Miniguru progress

lumogas · 23 Feb 2015, 23:49

I say, fellow awaiters of the arrival of the miniguru. Any of you use a Happy Hacking Professional? Can you tell me
if there is any way to set up a second ctrl key on the right side? Or point me somewhere this question would be "in
topic"? Just checking for alternatives...

lowpoly · 24 Feb 2015, 11:15

I have hasu's custom pcb in my HHKB. Best mod ever (I use Colemak). There's a thread on GH where you may be able to get on the waiting list.

Miniguru: I just ordered Rev D controller pcbs, Rev D case is milled, matrix pcb routing should be done soon too.

Muirium · 24 Feb 2015, 11:21

You can use a Colemak layout on your OS without modifying a keyboard, too. But moving mods arbitrarily is more difficult.

lowpoly · 24 Feb 2015, 15:36

How does that work? I always used Autohotkey. Had another .ahk for my cursor layer. But from Windows 7 (?) on that didn't work as reliable anymore. And then there's the login screen, my HHKB is blank and I can't type QWERTY.

Muirium · 24 Feb 2015, 15:40

For the alphas, you can just select a different language for your keyboard. Colemak support's built right into OS X and iOS these days, I'm sure Windows must have it too.

Mods are harder. I don't use Windows, but AHK's the thing people always mention. On the Mac the OS supports swapping mods around like this:

And for everything more complex, there's Karabiner. Which I don't use, because most my keyboards go through Soarer's converter where I do all this stuff myself!

Edit:

lowpoly wrote: ↑And then there's the login screen, my HHKB is blank and I can't type QWERTY.

Oh, of course, now I realise what you mean. It's been a loooong time since I was there. What are AZERTY etc. users supposed to do for their login? Surely languages are respected at the login screen, and Colemak can be installed as one?

lowpoly · 24 Feb 2015, 15:51

Thanks. Unfortunately I'm on Windows. No Colemak here on my Vista machine. Win 8 looks the same but I may have overlooked it.

The reason the ahk mod keys didn't work: I'm used to having the Fn-Layer key left to space. To be able to "grab" that key in AHK I have to map it to "Windows key". The operating system then would do WinKey stuff and ignore AHK. There may be an easy way around it but I never dug into it but rather used another board.

Muirium · 24 Feb 2015, 16:00

Vista? An HHKB with Fn left of the spacebar? Am I having a nightmare or are you?

lowpoly · 24 Feb 2015, 16:19

I never got used to the pinky-centric original HHKB layout. Left-to-spacebar-fn FTW!

Muirium · 24 Feb 2015, 16:23

I use that left key a lot too, but it's Command: the Mac's version of Control with a bunch of extra shortcuts as well. My left hand does mods while my right hand does the arrows I need to make selections for them to act on. Might as well give the little pinkie something to do while all my other fingers are busy!

andrewjoy · 24 Feb 2015, 16:27

Vista !!! Come on man . Win7 is cheap now and you get 10 for free when is out.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-profess ... =windows+7

lowpoly · 24 Feb 2015, 16:35

I see how this is different on a mac. Here I had to move Alt out of the way to have room for Fn.

lowpoly · 24 Feb 2015, 16:41

andrewjoy wrote: ↑Vista !!! Come on man . Win7 is cheap now and you get 10 for free when is out.

This is an old slow machine which I "inherited" from someone else. It's a mess. I only use it for email and internet. Not going to touch it.

Edit: that link looks good though.

HzFaq · 24 Feb 2015, 16:48

Indeed, thanks for that andrew, I've been meaning to upgrade for a while now.

lumogas · 24 Feb 2015, 23:19

...thanks for the reply, apologies for hijacking the thread. Buying an eye-wateringly expensive keyboard
and then tearing it apart to build in a fresh pcb is a bit too terrifying for me. But desperate times demand etc.
I will speak to the Mr Hosu. Though I wish I didn't need to... Hint, hint!

At any rate, glad to see the Miniguru moves forward....

Mal-2 · 25 Feb 2015, 00:34

lowpoly wrote: ↑How does that work? I always used Autohotkey. Had another .ahk for my cursor layer. But from Windows 7 (?) on that didn't work as reliable anymore. And then there's the login screen, my HHKB is blank and I can't type QWERTY.

You can change the keyboard map for the login screen. http://superuser.com/questions/706207/w ... gon-screen

For the benefit of anyone not used to your layout, there is the On Screen Keyboard. It's annoying, but if you're only using it to log in, that should be tolerable.

araif · 28 Feb 2015, 22:42

can I ask what stem/rod/pole you are using to control the trackpoint ? I have one of these http://i.imgur.com/tbaJ99y.jpg and a 2mm wide hole on the plate, and don't really know how to attach something there to move that small plastic nub

lowpoly · 28 Feb 2015, 23:17

Made it myself.

araif · 28 Feb 2015, 23:37

how? is that reproducible by others easily or salable by you?

lowpoly · 01 Mar 2015, 01:51

We're currently working on making them CNC producable. Not sure when they'll be ready to sell.

For DIY you need machines (lathe, drill press, maybe a mill).

amosbird · 01 Mar 2015, 03:00

cookie wrote: ↑In terms of hand travel I think the best position for the Trackpoint would be between J,H,N for right hand use and F,G,V for left hand use. I'd also split the spacebar into 2 or 3 pieces so you have the function Key on your thumbs.

This keyboard would probably be a ergonomic coding monster, I'd love to set all the special characters I need for programming on a function layer so I never have to leave the home row

That's exactly the keyboard I could imagine. Hope it will become real.

araif · 01 Mar 2015, 19:20

lowpoly wrote: ↑We're currently working on making them CNC producable. Not sure when they'll be ready to sell.

For DIY you need machines (lathe, drill press, maybe a mill).

I've access to none of those tools, I'm trying to figure what other stuff could be adapted to that usage, but my head can't come up with a good idea.

jonlorusso · 02 Mar 2015, 01:41

araif wrote: ↑can I ask what stem/rod/pole you are using to control the trackpoint ? I have one of these http://i.imgur.com/tbaJ99y.jpg and a 2mm wide hole on the plate, and don't really know how to attach something there to move that small plastic nub

Is that a Sprintek SK8702?

araif · 02 Mar 2015, 15:33

jonlorusso wrote: ↑Is that a Sprintek SK8702?

possibly yes, that's from an old thinkpad R61 (not really sure as I bought only a compatible used keyboard for 5$ from ebay).

lowpoly · 04 Mar 2015, 17:18

This thread is one year old.

On the bright side, the developer who left in November will be back for a month.

7bit · 04 Mar 2015, 20:01

No hurry!

GH60 is still waiting for stabilisers and the qHack prototype PCBs are not even ordered.

justin · 05 Mar 2015, 05:47

lowpoly wrote: ↑This thread is one year old.

On the bright side, the developer who left in November will be back for a month.

I'm waiting your keyboard for sell !!

If you need any help , please contact me !! don't mind

Justin@tex-design.com.tw

lowpoly · 05 Mar 2015, 10:57

Hi Justin, thanks.

As soon as the prototype works I have to evaluate all my options. I won't be able to work fulltime on this project anymore, so, thanks for the offer.

justin · 06 Mar 2015, 05:24

Hi !! If you need CNC help , I think maybe I can provide some service to you !!

Hope you make this keyboard !!

When we can try prototype ???

fruitsaladfingers · 20 Mar 2015, 20:00

Lowpoly, just wanted to add my excitement/support. Many people are eager to see this keyboard a reality. You mentioned a developer helping you - is there much progress to be reported? An estimated timeline or overall update would be fantastic.

Also, I just recently saw the qhack design and was wondering if the miniguru will support leds or implement a way to scroll (not necessarily via a wheel). Also, I noticed you painted an earlier prototype white (which looks SWEET), but will it be available in black? You also mentioned the keys to all be programmable, which is great! Many people seem to love HHKB because of topre switches; is it possible to use topre switches in the miniguru?

Thank you and I look forward to an update and the final product!

lowpoly · 19 May 2015, 18:07

lowpoly wrote: ↑On the bright side, the developer who left in November will be back for a month.

He was back, but only for a few days. Soldered the Rev D controller but it wouldn't work. There's one (other) guy left working on it and during the last weeks he managed to debug the pcb and fix it so that it works now. One basic function doesn't. I have to look into that, I think it's a programming issue. The new Rev D switch pcb is soldered too and both should be on the way to my office as we speak. We found a few minor bugs that shouldn't hurt function but we'll have to do another pcb revision in the future. My goal is to have something working and I think we could be close.

The Rev D case is milled already and I have to "brush" it. This one should go to powder coating, clear, with black keycaps.

fruitsaladfingers wrote: ↑Lowpoly, just wanted to add my excitement/support. Many people are eager to see this keyboard a reality. You mentioned a developer helping you - is there much progress to be reported? An estimated timeline or overall update would be fantastic.

No timeline, we already had one long ago. Never again!

fruitsaladfingers wrote: ↑Also, I just recently saw the qhack design and was wondering if the miniguru will support leds or implement a way to scroll (not necessarily via a wheel)..

I have LEDs on F, J (help for locating the home row) and Escape. In any case, switch and controller pcbs are separate so it's easy to replace the switch pcb with a new one with more LEDs for ex. There already is an I2C connection to the switch pcb so you can program it over the existing FFC.

Scroll: we have a touch controller implemented. You should be able to glue some copper foil into the space bar (two wedges) and connect these to the touch controller. You can also scroll with the trackpoint (high pressure). I already programmed that a long time ago, I hope it's still in, there were some revisions.

Here we put that same touch controller in our robot (please ignore the rubber dome):

In the beginning he doesn't react immediately but that's not a touch controller problem. This is what the sensors look like:

For a scroller you take a rectangle and cut it from one corner to an opposite corner giving you too wedge-like sensors. Moving your finger over these will always result in one sensor having a stronger signal which is how you can measure movement.

fruitsaladfingers wrote: ↑Also, I noticed you painted an earlier prototype white (which looks SWEET), but will it be available in black?

I have no idea what the final colors will be. It will probably not depend on what I like.

fruitsaladfingers wrote: ↑Many people seem to love HHKB because of topre switches; is it possible to use topre switches in the miniguru?

I already said it before, the switch pcb is easily replaceable. But will I do it? Don't think so. Getting it done is enough right now.