Hi there, and welcome to this delayed monthly UHK status update!
TL; DR: Except for small refinements, the molds of the modules are done, and we have some great looking samples to show you. We’ll send a couple of module prototypes to select testers in December. We plan to start module shipment at the end of January 2021. PBT keycap tooling is coming along nicely. Agent now has a dark mode.
The modules look almost perfect from the outside. Minor surface defects result from not using the final injection molding machine and not setting optimal production parameters, both non-issues for the final production run.
Despite their nearly perfect look, some tooling changes still have to be done to the modules. We’ll fine-tune the length of the bosses of the microswitches to achieve optimal actuation force, and some other internal tweaks have to be done to optimize the parts for assembly.
The key cluster plastic parts should be fine as they are, and we don’t plan to make changes to them. The keycaps on the above photo are not final. The final keycaps will be made of PBT, and the bottom two keycaps will be convex.
Due to popular request, we’ll include three extra blank ABS keycaps for every key cluster for no additional cost to make key clusters more consistent with UHK 60 v1 keyboards.
The inner trackball housing needs to be adjusted for the distance between the ball and the optical sensor.
The trackpoint is already working fine, but we’re experimenting with optimal trackpoint cap height, which may affect the inner holder part. We plan to add a nice texture to the big glossy area near the cap. These are minor tooling changes.
The touchpad plastic parts work flawlessly. The golden edge at the left side won’t be visible as the final mylar sheet’s size will be corrected. The marker text which contains the version number of the PCB won’t be featured on the final product.
The above module plastic samples are surprisingly good for a first run. We aim for a second run in December, at which point the samples should be nearly perfect, and we plan to do a third run in January when we expect the samples to be flawless, and we plan to start shipping at the end of January 2021.
Plastic tooling does take more time than anticipated. We’re doing our best to release the modules as soon as we can. We won’t make any quality compromises, however, and the ETA will be extended if needed. We appreciate your continued patience, and we’ll be keeping you updated.
PBT keycap progress
As for the UHK 60 v2, our supplier sent us a photo of production PBT keycap samples.
Almost all custom legends look fine, but Mod, Space, and right Shift will be revised.
Join the dark side
Mad props go to our fabulous contributor, Mikko Lakomaa, as he has almost single-handedly implemented Agent’s dark mode.
Update to the latest Agent version, go to settings, and join to the dark side.
Magnetic USB cable mod
Simon has written an excellent UHK USB magnetic cable modding guide, which you may want to follow.
You can join the conversation on Twitter.
Your tweets
You guys keep sending your awesome tweets, and we're always eager to read and feature them! If you got your UHK, please share your love!
Which one is more cool ? left/right/neither … @UltHackKeyboard pic.twitter.com/Ol6PMXNDfj
— Manu Álvarez (@imacnu) November 17, 2020
Decided to nerd it up and recap my @UltHackKeyboard ... love the feel of these spherical keys and it looks beautiful to me as well. Was able to replace nonstandard keys in 3 places with blanks… the only issue is the BS key which is an R2 and thus a bit recessed. pic.twitter.com/7zmKnJDseh
— Charley Kline (@cvkline) August 11, 2020
Had it for years, absolutely loved it. Only left it to switch to mechanical and these days am driving an @UltHackKeyboard 💚 pic.twitter.com/VlB31LcRZv
— Gina Häußge 😷 (@foosel) November 15, 2020
We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK and are looking forward to talking to you in January or sooner.
31 Comments
Will it be possible to remove trackball as it might need frequent cleaning.
Sure thing! You can bend a paper clip, put its ends to the two small holes of the trackball ring, and rotate it counterclockwise to release the ball.
Nice to get to read the module update. I appreciate the attention to detail and quality standards that you have always adhered to and haven't compromised on.
Personally I have no issues at all with any delays even though I've already paid for my modules when I ordered the keyboard itself. It's taken me a while to fully get used to (my first) mechanical AND split keyboard and I'm sure I could still optimize my layouts further. It's gonna be a lot of fun to get the modules and learn to use them properly to their fullest potential.
I've also been following developments on Github and I want to give a huge shoutout to Laxu (Mikko Lakomaa) for dark mode. I'm very much enjoying it as most of my stuff is dark by default.
I wish you the best with your current and future endeavors. Thanks you! :)
Thanks for the best wishes! The modules will open up a lot of interesting use cases for sure.
I was disappointed when you first announced the uhk60v2 but you have renewed my faith in your excellent work when I saw that you are still making progress with the unaffected modules. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the encouraging words!
Hello Laszo,
very promising update! I lately preordered my UHK v2 and am anxiously waiting for end of January.
While waiting, I was listening to an (old) podcast having you as guest and you mentioned, that DYI modules might be a thing in the future.
Could you kindly point me to any resources how I would approach that? I was wondering wether it would be possible to abuse the interface of the module as a USB connecter for the keyboard itself.
That way one could built a module containing a small battery and the drop in bluetooth thingy you mention in your FAQ, making the keyboard wireless.
I'd be very interesting going down that rabbit hole, but don't really know where to start. I have lots of software experience but none with hardware so far.
Another simpler question I have is, what could one do with the key cluster? Would it allow for additional layers or are they "just" buttons that can be remapped and run macros from?
Thank you, stay healthy and keep up the promising work!
Hi Martin, and thanks for the nice words! The firmware and electronics files of the left keyboard half on GitHub is a good starting point for developing additional modules as the left half is a module from an electrical and firmware standpoint. It's not possible to expose USB via the modules, and charging isn't possible either. According to our knowledgebase, https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/knowledgebase?q=bluetooth is the best solution for the time being. The buttons and keys of the key cluster can be mapped in the same way as UHK keys. The mini trackball of the key cluster is a great tool for scrolling.
It is great to see this news, looking forward to the new modules to come on Jan-2020 especially the trackball module.
BTW, will there be a chance for us to have keycaps with different profiles for the UHK? I have used the Topre Real force keyboard in the past and found its SA-like key profile excellent for typing for a long time, I wonder if it can be available as an optional accessory for the UHK.
We don't plan the provide multiple keycap profiles as the minimum order quantity of the PBT keycap sets is already quite high, and we don't want to stretch ourselves too thin.
Great progress! I love the modules and I can't wait to get my hands on them. I have a question regarding the Agent. I see that currently we only have 3 layers, are you planning on adding support for more layers? I would love to have closer to 10 layers. I think that having application specific layers would be beneficial, that way I could create macros and key binds in different layers
Currently, the UHK supports 4 layers (base, mod, fn, mouse). It's worth mentioning that a practically unlimited number of keymaps are supported with 4 layers each, and separate keymaps are meant to be used for separate applications. The UHK will have 12 layers per keymap. In the meantime, I think it's possible to implement more than 4 layers with Karel's UHK firmware fork.
Got it. The way I understand this, the FN layers will be active only while pressing the FN key (similar to shift, alt or ctrl). I guess what I'm wondering is, it possible to have a different base mapping with different applications? Or if thats not possible, more layers would be a way of having different "base" layers that you can access by pressing a key. I'm picturing something like pressing Mod + Ctrl + 1 and that changes the base layer to a different layout, and while in that layout, pressing the Mod + Ctrl + 1 brings you back to the base layer. The use case being that in one application/programing language you use [ ] a lot and in a different application/programming language you use { } a lot more, so having different base layers that one could switch back and forth when needed might make this a valuable feature.
You should create application-specific keymaps in Agent. One keymap is active at a time. There are 4 layers per keymap. One layer is active at a time within a keymap. You can bind keymap switch actions to any keys, for example, make Fn+X switch to keymap B. It's not possible to assign actions to shortcuts containing modifiers like Mod+Ctrl+1.
If I create application-specific keymaps, will the Agent be able detect the application and automatically switch from one keymap to the other? Or is that something I'll have to do manually anytime I need to use the applications for which I need a different keymap for?
Agent will be able to switch keymap according to the current application, but not yet.
Are the trackball spheres made out of metal or plastic? This question is for both the trackball module and the key cluster module.
The ball of the trackball module is made of resin. I'm unsure about the Blackberry mini trackball, which is used in the key cluster module, but chances are it's also made of resin.
Will the modules only come in black? Or will they come in different colors to match the different case colors?
Yes, the modules will be available only in black color. More details:
https://ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/knowledgebase?q=module
The keycaps look gray-ish. I suppose it's because of the lightning? They seem like some texture is on them, I guess there will be another polish/finish? Overall great and looking forward to it!
It is because of the texture. The color is black.
First off, love the UHK - it's completely changed my workflow. I was just wondering if there's a timeline on the backlight kit for the v1 and when we could expect that to be available. Wanted to pick up the PBT keycaps, but wasn't sure if I needed to wait for the backlight kit first.
Yes, the v1 backlight kit will be available in our webshop soon! We will announce it on our blog and in the newsletter when we have more details. Many thanks for your patience!
Will the modules be delivered together with the UHK v2 or are they shipped independently?
Modules will be shipped separately from non-module items.
"We’ll send a couple of module prototypes to select testers in December."
Any updates on testers feedback? Are you planning on sending out samples to Youtubers/reviewers to give impressions on the modules?
The new update will include also the feedback of the testers. After sending all preorders we plan to send products to reviewers also.
If I order UHK v2 today how long will it take to arrive in the US?
We have not started yet to ship UHK v2, it is still the preorder period. You can follow our blog for further details. The new blog post will arrive soon.
We ship by DHL Express, the delivery takes only a few days. But we manufacture the products according to the orders, in this case, according to the pre-orders.
Thank you UHK team for the detailed progress update. While I and others would love to have our pre-ordered UHKv2s in hand already, your attention to detail and focus on quality are much appreciated. It's great to see that quality continues to be a core focus of yours.
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