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For anyone interested, the second prototype for th...
# tornadofx
e
For anyone interested, the second prototype for the PCB seems to be flawless, I'm typing on the TornadoKeyboard now, and the instability issues I had in the first release (due to a faulty crystal footprint in my cad package) are now completely gone.
r
I can't wait to see the final product. That's going to be one awesome and sexy keyboard 🙂
e
@Ruckus It's working extremely well already! You do need to get used to ortholinear layouts, but that doesn't take very long. The switch to having enter in the middle is also super easy. If you've never used a POK3R or similar keyboard where the arrow keys are on a modifier etc, it might take a few weeks to get used to though. And you will be frustrated as heck in the beginning 🙂
But right now, I'm writing on this thing with around 120 RPM no problem.
Not RPM. WPM 🙂
r
I haven't every used any kind of programmable or otholinear keyboard. I basically just stick with whatever work will give me. (Elsewhere I just use my laptop.)
e
Interested to see how this will be for you, a lot of new stuff thrown at you at once 🙂 I'll make sure to get some informational videos and the UI editor out there before I send you one!
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r
I've been afraid to get into the keyboard craze for fear it will make me start hating other keyboards I have to use 🙂
I did have a pretty crazy .vimrc back in school though, so I guess that sort of counts for programming the keyboard...
e
That's always a possibility, and I felt like that in the beginning, but it dies down. Now I can use whatever, but I really really prefer mechanical keyboards.
r
Sounds good to me 🙂
You said it's a 60%, right?
e
Yes 🙂
That's actually also the color scheme for the custom keycaps.
You get to the side printed labels by clicking the left space.
Which is just an FN button really.
You can program it to be any other button, and even move the stuff on the other layers around. You can create 32 layers in total.
r
Nice. That's also a really convenient size to carry around
e
Yeah, and mine is actually even a bit smaller than a default 60% 🙂
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r
Can you swap which space is the space and which is the FN? I would use it as is, but I was wondering if the right one is "hard coded" as space.
e
@Ruckus There is absolutely nothing that is hard coded, you can swap them if you like, or even have both of them act as space and be fn when they are held and space when they are tapped.
r
Nice 🙂 How complex can the interactions be? Could you, for example, have them both be space when pressed separately but be FN when pressed together (I know it would be a horrible user experience, just curious)
e
Yeah, that's pretty easy to do.
I have a pretty gory shift key scheme.
When I press left shift I get ( and when I press right shift I get )
If I hold it, it acts as normal shift.
But..
If I hold left shift and then tap right shift I get { and vice versa I get }
Also, If I hold left Control and tap right shift I get [ and vice versa.
That's just for fun though, wanted to see if it works. The stock firmware doesn't do that.
To upload a new firmware, you use the gui software to move your definitions around and hit the four buttons in the corner of the keyboard to flash it with the changes.
That's pretty convenient 🙂
r
That is really convenient
e
Yeah, but I also added a physical button in case of emergency 🙂
r
Good plan 🙂
Are the definitions written as a config file, or is it compiled code?
(Forgive my ignorance)
e
It's compiled C code.
The UI configurator sends a JSON blob to a compile server which sends a hex file
back to the keyboard.
r
Ah, that makes sense. I figured it would need to be compiled or you'd have pretty bad latency issues.
e
Not to mention storage issues, there is only 32k of flash on this thing.
r
Fair
e
It's running at a blazing 16Mhz
8bit
r
🙂
e
Since I have no prior EE experience I was a little worried about the logical layout of the components, but it's looking pretty darn good for now. Stress testing it as much as possible before the first batch gets sent out.
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r
I think it looks pretty good, but I don't have any either, so I probably not the best judge 🙂
e
Hehe.. I'm going for visually appealing, and hope the rest sorts itself out.
r
Good plan 🙂 You can get away with a lot so long as you have the looks (there are a number of big tech companies that prove that pretty thoroughly)
e
Hehe.. I have a friend who knows this stuff, so he'll go over it when it's time. The thing is that it only takes a few hours to lay out the whole board, I've done it twice already, so moving it around is no big deal.
r
Nice
Out of curiosity? Why are all the keys legends centered except 
<
, 
>
, and 
?
? Even the other symbols are, but not those three.
e
Because I messed up! Thanks, contacting Signature Plastics now! hehe
It's all good, they did what I meant, not what I wrote.
Just checked the latest mockup they sent me. Phew!
r
Okay, good. It was just giving me a bit of an OCD twitch 🙂
e
Same here, when I actually noticed! hehe
🙂 1
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