Trackball and touchpad module progress

2019-12-11

Hi there, and welcome to the monthly UHK status update!

TL;DR: We’ve made progress with the trackball and touchpad modules. Some outstanding UHK reviews have been published.

Trackball and touchpad module progress

I recently thought I’d finished the firmware for the trackball module and it would be ready to demonstrate for all of you. I can give you a demonstration, but it’s not what I was hoping for.

As you can see, the pointer moves in highly erratic fashion, and it heavily drifts toward the top right corner. I can affect the pointer by moving the trackball toward the bottom left corner, but the erratic movement usually overpowers my movements. I believe that this is a side-effect of insufficient filtering on the PCB, but it’s really just a wild guess on my part, and I’ve contacted PixArt, the manufacturer of the optical sensor who will help.

As for the touchpad, we’ve increased its resolution and sensing area.

The big footprint is for an optionally solderable 2x20 pin 0.1" connector that directly mates with the Azoteq CT210A-S dongle for configuration and diagnostics purposes.

The new design is a clear improvement over the old one, but we still have some work to do based Azoteq’s new feedback. The ground must be routed in a very specific way to maximize sensor performance. It’s not rocket science, just finicky. István is working on the next PCB version.

Next up, I’ll be working on the firmware for the trackpoint module, and will implement the suggestions of PixArt to make the trackball module work flawlessly. I hope that I’ll be able to showcase at least one, but hopefully both of these modules in our next monthly update. The key cluster module prototype is already fully functional, and the touchpad module will come last.

UHK reviews

Quite a few UHK reviews have been made recently. Let’s take a look at them!

ShopzadaPH has made an extremely thorough review featuring an unboxing, the keycaps, layout, switches, and configuration of the UHK. He really left no stone unturned, and the production quality is great. This one is highly recommended if you’re considering purchasing a UHK.

Thomas Ran is the king of the hill when it comes to mechanical keyboard reviews on YouTube, and he’s just reviewed the UHK. In his review, he emphasizes that he’s not an ergo guy, and yet, he’s done a great job of explaining the fundamentals of ergo boards and reviewing the UHK.

I met Christian Bäuerlein in 2018, as he's the organizer of Mechanicon, the meetup for mechanical keyboard enthusiasts in Germany. He recently offered to review the UHK, and given his formidable experience with mechanical keyboards, I gladly said yes. I think he’s done a great job of capturing the essence of the UHK in his review, including unboxing, assembly, layout, configuration, switches and keycaps.

Hardware.Info may well be the largest testing lab for computer hardware, peripherals and consumer electronics in the Benelux, which shows in their UHK review, as it’s so detailed, it’s almost like a mad science experiment. Thanks to the magic of Google Translate, English readers can read the translated English review, or read the original Dutch review.

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!

We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK, and are looking forward to talking to you on 2020-01-10.

Key cluster and trackball module progress

2019-11-11

Hi there, and welcome to the monthly UHK status update!

TL;DR: The key cluster module is now fully functional, and the trackball module is partially functional. Some awesome UHK reviews have been released.

Key cluster and trackball module progress

In our previous update, we shared a video about the latest key cluster module prototype. It worked reasonably well, but the responsiveness of its mini trackball left a lot to be desired. I’m happy to report that we’ve fixed this issue as you can see in the following video.

(UHKs are not backlit yet. We'll release a backlight upgrade kit at some point, and future UHK hardware versions will be backlit.)

As it turned out, the mini trackball only works well with bipolar hall-effect sensors, and now that we’re using the right kind of sensor, it picks up every tiny movement just as expected. I’m very pleased with the usability and responsivity of the mini trackball, and it feels like a great tool for scrolling in all directions.

As for the trackball module, I assembled the new PCB and gave it a try. As seen in the above video, the buttons work as expected. I haven’t yet implemented the most important part, which is the communication with the optical sensor IC - this will be my next task.

I’d like to make every module prototype work by the end of the year. The key cluster module already works well. The electronics of the trackball and trackpoint modules seem fine so far, and I have yet to write firmware for them, so they should be in close reach. The touchpad PCB is expected to be redesigned soon according to Azoteq’s instructions, so it may take a bit more time.

Following the prototyping phase of the modules, mass production will take additional time. We don’t have a solid ETA on the modules yet, and we’ll be keeping you updated.

UHK reviews

Minimalistik is a powerhouse when it comes to keyboard reviews, and he’s just made a UHK review. I believe he’s captured the essence of the UHK very well.

The Techne has also reviewed the UHK in his contagiously enthusiastic style which I particularly enjoy.

As an internationally known strength coach/personal trainer, Bernd Stößlein is not our typical customer, which is exactly what makes his UHK review so interesting.

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!

We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK, and are looking forward to talking to you on 2019-12-10.

New Agent release and module progress

2019-10-11

Hi there, and welcome to our monthly status update!

TL;DR: We’ve released a new Agent version after a long time without changes. We’ve made a functional key cluster module, and made progress with the trackpoint module.

New Agent release

It’s been a whopping ten months since we released the latest Agent version. We’ve actually been working on Agent since the latest release quite consistently, but weren’t able to publish a release due to the lack of a valid Windows Authenticode certificate. Long story short, we finally have a certificate, and recently released new Agent versions.

Feel free to check out the changelog on the GitHub Agent releases page. We’ve mostly fixed and polished a number of issues. A particularly useful feature is a dedicated Mac pointer speed preset which you should try out if the UHK mouse pointer movement feels slow on your Mac.

We’ve also implemented the fanciest UHK feature to this day: Agent shows whether the UHK is split or merged, and displays whether the left half is connected. Obligatory demo follows:

(UHKs are not backlit yet. We'll release a backlight upgrade kit at some point, and future UHK hardware versions will be backlit.)

Admittedly, this feature is pretty useless in itself, but it’ll actually be useful in the future. The same mechanism will be used to show the modules. Imagine connecting your modules, seeing them show up, and be able to configure them with a click of a button. And talking about modules...

Functional key cluster module

After a fair deal of prototyping, the key cluster module actually works. Again, obligatory demo follows:

You probably noticed the little thingie at the bottom of the key cluster module.

As you can see, it’s an FFC cable. Our current FFC cable manufacturer couldn’t make a cable of merely 13 mm length, so we used a much longer off-the-shelf cable for the time being. I actually doubt whether an FFC cable of such short length can be made, but an FPC (flexible printed circuit) can surely be made. But we’ll probably end up using a rigid-flex board as the best solution.

Apart from the above slight change, there’s another issue. I noticed that the responsiveness of the trackball is lacking compared to the previous prototype. The new, smaller hall-effect sensors are probably not sufficiently sensitive to pick up all the magnetic state changes of the mini trackball.

I wired the old mini trackball breakout board to the key cluster trackball board to be able to test it with the key cluster module, and the change in responsiveness was immediately apparent. The right board is super responsive, and the left one skips the beat very often, especially when moving it quickly.

I think we’ll revert to the previous hall-effect sensor, and try to pack them tighter to be able to fit them on the board.

Trackpoint module

We’ve made progress regarding the interconnection of the top and bottom trackpoint boards. There isn’t enough space for an FFC connector on the top trackpoint board which contains the actual trackball sensor, so the cable needs to be directly soldered to it. I designed an FPC for this purpose, and we plan to use hot bar soldering to affix it to the top board.

I used a soldering iron for prototyping purposes. So far, so good!

This module should work well, and I’m excited to write firmware for it, and for the rest of the modules.

UHK unboxing video

ShopzadaPH has made an awesome unboxing video of the UHK which you’re welcome to watch:

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!

We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK, and are looking forward to talking to you on 2019-11-11.

Module PCBs assembled

2019-09-10

Hi there, and welcome to our monthly status update!

First things first, we’ve finally delivered every UHK, including the ones with non-black cases! If you want to order a UHK, possibly with a non-black case, now’s the time. New orders ship in a week.

As for the modules, we keep making progress. Each of the module PCBs has been assembled since our last update.

Key cluster

The main key cluster PCB didn’t create any unexpected surprises.

His little brother, the key cluster trackball PCB, however, has proven to be more difficult.

The surface area of this board is merely 1 square centimeter or 0.15 square inch. This is not a whole lot of room for a dozen components, and we can’t make it larger due to the lack of space.

The PCB fab kept rejecting this board because the components were too close to the edges. The only solution was to use smaller magnetic sensor (which detect the rotation of the mini trackball). 

We ended up using a sensor with the HVSOF5 footprint, which is ridiculously small compared to the other components we use. I’m waiting for this part, and it’ll be quite an exercise to solder it. But I’m ready for the challenge, and so is my new microscope.

Trackball

The trackball board came out pretty nicely. It’s also completely useless, unfortunately.

While soldering the parts, I realized that the pinout of the ADNS-3530 optical sensors is backwards. The datasheet features the “top side” of the component, but as far as we’re concerned that’s the bottom side. Unlike trackballs, regular mice probably use this component in a reverse-mounted fashion, hence the misunderstanding.

Istvan has redesigned this board, and it’ll be fabbed soon.

Trackpoint

There’s not much to say about the trackpoint PCB. I haven’t found any issues yet. I think it’ll work well once I write firmware for it.

Touchpad

The touchpad PCB has turned out pretty well, too.

This board is hardly our final iteration though. Azoteq, the manufacturer of the IQS572 touch sensor IC that we use, reached out to us and offered to review our design.

They made suggestions on how to improve the ESD immunity of the design, but perhaps even more importantly, they suggested to use a finer pitched sensor matrix to improve the resolution and increase the sensing area of the touchpad.

We plan to implement their suggestions, and then we’ll send some samples to them for further review. The sensor IC is very sophisticated and has a myriad of configuration parameters, so having it tweaked by Azoteq will be extremely helpful. Azoteq provides the best support I’ve witnessed so far, and I’m very impressed by them.

As previously mentioned, we don’t have an ETA on the modules yet. We keep making progress, and we’ll announce the ETA when the time comes.

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!

We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK, and are looking forward to talking to you on 2019-10-10.

Module PCBs are ready

2019-08-13

Hi there, and welcome to our monthly status update!

István, our PCB designer, has been on steroids, and he finished the PCBs for every module! The boards are being fabricated right now, and are expected to arrive in a week - at which point I’ll assemble them.

We already showed an inside look of the key cluster module in an earlier post, so this time, I’d like to showcase the right-side modules. I’ll feature three images per module: the assembled version, the half-assembled version, and the latest PCB which is being fabricated.

Please note that the following modules are only prototypes. Their color is not representative, and neither is their surface quality, which will be way smoother once the modules get injection-molded. The color of the PCBs will also differ, as we’ll use black soldermask for the final boards.

Trackball

The trackball only has a single PCB. It utilizes the ADNS-3530 optical sensor, which happens to be the most compact optical sensor according to my knowledge. The retaining ring can be removed by rotating it counter-clockwise, so one can easily clean the ball.

Trackpoint

The trackpoint is composed of two boards. The top board is provided by our supplier and contains the actual trackpoint module. The bottom board is designed by us, and its purpose is to do protocol translation between the PS/2 protocol of the trackball PCB and the I2C module protocol of the UHK.

Touchpad

The touchpad module is composed of two boards. The bottom board is a trivial one which simply routes the pogo pin header to an FFC connector, supplying power and data to the top board. The top board does the actual sensing using the Azoteq IQS572 touchpad sensor IC. The top side of the touchpad will be covered by black film.

When I said that that the boards are ready, what I really meant is that these boards should be fully functional. Their design is not set in stone yet, but we expect only very minor changes going forward. Even our mechanical design is fairly advanced and should contain the mechanical features needed for injection-molding.

As I previously mentioned, we don’t have a solid ETA on the modules yet. As you can see, we’re making rapid progress, and we’ll get there, but we surely won’t rush them, as we want to get them right.

Your feedback

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!

We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK, and are looking forward to talking to you on 2019-09-10.

How to use macros on the UHK?

2019-07-17

Once in a while, we get emails asking how to use macros on the UHK, so let's see how.

First up, the macro has to be created. You can see some default macros under the Macro section of the sidebar. You can add new macros with the plus button.

Second, you have to assign the macro. You can assign a macro to any key of any layer of any keymap. Let's say you want to assign the "Go to UHK site in browser" macro to the Q key of the Fn layer of the "QWERTY for PC" keymap. This way, the macro can be triggered via Fn+Q.

To assign the macro, simply go to the target keymap, choose the target layer, and click on the target key. Then the key action popover will appear. Click on the Macro tab, choose the desired macro, click on the "Remap key" button, and finally click on the "Save to keyboard" button that appears in the bottom right corner.

You've made it! Happy macroing!

Module prototypes galore

2019-07-10

Hi there, and welcome to our monthly status update!

We’ve been making quite a bit of progress with the modules, and have mechanically prototyped the key cluster, trackball, and trackpoint modules.

The overall mechanical design, the shape of the PCBs, and the way the PCBs are interconnected inside the modules are pretty much finalized at this point.

All of these prototypes are 3D-printed, and even though we use state-of-the-art SLS (selective laser sintering) 3D-printing technology, their quality, finish, and accuracy is a far cry compared to the final injection molded plastic parts. To give you a reference point, this is how the final key cluster module is expected to look.

Right now, the key cluster prototype features a PCB without traces, only meant to be used for mechanical prototyping. But we’ve designed a functional PCB in the meantime, sent its design to the fab, and the manufactured PCB should arrive in a couple of days. This will allow us to make a fully-functional key cluster prototype.

Similarly to the key cluster module prototype, the above trackball module is only a mechanical prototype, but the functional PCB has been designed in the meantime, was sent to the fab, and should be manufactured soon.

The design of the the trackpoint module PCB is in progress, and we’ll submit it to the fab as soon as we can. Afterwards, the touchpad will follow.

Let’s see some UHK pictures with the modules mounted.

We’re super excited to see the modules coming to fruition after such a long time. I’ll make demo videos as soon as we’re ready with the functional module prototypes. We still don’t have a solid ETA on them, but we’ll be keeping you updated.

Your feedback

You guys keep sending your awesome tweets, and we’re always eager to read and feature them! If you got your UHK and haven’t tweeted yet, you’re welcome to share!

We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK, and are looking forward to talking to you on 2019-08-13.

UHK mounting layout

2019-06-16

Some of you asked how to mount your UHK to your armchair or custom-made accessories, so let us provide a drawing of the back of the UHK. The drawing features the 8 bronze inserts that allow for mounting.

Click on the image for its higher resolution version, or download the drawing in PDF or DXF format.

Key cluster and trackpoint module progress

2019-06-13

TL;DR: We’ve been making progress with the key cluster and trackpoint modules. New orders ship in a week, except non-black UHK cases.

Hi there, and welcome to our monthly status update! Let’s get right to it!

Production status

If you want your UHK shipped in a week, you should pick the black UHK case option. Otherwise your order will take longer due to temporary parts shortages. This shortage was mentioned in our previous monthly update, and we’ve been working on resolving it, but it’s taking more time than anticipated.

If you have any questions about the ETA of your order, please do read the delivery status page. We keep this page up-to-date, and we’re unable to provide more accurate information, not even if you email us.

Module progress

In our previous monthly update, I included a picture of the development board for the key cluster module. In the meantime, I’ve also written firmware to drive it, so here comes its obligatory demonstration:

From a technical standpoint, the BlackBerry trackball is an interesting little beast. The ball itself is not even electrically connected to the PCB. Instead, its four spindles rotate when pushed in the four directions. The spindles contain magnets which alter their magnetic fields about 9 times during a 360 degree rotation, and the alternating magnetic field is detected by the hall-effect sensors on the PCB.

Given its limited resolution, the BlackBerry trackball is hardly an ideal device for controlling the mouse pointer (right-sided modules will perform far better in that department), but it’s very well suited for scrolling in every direction. I’m actually surprised how well it’s already working, even though it’s the first working prototype. Over time, we’ll make the acceleration and speed of the mini trackball configurable, which will make it even more useful.

As far as the firmware goes, firstly, I slightly extended the UHK module protocol responsible for the keyboard halves and modules to communicate with each other. This allowed for the transmission of not only key states, but also pointer movement information. Then I wrote a driver for the BlackBerry trackball purely using interrupt handlers, which is the most efficient approach there is. Finally, I made the key cluster transmit the pointer movement information of the BlackBerry trackball to the right keyboard half which is the brain of the UHK.

The above pictures feature our most recent mechanical key cluster prototype. The creation of a working PCB is underway.

We’ve also made a mechanical prototype of the inside of the trackpoint module:

We may change the trackpoint component depending on various design constraints, but the overall mechanical design is expected to be close to final.

We’ve actually made progress with every one of the modules, but haven’t yet prototyped the others. We’ll be sharing all their juicy details in our upcoming newsletters.

Your feedback

You keep sending your nice tweets which we’re grateful for! Please keep them coming!

We’ll be keeping you updated on all things UHK, and we’re looking forward to talking to you on 2019-07-10.

Mapping a virtual numpad on the UHK

2019-06-06

People ask from time to time whether we provide a numeric keypad. The answer is no, but one can create a virtual numpad very easily in Agent, the configurator application of the UHK.

See the following screenshot. The numpad is mapped to the Fn layer, and its keys are laid out in a familiar fashion.

The big advantage of a virtual numpad is that one doesn't have to reach out all the way to the other side of the keyboard. This results in increased productivity, and the mouse is much closer, too. That is, if you even use a mouse after mastering the UHK mouse layer.

As a last word, make sure you have Num Lock enabled, otherwise your numpad keys will function according to their bottom function, like Home instead of 7 and such. You can map Num Lock to any key of your UHK.

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