Important: Please make sure that your shipping address is up to date! You can change it on your Crowd Supply account page. Please also check out the delivery status page.
Hi there, and welcome to our monthly status update!
TL;DR: Our factory is up and running! According to the aforementioned delivery page, we’ve already sent out the first mini batch, so some of you should get your orders within days. Given our most recent production data, we’ll be able to deliver batch 1 of 2,000 UHKs and related accessories by the end of July. Many of you will get your orders much faster depending on your place in the queue. Everything’s looking great, and we’ll be transitioning to the modules soon.
Some UHKs of mini batch 1:
Manufacturing progress
Launching mass production wasn’t exactly a smooth ride, which wasn’t really surprising after all. Given our past experience, some things inevitably go wrong despite our best efforts.
We observed that some LED segments displayed gibberish - that is, unidentifiable characters. It was quite a challenge to figure out the root cause of this, but András succeeded. Apparently, the space is very tight around the FFC cable and when the case is on, it bends the cable and some pins don’t connect. The solution? We just have to bend the FFC cables in an M shape prior to assembly.
We also noticed that some pins of some through-hole components, most notably the keyswitches and the 4P4C connectors, weren’t soldered in on some boards. We talked to our PCBA supplier who told us that their selective wave soldering machine had been misbehaving and got serviced recently. They will also use a 3-dimensional automated optical inspection machine from this point forward which should greatly reduce defects. The problematic boards will be reworked.
Then we were faced with a couple of bent plates. We have yet to figure out how these plates could possibly bend, but for the time being, we’ll do heavier QA until the cause is revealed and eliminated.
And lastly, a critical piece of launching manufacturing is our custom developed order fulfillment and manufacturing execution system that I’ve been working full steam on in the last couple months. It felt like building a runway while the plane takes off, but the runway has been built just in time, and now the plane is in the air.
Given the above issues, we started up slowly. According to our most recent measurements based on actual production data, we will be able to ship about two mini batches per week, which equals about 120 UHKs and related accessories. Given this pace, we’ll be able to deliver batch 1 by the end of July, so this is our current delivery target. Of course, many of you will get your orders way faster depending on your place in the queue.
Agent and firmware progress
Starting with the latest firmware, it’s now possible to wake up the host computer with a touch of a key. The LED display also gets disabled when the host sleeps to save power. See the firmware changelog and releases.
Agent got a shiny new desktop icon, it now displays the firmware versions running on the halves of your UHK, and can recover UHKs with broken configurations. See the Agent changelog and releases.
Going forward
The next big milestone is clear: the modules. The modules clearly differentiate the UHK from every other keyboard in the market, and make it the first and so far only modular keyboard ever created.
Personally, I can’t wait to control the pointer in various ways in a finer grained manner without leaving the home row, and I know that a lot of you share our enthusiasm. I’m sure the journey will be just as exciting as getting there, and as always, we’ll make you part of the journey via these updates.
Thank you for reading this update! The next one will be published on 2018-05-17. In the meantime, feel free to keep checking the delivery status page of your much awaited UHKs.
31 Comments
Hey Laszlo,
Would it be possible to create a google sheet with all the order numbers in order from the first and second phase and then highlight the order number cells/rows once they have been completed or shipped? With the current method its pretty hard to get an idea of where my order is in the scope of things. If a google sheet was used I could at least count the rows between the last order above my own and have a better estimate. I realize a few order numbers will also be fulfilled out of order, but I still think the google sheet idea might be more helpful to everyone. Also, I assume you guys have some type of sheet view of the fulfilled orders anyway.
Keep up the great work!
Hey ZestfullyClean,
I think your suggestion is the best way forward. I plan to implement it within days. Will follow up.
Thanks for the idea!
Even with the current system, just noting the break point between where all earlier keyboard orders have been fulfilled and additional later orders by a single customer start would let people get a reasonably accurate assessment of where their order is going to be in the manufacturing.
I don't think so Tor. Since the order numbers are shared across all Crowd Supply purchases you can't tell how many UHK orders are between your order # and the last order # given. Example: Last order # could be 22000 and your order number could be 22200. There could be anywhere from 200 to only 20 (or less) UHKs between. I think the numbers could vary wildly depending on when other successful CrowdSupply campaigns launched during the initial UHK push. Of course, just my opinion. Hope the sheet view still becomes a thing.
I spruced up the delivery status page quite a bit. Please check it out for delivery estimation information.
This is great László. Thanks for putting it together!
This estimated shipping date addition to the status page is amazing!
Thanks!
Is there any tracking information for the orders fulfilled from mini-batch 1? I haven’t received anything from crowdsupply, though my order number (22650) is in the first mini-batch and my address is current on crowdsupply so it should be headed to the right place. Just looking to confirm, not urgent.
Hi Justin, You should receive an order confirmation from Crowd Supply soon. You can shoot an email to [email protected] to contact them, but everything should be fine.
Now that we are starting to receive the keyboard, where can we find the agent? Github? Do we really need to build it ourselves?
Oh, I fond it, there was a link in *this* blogpost... should perhaps be a bit easier to find, no?
No worries, Patrik. We put a ton of work into the UHK onboarding process, so once you open the box, everything should be very smooth and straightforward. No need to build anything.
Not really... For instance, the key repeat for media keys (such as volume up and down, track forward and backwards) is insanely quick (windows 10)...Increasing volume by a little is very hard, and I have scared my dog plenty now...
Admittedly, not everything is perfect yet. You've encountered with the Windows-specific Media key scancode repetition firmware bug. Our USB expert should fix it soon, but he's sparsely available. Please bear with us, we're doing our best.
I've received yesterday my keyboard and is as expected: Incredible!
Image
I'm still getting used to it. The layers are pretty intuitive, but requires some practice.
The only thing I don't like as much is the cable itself because acts like a spring trying to put both sides together but only because I have both parts quite separated.
Again: It's amazing.
Thank you.
Thanks for the post and the nice image! We're so glad you satisfied!
It's pretty easy to have/make a longer cable.
Thanks for the link, but it seems that the cable is accomodating to the new position and is not as tight as it was at the beginning. I guess that in a couple of days will be perfect ;)
Today I've detected an strange behaviour. The computer is configured to turn off the monitor when is idle for 10 minutes. But since the UHK is connected, it doesn't.
I have tried another USB (from the front of the case to the back) with same results. Disconnecting the left side from the main side doesn't fix it.
And to be sure, I've unplugged the keyboard (UHK) from computer and the monitor turns off after the desired time.
I have tried those webs that tests keyboards, but no key is pressed.
I can't give you anything more specific to find out what's going on. My OS is W2k8 R2.
Thanks for reporting! You've hit a known firmware bug. We're working on fixing this.
I received mine yesterday, love the packaging. I've never used a keyboard without directional arrows so it's taking time to get used to. I'm a terrible typist so it's like having to learn all over again. In the end, I hope I'll get better about staying away from the mouse!
First change I did to the keyboard layout was to set my left hard switch from space to mod. Then I made my left thumb space into a backspace. This was the main reason I wanted to buy this keyboard!!! Works great.
The second change I made was to make the Mod Mouse button into the Caps Lock. Not as big a change but simplifies the cognitive changes I have to make slightly.
Boy, I miss my arrows. It'll take time and practice with it but I'm happy with it so far.
Thanks for sharing, Kevin! Your layout is interesting, and I'm glad it's working out for you. I hope you'll quickly get used to using arrows in a chorded manner.
How is this layout for using microsoft excel navigation combos like ctrl-arrow keys?
Seems like it would be akward to have to hit mod and ctrl then use arrows.
I routinely use ctrl+arrows with my UHK. Mod results in heavier chording, but it eventually becomes second nature after some practice.
Thanks, looking forward to getting mine and giving it a shot. Do you typically use the top row for numbers or do you customize the layout to add a number pad?
I use the top row for numbers. I don't need a numpad, not even a virtual one.
If you use those key combinations so much, you could create new combos.
As an example, I have added Fn+4 as ALT+F4 to close windows instead of the default Mod+Alt+4.
Received my UHK today. Very nice. Well worth the wait. Will it be possible to swap the Space and Mod keys on the case in the future? Or possibly get "keycaps" for those that have no labels? I want to swap their behavior right now (being left-handed, I have swapped the positions of the Mod & Space bars) or possibly make them something else entirely. Thanks!
We're glad you received your keyboard! We can't design the case buttons to be symmetrical, so they hardly will ever be swappable. Your only option is to purchase an extra blank case (featuring blank case buttons) and replace your current case with it. Sorry about this limitation, but we can't do anything about it.
Out of curiosity, what kind of switch is in the case mounted mod/shift? Do they feel like the mechanicals under all the other keys?
We use Omron SS-01D / Diptronics MS2-5PN-1D(Ag) microswitches for the case buttons. MX/ML switches are out of question for this purpose because of size constraints. They don't feel like MX switches, more like mouse microswitches. They feel nice though, and of high quality.
When I tick 'allow alpha/pre release' in the Settings in Agent, I get 'Error: Command failed: powershell.exe -NoProfile -NonInteractive -InputFormat None -Command GetAuth'. I get this sometimes when I don't tick that box, although most of the time it just says 'no updates' then. I'm only getting this because I only installed the UHK an hour ago and I'm desperately trying to get the media keys (and macros - coming from an Ergodox, the UHK is a step back functionality-wise for now to be honest) to function properly, and I don't see any other way to get beta firmware. Also, Agent always start in full screen mode, it should remember its size from last time. What does the 'key brightness' slider do in 'LED brightness'?
Regarding the auto update feature, including the "allow alpha/pre release" checkbox, this feature is incomplete. I actually hid the settings menu (which features auto update settings) in recent Agent versions, and will only show it after auto update gets implemented. In the meantime, please disable the auto update feature by unchecking its checkboxes.
I assume you mean the media key repetition bug. This bug has been fixed a while back, but at the same time, a highly nondeterministic bug was introduced which makes the UHK freeze from time to time. We're working on fixing this bug. Feel free to give the most recent pre-release firmware version a try. It will fix the media key repetition bug, and the freeze bug should occur very rarely. If it does, you can always downgrade to the most recent stable (non pre-release) firmware version.
The fullscreen issue will be fixed. There's already an Agent issue about this.
The mentioned slider adjusts key backlight which is only visible if you install LEDs into your UHK.
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