Programmable Vintage board PCBs - Omnikey, AT101, and Z-150

[scottc]

Ouch. That's a pain. I'd forgotten about that.

Maybe we can tempt you with an all bent aluminium custom case that can house standard PCBs instead?

When is a keyboard still a keyboard?

I’ve no purpose in buying another MX board. Indeed, I’d rather just shift these parts. Replacing the lot of them with nothing feels more efficient than buying vaguely related shit, in addition.

Sounds a bit like sunken cost fallacy to me! The cost of buying a new PCB and case and reusing the switches and caps is probably still lower than the cost (and more importantly, time!) to design a new PCB, prototype it, buy 10 of them, [...] for this bespoke case. But I understand where you're coming from.

About the Dell: You could just use an in-line converter instead of a full replacement controller since all of the keys would send scancodes.

[Muirium]

True. What I'm really thinking, as I said, is just getting rid of the custom 60% entirely, so it stops tempting me to sink more effort into it / making me feel bad that I have not. There are no caps exclusively set aside for it—damn thing was my gateway to the Signature Plastics singularity!—only those steel plates and MX greens. I was already spoiled by model F when they arrived, so the humdrum switches never much compelled me.

As for the Dell, I'm looking into Bluetooth controllers. What I really want is straight up access to the switch matrix, without any vintage chips getting in the way and drawing juice. My Bluetooth HHKB got me hooked. I've a few small boards that are really calling out for it, but bigger cases give me room to better learn the ropes, so I'm thinking. That SGI is so pretty, and so pristinely useless!

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:
So bad news...3 invoices went unpaid and because of this the AT101 dropped down to only 5 PCBs. I will push this through still as I can make the boards using the companies prototype process instead which is a tad cheaper, because I don't pay for the tooling to use in the future, still great quality just they limit the options to make it cheaper to produce. So boards will be gloss blue this time and have lead free HASL instead of ENIG to save money.

As for the Z-150 orders dropped to 8, but I am giving someone the chance to order the 9th board which will drop the price to $61 if they choose to order.

Because of the way this GB has barely stayed afloat, I will no longer be selling PCBs and will focus my time elsewhere seeing as I can't even make MOQ and have to lose money, time and effort just to sell things. I wish this didn't go how it did, but shit happens and we have to move on if it is no longer sustainable. This will not be the last time you see products designed by me, but the last time I run them in this manner, I will one day be a big name, mark my words.

[Hak Foo]

I'm sorry this has went so poorly.

You provided a real service-- producing a product that could be turned into a functional board at a modest price (no $150 custom plate/case), and appealing to relatively underserved markets: Alps fans and 100% enthusiasts.

And yet, the next MX 60% group buy, just like the last one but with an extra LED, will sell out 12 times over. I don't get this hobby.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

I just placed the order with the manu, should have the boards in 2-3 weeks. Manufacturing will take 8 days for the Z-150 and 5 days for the AT101, and shipping to me is via DHL so it will take only a few days for that.

Thank you to all who ordered I wish this went better than it did, but the market isn't looking for this at the moment it seems. I have other, much larger projects in the works so look forward to some ground breaking things coming in the future, including PCBs, Cases and Switches.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

The inserts are on their way, and everyone actually got upgraded to inserts for 6.25U, 6.5U and 7U as it was easier to print the same thing as the Nexus GB all at once rather than spend more money to get the 6.25U only printed.

The PCBs are scheduled to finish on 8/10 so I will update once they actually ship.

I have been working on the firmware in the meantime but have been taking it slow trying to figure out the Z-150 out as I need to setup two separate layouts and it is my first time doing so.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

PCBs have shipped, no eta yet as the tracking hasn't updated yet.

The inserts were supposed to get here today, but now the tracking says tomorrow...

Will update when I get more info.


Still working on the firmware, but have a bunch of other projects going on in the background so I haven't made much progress.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

Inserts have arrived!!! Don't have a picture atm.

PCBs will be here monday.

Still struggling with the Z-150 firmware...if anyone knows how you are supposed to setup multiple layouts for a single board that would really help because I am not sure if I have done it correctly or if I am way off. I may have to upload as is and get someone to fix it for me.

The AT101 firmware hasn't been started yet, but it only has a single layout so that is easy to do, just a pain to format because of the way the matrix had to be laid out to fit on a Teensy 2.0.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

PCBs have arrived!!!! These are way better quality than the last manu, and I am really happy to see how well they came out. Even the AT101 looks amazing as is.

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I haven't checked packaging yet to see how much I have left, but I have been really busy so I hadn't gotten to it yet. I will be shipping this week and next week as I can but it may take a bit because these boards came at a very busy time for me so sorry in advance if I ship any a tad late, plus this time I don't have a running car so shipping takes a bit more effort(I am fixing my car this weekend).

As for the firmware I am basically done with the AT101, just have to do the final touches to add the info on the board. The Z-150 is still not finished as I still have no idea how to setup the multiple layouts in QMK, so if anyone knows how that is done I would appreciate it if you could help me.

Oh and I noticed a mistake I made on the Z-150 that I sadly missed during layout...The board doesn't support split backspace as they are identical switches, and not individual like they are supposed to be. So if you were planning on doing split backspace I am very sorry, I didn't notice until I was trying to figure out the layout for QMK.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

...Okay, so I feel like an idiot right now. I just looked at the AT101 PCB and noticed that for some reason the nav and numpad are misaligned and I honestly don't know how that happened. I remember checking this multiple times but somehow that error still exists.

So I will need to order replacement AT101 PCBs, which will take another week or so. I am very, very sorry and I am pissed at myself for this mistake. I am currently fixing the issue which will take tonight and a bit of tomorrow and then I will place the order. This shouldn't take nearly as long because the prototype process is much faster than the normal production timeline that the Z-150 took.

The Z-150 isn't affected and I actually built in some playroom for the function cluster, due to me not having on in person, so it will work.

I will send the messed up PCBs if requested because they can be used for a different project if you wish to put in the effort. They are fully functioning PCBs just not AT101 spacing.

[Hak Foo]

Your directness and transparency counts for a lot.

Incidentally, the picture where you've stacked the PCBs and it looks like one board with sixty function keys... that's my endgame layout right there.

[BlindAssassin111]

Your directness and transparency counts for a lot.

Incidentally, the picture where you've stacked the PCBs and it looks like one board with sixty function keys... that's my endgame layout right there.

Thank you! I prefer to be truthful and upfront about issues, even if it may make me look incompetent at times.

lol, I am up for designing something crazy one day but I have to get some other projects done first. If you ever need me to design you a PCB and do a small run of 5, let me know! I would prefer to do that over designing another PCB for a vintage board that fails.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

Got the updated boards and they fit!!! Only one of the peg holes is off, which sucks because I did move it to fix but I don't think that change saved because it lines up just like the last version. So you may need to shave the little ribs on the upper peg on the bottom case halve to allow the PCB to sit properly(the one that actually passes through the PCB). Otherwise everything is good, switches lineup and are easy to install and all mounting screws line up.

Sorry for the delayed shipping I was also waiting on diodes and packaging material to show up and the packaging was delivered to the wrong address...So I didn't get it until today.

I will start packaging tomorrow hopefully but my car isn't 100% fixed atm, so I can't guarantee that any will actually ship tomorrow or wednesday.

[BlindAssassin111]

Update:

All boards were shipped on monday, most US orders should be delivered or will be delivered tomorrow.

The AT101 firmware is good to go and ready for you to use to program your boards via QMK.

The Z-150 firmware is still being worked on and has been giving me issues that I am having trouble locating, I hope to have it fixed by tomorrow if not tonight.

[Hak Foo]

I finally got the chance to put things together. The relatively small switch leg holes are pretty tidy. It's running some old Matias clickies and some new, but I think I'll have to decide on a keycap design.

Does the default firmware map have the "menu" key mapped to some sort of function layer? It doesn't respond in tests, but I know a lot of people sacrifice it for a Fn. It also seems like both shifts are left-shif.

[BlindAssassin111]

I finally got the chance to put things together. The relatively small switch leg holes are pretty tidy. It's running some old Matias clickies and some new, but I think I'll have to decide on a keycap design.

Does the default firmware map have the "menu" key mapped to some sort of function layer? It doesn't respond in tests, but I know a lot of people sacrifice it for a Fn. It also seems like both shifts are left-shif.

The menu key is mapped to "KC_MENU" did you make sure to put in all diodes? If yes, then I have no idea...

And yes both shifts are left shift because I messed up lol, and I thought I uploaded the fix but I guess not...I spent hours trying to fix issues and missed that one.

[Hak Foo]

I was able to assemble a working firmware by playing with the QMK configurator site and mixing bits with the original release.

It looks like the issue is that KC_APP is the right code for that key to work as expected.

[Tonyv_73]

Hello, Im new to the mechanical keyboard community, I have interest in using an omnikey ultra-t, and came across this thread, are there any plans for another round of PCBs? I also came across an "avant stellar" keyboard, are those any good?

thanks!

[Polecat]

The Avant Stellar was the same as the fourth generation Northgate Ultra T. They were programmable, with Windows keys, and used the same heavy construction and steel bottom cover as the earlier Northgates. But the EEPROM that holds the programming is prone to failure (can be removed, but you lose that function) and the switches are simplified Alps instead of complicated. Keycaps were printed instead of double shot. The Avants were available in black as well as beige. They're a good candidate for swapping earlier Alps switches but putting together a better set of keycaps can be a challenge.

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=5700&p=475669&hilit=avant#p475669

The Gen3 Ultra T was more common, with complicated white Alps switches and double shot keycaps. No Windows keys, and not programmable (other than the SF function keys).

[Jan Pospisil]

Damn, didn't know this used to be a thing. Shame it seems over and done, I would've loved to get PCBs for my AT101s.