Good news, the writer looks and feels wonderful when assembled. Bad news, I've encountered a series of problems with this PCB.
Right off the bat, it seemed like there was no bootloader that should have been already programmed to the microcontroller. Then when I went to try putting on the bootloader myself, the whole device was never detected at all.
Turns out there was a missing fuse intended to protect the board from a bad USB port or any similar shorts. It was listed in the PCB files that were sent but not placed on the board. Not a huge deal because it was just the small test batch and one component isn't so bad to install myself just while testing to see if it all works. However, even bypassing the fuse by wiring the pads directly to each other did not make it work. I really hope this won't be too hard to iron out.
The case and components all fit together wonderfully, though. Here are some pictures of the underside of the PCB and the general size and shape.
Unlike this photo, the actual keyboard will have all plastic keys rather than the spare aluminium ones I used here. Also, the case will be metal rather than the plastic shown here.
Gabe
Apr 06, 2017
Scott, will it be possible to mount one of these on a tripod?
Kevin
Mar 26, 2017
Wow, Scott! Sorry for the bad news! Sure glad for the update, though. Thanks for keeping us in the loop, and good luck getting the ironing done. Great call doing the single run.
Andy Dwelly
Mar 25, 2017
(Happy customer of the original and planning to buy this one too)
I wonder if I could make a small suggestion about key caps. On many qwerty keyboards there is a subtle raised line on the F and J keys specifically for touch typists to locate the home row without looking. Could something similar be done here? In steno the home ‘row’ lies between the 2nd and third rows of keys. Perhaps a small notch on the lower edge of H on the left and F on the right, and a similar one on the upper edge of left R and right R?
In fact if these key caps were available for the original soft Hruf, I would buy those too.