We did a poll recently about additional colors for the UHK case. Here are the results so far:
Thank you for your feedback!
This poll will be closed by the end of the campaign, so please vote while it's possible.
- László Monda
Now that we have reached our goal what’s next?
Colored cases! If the funding amount reaches $230,000, we’ll make more case colour options available. And these cases are molded out of colored plastic, so there’s no paint to peel off. Take the poll below, and help us choose which colors should be available - we’re super excited to hear your preferences.
Let the voting begin! You can take a look at the high resolution versions of the following images on Dropbox.
- László Monda
A while back, the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard was nothing more than a dream of mine. Back then, I had to work on other projects to sustain myself, so I could have easily forgotten about it.
But I couldn’t for some special reason, it felt way too important. Because I couldn’t get the keyboard out of my head, I eventually managed to persuade my high-school friend András Völgyi, mechanical engineer extraordinaire, to help make it happen, and gathered a small team of experts.
Over time, we’ve put our heart and soul into the project and made huge progress. But we’re a small team and this challenge asked for much more. Way before the campaign, I knew that we have a secret weapon to success:
You!
On 2015-12-06, you made the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard reach, and then surpass, the $200,000 funding goal!
You are the reason why the UHK exists. It’s people like you who push things further, enable innovation, and help make cool products happen. So let me express my deepest gratitude, and let’s give a huge round of applause to you - because you deserve it big time!
Use the source, Luke!
The UHK was never meant to be a black box. It’s very important for us to open up the design so that you can infinitely customize it to your needs. We know that this mindset pushes innovation forward and it resonates with many of you.
As promised, we’ve just published the electronics design files, the firmware and Agent, our configurator application on GitHub! It’s free as in Freedom, the way it should be!
Our prototypes are already rock solid but many small tweaks will be made to the design in order to optimize it for manufacturing, and you’ll be able to see every small change on GitHub right as they happen. I’ll also clean up the repos shortly and add some documentation to make them easier to hack on.
- László Monda
It’s been a roller coaster in the past 6 weeks, and we are entering final phase of our crowdfunding campaign. With 10 days left, we are almost fully funded collecting $190,000, and at this point we would like to ask for your help to make the UHK happen!
How can you help?
It will take just a few minutes to complete these 5 steps to spread the word about our campaign and let your friends know why you love the UHK. It is also a Last Chance for them to get the UHK at special early bird price.
- STEP 1: SHARE ON FACEBOOK
- STEP 2: SHARE ON TWITTER
- STEP 3: SHARE ON PINTEREST
- STEP 4: Post about the UHK in your favourite forum to let people know how great it is.
- STEP 5: Tell your friends and colleagues about the UHK and why you love it.
The UHK is voted as best keyboard for programmers!
A question was posted on Quora recently, asking "What is the best keyboard for a programmer?". A total of 49 answers were posted and the UHK was included too. In just two weeks, the UHK collected the most upvotes and became the No.1 keyboard for programmers!
UHK video in Korean
One of our supporters in Korea created a video for their local audience. Big thanks!
Campaign stats
So far 819 keyboards have been pre-ordered - here is the breakdown of the options requested:
Layout
ANSI is the clear winner regarding the Layout.
Keycap printing
No surprise here: The most ordered Keycap Printing is for the Linux configuration. And then it’s a close fight between Mac and Windows.
Key switches
Blues & Browns dominate the scene here, accounting for 75% of total boards.
We are working hard on the UHK to make sure we provide a truly unique and high quality offering. We will keep you updated on our progress.
- László Monda
Thank you everyone for participating in the Reddit AMA! You’ve asked loads of thoughtful questions, so I thought I’d share some of the particularly interesting ones.
Q: Will you offer alternative keycap printing other than QWERTY? Like country-specific prints or Dvorak / Colemak?
A: Andras is currently looking into the possibility of offering fully custom keycap printing. If we can make it happen, then we’ll send out an update and you’ll be able to update your order accordingly. If this is an option, we may also be able to create layout design software, allowing you to design your own keycap printing layout!
Q: Assuming everything goes good with the Crowd Supply stuff and so on, i.e. everything goes according to plan and all the backers receive their keyboards in July\August some time, then what? What are the plans further, if you actually have made any yet, that is :) What I’m most curious about here, is, when I get my keyboard, and presumably love it, I will definitely want one or two more, any idea when that will that be possible?
A: There’s no shortage of plans. :)
After shipping every unit in July, we plan to spin up production so you’ll definitely be able to order some more UHKs / modules pretty quickly.
Going forward, we plan to design other UHK variants of different shapes and sizes based on our unique hardware-software architecture. We also plan to design additional modules based on community feedback and demand.
Q: What are your thoughts about alternative split keyboards? What do you think the UHK does better, other than the extension modules?
A: I believe that the UHK has a couple of benefits compared to other split keyboards, apart from the extension modules:
The UHK is very compact, especially for a split mechanical keyboard, enabling you to easily carry it around.
The UHK is modular and extensible. I don’t only mean the modules but the whole design from the ground up. For example, the palm rest is also an optional accessory. You can even use the stainless steel inserts on the back of the UHK to mount it to your armchair or almost any object.
The UHK uses a sophisticated protocol to communicate between the keyboard halves and the modules, making it quite advanced compared to other keyboards. Imagine using our configuration application, then merging and splitting the halves, adding and removing modules and witnessing these actions happening visually in the configuration application real-time. Then you can click on the trackball module for example and adjust its pointer movement speed.
When you reconfigure other keyboards, you generally reflash the whole firmware of the keyboard. The UHK implements a custom protocol and uses an internal EEPROM for storing configuration data. I think our approach is beneficial because we don’t need a compiler toolchain to produce the firmware, just an application that speaks the protocol. It’s also faster to transfer the updated configuration, and it’s possible for the configuration software the read the configuration from the EEPROM. Reconfiguring the UHK is a one-click action, instead of using an external web configurator, then downloading a firmware, then uploading it to the keyboard with another application.
Q: I’m very excited to hear that you’re going open source. What was the biggest influence on that decision?
A: Being a Linux user and software developer, open source is very natural to me. On top of that, I’ve had various negative experiences with closed products. One of my routers didn’t allow me to use a 3rd party dynamic DNS providers that would be trivial to script if I had shell access. Then my sister bought a DVD player, the subtitle fonts were too damn small and there was no way to enlarge them. We’re surrounded by devices driven by general purpose processors that’d enable us to do pretty much anything with them, but if the firmware / software / protocols are closed then we’re disabled to improve / customize these devices. I’d hate to disable people by building yet another black box.
Q: How are you guys combining this with your "real" job? Maybe you do this full time, or do you plan to in the near future? Good luck with the project. Can’t wait to get mine.
A: I was working as a freelance software developer for various companies over the years, and Andras has a family business going on. It was originally super challenging to develop the UHK due to the lack of free time.
Starting from 2015 September, I cancelled my freelancing gig in order to prepare for the campaign. Andras also started to put more and more resources into the project, and development significantly accelerated.
Going forward, I’ll be working on the UHK full time by earning the absolute minimum required until we grow. Andras will also handle the project as his number one priority after the campaign. Full time is the only way at this point to create a truly exceptional product and deliver on time.
Q: Will there be a DIY version any time soon? I guess there must be more keyboard hipsters like me who have their exotic choice of lubed MX switches with custom springs laying around so a DIY version would be easier to assemble (rather than desoldering the stock ones) and also would cost a little bit less.
A: We’ve actually already had a backer who wanted his UHK without switches and without the case. Being quite DIY-friendly, we offered him such a version at a reduced price point and he took the offer.
I think we’ll offer assembled PCBs forever, but bare, unpopulated PCBs are not planned. Given the potential errors in assembly, customer support would likely be too crazy.
That’s it for the top AMA questions! But if you have any that have remained unanswered, please ask!
- László Monda
There are things in life that you always wanted to ask, but were too afraid to do so. Now’s your chance to let out your curiosity! I’ve just started an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit.
You’re welcome to ask me anything, and I do mean anything. Ask about designing and building the UHK, preparing for and running a crowdfunding campaign, or about the everyday life of a pasty geek.
- László Monda
Good news, everyone: From this moment on, every one of the 4 originally suggested modules, along with the palm rest, are available for purchase! Here’s the full list of new perks to purchase:
- a module for $50
- 2 modules for $80
- 2 modules and 1 palm rest for just $100
- 1 palm rest for $30
We will cover shipping costs for the modules, so there is no additional fee for you!
Plus: the first 100 people to get modules will enjoy special early-bird pricing, so get yours now!
None of these perks are stretch goals. As it turned out, the tooling costs of these additions are fairly reasonable - so we wanted to make them immediately available to you.
Module poll results
We included a poll in the previous update, and according to the results, you were super eager to participate. Here are the results as we are writing this message:
Our main goal behind running a poll was to find out if there were any modules that people just didn’t really want. But according to the results, each module has a healthy demand! This gives us good reason to make every one of them.
Most of you opted for a key cluster, which is reasonable because it’s the only left-handed module, and it complements any of the others quite nicely.
Most popular questions
There was a comment field in the poll which you’ve made a good use of. When the comments started to flow in, I diligently wrote response emails to all of you, one by one. But I quickly realized that it’s a fight against windmills, and I’m simply not able to keep up with the heavy flow of seemingly endless comments.
So I decided to extract the most popular thoughts into the following FAQ to address them. If these FAQ entries don’t cover your own question, and you still didn’t receive an answer from me, then you either didn’t specify your email address or you’re one of the 5 people whose email requires further, longer discussion and I haven’t answered yet.
Q: The trackpoint needs to be up by the Y/H keys, not down by the N/Space.
A: Believe it or not, we found only a single kind of trackpoint module in all of the Internet. This trackpoint sits in the middle of a 3x3 cm sized printed circuit board, so not only we can’t put it near the Y/H keys but we can’t even move it higher because the stainless steel guides that hold the module and the keyboard together are in the way.
Q: Is there an option to make the pointer modules attach higher, roughly between g and h keys, so that they could be easier to reach with the index finger as opposed to the thumb?
A: In most cases, this is not possible because, again, the stainless steel guides that hold the module and the keyboard together are in the way. It’d also make the modules very bulky because they connect electrically via the bottom connectors of the UHK so the module would have to stretch all they way down.
Q: Is the touchpad multi-touch capable?
A: Unfortunately, it isn’t. A while back, I contacted with Synaptics, another huge multi-touch touchpad manufacturer. When I asked for their datasheets, they wanted me to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). I didn’t want to corrupt the open source spirit of the UHK, so I refused. Based on your comments, I’m sure that many of you feel the same way. If any of you know a multi-touch touchpad manufacturer who doesn’t insist on NDAs, then please get in touch with me and I’ll contact them.
Q: Can A: Yes, this will be possible. You’ll be able to specify a set of layer switcher keys (of Mod, Fn, Mouse), and keeping one of those key pressed will activate the non-default mode of pointer modules (moving vs scrolling). You’ll also be able to specify the default mode for each module, of course. Q: Is it possible to right click and scroll with the touchpad alone? A: Yes! By default, these features are supported out of the box. The upper right region of the trackpad emulates right click. There’s also a scroll zone on the right side and an outer drag and drop zone. Q: Is there a way to design these modules to plug into either half of the keyboard? Currently, it looks like each given module will only work with one half (for instance, the trackpoint only docks on the right half). A: It’s possible to design the trackball, trackpoint and touchpad modules to be both-sided but that’d make them very bulky and unappealing, so we decided against it. We’d like to make other-sided modules available at some point in the future. Q: I’d like to have extra buttons on the trackball / trackpoint module. A: We’ll try to add 2 buttons to these modules, but we’re not sure whether there’ll be enough space for them. We’ll keep you updated on this. Q: I worry about the ergonomics/usability/quality of [your favorite module]. A: We’re very serious about these issues. We’ll get all modules tested by many of you backers, and iterate accordingly to make sure that ergonomics/usability/quality is up to very high standards. The ergonomics and shape of the modules are not finalized yet. Q: Will the modules be compatible with the palm rest? A: Yes! Q: Will 3rd parties be able to make and sell their own modules? Open API, 3D-printable CAD data, and easy-to-buy connectors are really expected for 3rd party module developers. A: The answer is yes to all of the above. We’d love to see more modules and empower the community to make them! You were really creative when it comes to new module possibilities. Here are some of the suggestions: Not all of these modules are feasible - only low-bandwidth (no more than 10-100 kbps) and low-power (no more than tens of milliamps) modules can be implemented. This means that the USB hub, the NFC module, and the wireless charger are out of question. And I’m not sure how bandwidth-intensive the fingerprint scanner is. The rest should be feasible, I believe. We’re super stoked about all the extra perks, so now is the time to make them come to life! If you have any questions, please ask us![your favorite module] be switched from moving the pointer to scrolling by keeping another key pressed?
Suggested modules
- László Monda
The key design principles of the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard are productivity and ergonomics. Over the past 4 weeks the UHK has taken the Internet by storm - proving that our philosophy is on-target. The encouragement we got led us to announce something nobody else has done before.
To take productivity and ergonomics even further, we’re excited to introduce modules to the UHK. A video shows so much more than I could ever tell:
As far as we know, this is the first time anyone has created a truly extendable keyboard - and it really opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Let’s take a closer look at the modules featured in the video.
The key cluster module features 3 regular keys, 2 buttons and a mini trackball which can also be pressed - acting as an extra button.
In-line with the UHK itself, all of these keys and buttons are fully programmable, and you’ll even be able to configure whether you want the trackball to move the pointer or scroll in documents.
Moving vs scrolling is not only configurable for the key cluster module, but for every other module featured below! The modules can be used in conjunction with each-other, so personally, I’d use the mini trackball of the key cluster for scrolling and one of the modules below to move the pointer.
The trackpoint module surely brings back fond memories for those of you who have owned an IBM ThinkPad laptop in the past. With it, you can not only move the pointer, but click by pressing it.
The touchpad module shouldn’t be stranger to anyone, given that it’s a part of pretty much every laptop and netbook ever manufactured. This module takes it to another level by placing the touchpad where it’s easier to reach - right at the middle of the keyboard. Of course, you can emulate clicking with a simple tap.
The trackball module features excellent precision and usability and is well-suited to be used by a thumb.
The UHK is an extensible platform
I cannot emphasize enough that the UHK is a truly extensible platform. In addition to the above modules, we plan to design and manufacture countless others in the future. But we at UGL shouldn’t be the only people able to make new modules.
Just as promised, we’ll open-source the firmware, the electronics and the host-side software. We’ll also extensively document the protocol via which the modules communicate with the keyboard and publish the 3D files that enable you to design new modules yourself. We even use I2C as the basis of our protocol, enabling crazy stuff like chaining multiple modules, or creating submodules of modules.
I personally get all excited when thinking about the range of possibilities. Wanna build a scroll wheel, or a joystick module? How about a mouse sensor that would make the UHK slide and act as a mouse? The possibilities are truly endless!
Which modules do you want?
So which modules should we start with? You tell us! We’re interested in your preferences and opinions. Given enough interest, we may end up manufacturing every one of the above modules during the campaign.
Even though there are standalone pointing devices with which you can both move the pointer and click, we recommend using 2 modules for improved productivity. That’s because even though you can emulate left click with the trackpoint, drag and drop is a pain and you can’t emulate multiple buttons. The thumb cluster provides you all the 3 mouse buttons, drag and drop becomes easier and you can configure its small trackball to scroll instead of moving the pointer. Basically, you can offset the downsides of any pointing device simply with another module!
Just to avoid any misunderstandings, we want to make clear that the key cluster module mounts to the left keyboard half, and the rest of the modules mount to the right keyboard half. Although it’s possible to design both-sided modules, such modules would be more bulky so we’d rather not make the sacrifice. Over time, we may end up designing both left-handed and right-handed versions of these modules. It all depends on your level of support.
The modules that get chosen will be made available for purchase on Tuesday. The expected price is around $50 per module but we’re planning to offer some good deals if you choose at least 2 modules.
- László Monda
Please note that this is a special update that is intended for our Hungarian audience.
Sziasztok!
Azért írok Nektek mert, sikerült elérnünk, hogy közvetlenül Magyarországról szállítsunk egész Európába, ami hatalmas előnyt jelent a számotokra, hiszen így nem kell majd ÁFÁ-t és vámot fizetni átvételkor.
Továbbá kizárólag a magyar vásárlók számára teljes egészében visszatérítjük a szállítási költséget a kampány zárása után pár napon belül. (A Crowd Supply rendszere nem teszi lehetővé, hogy ne kérjünk szállítási költséget, ezért a $24 levonódik vásárláskor, de azt később visszautaljuk.)
Zárószóként pedig hadd jegyezzem meg, hogy November 17-én elő fogok adni a SzegedBoost rendezvényen és 2 prototípust is magammal fogok vinni, amelyeket természetesen kipróbálhattok. Utána akár be is ülhetünk sörözni valahova és beszélgetni ha van kedvetek. Ne felejtsetek el regisztrálni!
A közeljövőben várhatóan elő fogok adni a SzegedTech, illetve a Budapest New Tech meetup rendezvényeken is, amelyekre szintén vinni fogok 2 prototípust. Ezekről az eseményekről külön értesítést fogunk küldeni.
Itt a vége, fuss el véle!
Még van pár Early Bird ajánlatunk és a fenti előnyökkel együtt ez egy soha vissza nem térő alkalom a vásárlásra.
- László Monda
You purchase the gadget of your dreams and open the box with excitement - it’s beautiful, functional, well-designed and puts a smile on your face. It’s hard to imagine that at one point, your gadget was nothing more than a big mess of wires. The final product has come a long way, and in many stages, from wires to being ready for a campaign.
Engineers shed blood and tears working out endless technical challenges all for the sake of a fully functional and reliably working prototype. This is our condensed story of trials and tribulations.
Prototype 1
The basic goals were clear - build a truly split, compact mechanical keyboard that merges as one piece. This is a good start, but still pretty vague. So it’s not surprising that our first prototype ended up like this:
As you can see, we were flirting with the idea of building a USB hub into the UHK, which was ditched later on because of the lack of space. Small Molex connectors were used to connect the two keyboard halves, which saved space but they lacked robustness and repeatability, so they had to go.
The above PCB (printed circuit board) didn’t have any wires, so it wasn’t functional by any means. We really just wanted to get an idea how the keyboard would look. Making the electronics work started on a breadboard like this one:
The development boards at the bottom are the brains of the left and right keyboard halves. The buttons above them implement a 2x2 key matrix, yielding 4 keys per keyboard half. The boards are connected by a wire, making the left board able to send key press and key release events to the right half. The massive board at the top is an Open Bench Logic Sniffer, enabling me to see the communication between the two boards for troubleshooting purposes.
Prototype 2
Finishing the electronics breadboarding, it was time to turn the wires into traces on a PCB to have a functional prototype. This time, we tried a retractable S-Video cable to connect the keyboard halves. The bulkiness of the plugs is obvious, but what you can’t tell is their lack of reliability. 3 LEDs were used per keyboard half to display status information just because it was a simple solution to implement at that time.
Prototype 3
With the PCB started, it was finally time to come up with the final shape of the UHK and get its case 3D printed. On the following picture, the left half was printed using an EOS SLS (selective laser synthesis) machine and the right half was printed on an Objet polyjet. Unlike the left half, the right half is painted and polished. We ended up using SLS for our prototypes because even though it has lower resolution than polyjets, its shape reflects the shape of the CAD model more accurately, and its mechanical qualities are better. This time we switched to an RJ11 retractable cable, which is a lot less bulky than the previous S-Video cable - but it turned out to be similarly unreliable.
Prototype 4
Apart from fixing a lot of errors on the PCB, we added stainless steel inserts to this prototype, letting users to mount the keyboard halves onto many objects. The other day, a disabled person emailed us who will use the inserts to mount the keyboard halves onto his armchair. We’re very glad that our keyboard supports such scenarios out of the box.
At this point, we realized that retractable cables of all kinds are supremely unreliable, and only a cord cable would do the job.
The inclusion of stainless steel inserts reshaped the contour of the PCB quite a bit, as you can see below:
Prototype 5
Our last generation prototype featured only very minor improvements to the PCB. We also found a super talented professional who polished and painted the 3D printed case to make it resemble the final look of the injection molded plastic case.
During the course of working on the UHK, we put more than 10,000 hours into it, and failed numerous times. Every failure taught us a lesson - a way to do something better. There is an industry term called MVP, which stands for Minimum Viable Prototype. The UHK is already far beyond this point.
The prototyping is done, but it’s not quite the end of the story. We have yet to unveil some one-of-a-kind, game changing addons. Stay tuned!