If we do have grains or legumes, we always soak them in either whey, water, yogurt, or buttermilk.

5. We are members of three different cooperative food organizations: a grocer, a buying club, and a farm. We have a massive chest freezer filled with grass-fed cow parts (steaks, hearts, bones, livers, etc.), a Vitamix blender, a Hamilton Beach slow cooker, two Le Creuset dutch ovens, an Excalibur 9-tray food dehydrator, and three cast-iron skillets.

Speaking of Plover and chorded keyboards, check out this open source stenotype machine:

http://stenosaurus.com

Chatter on the mailing list makes is sound like it will be coming out in October.

There's some information on the Plover blog:

http://plover.stenoknight.com/2013/08/introducing-stenosauru...

http://plover.stenoknight.com/2013/08/hands-on-with-stenosau...

Regarding stenotype hardware options and Plover, check out the Stenosaurus (http://www.stenosaurus.com). It's not out yet, but it looks promising.