🐣 March Updates
Happy Easter! 🐰 Exciting things are on the horizon, so let's get right into this month's updates:
TL;DR: Theseus75 GB planned for Q2, latest PCB prototypes in, final case design and wrist rests in production.
First and foremost, let's talk about Group Buy dates for the Theseus75. last year, I initially projected a GB launch in Q1—but considering that it's the last day of March, I might be a bit behind on that estimate. 🙈 Bringing a keyboard this complex to life truly has taken a village, and as the debut design under the Haverworks moniker, I really want to get this one right. Thankfully, the time we spent these last several weeks revising and refining the design has paid off, and as of today, we are one major step closer to completion (more on that in a bit). That said, the current estimate for the Theseus75 Group Buy is early-to-mid-Q2 — dates to come soon! 🙌
As mentioned last month, we have been diligently working through the latest PCB revision, which introduces a ribbon cable for the DB connection, EZmate HCs for the split, and a few other tweaks in order to better support peripheral power requirements. This revision was a bit of a gamble: we weren't 100% certain that these changes would be enough to mitigate the power problems we had seen in earlier protos, yet these changes would incur adjustments to just about every other part in the assembly—case, plates, mounts, cables—which meant new specs and likely new samples. (This stuff adds up!) But like I said, it all paid off: after receiving the new PCBs this weekend and verifying the changes earlier today, we now have a 👏 fully-functioning 👏 feature-complete 👏 P 👏 C 👏 B 👏 design. 🎉 This is a HUGE milestone in the project, and a huge hat-tip to @ebastler—this is the first keyboard design we know of with split USB hub support, and like many times before, Moritz has delivered yet another remarkably creative and unique addition to the hobby. 🫡
With the PCB all but finalized, new cases and plates are already in production, this time in the Apollo (e-white) colorway. 🤍 Personally, I never get tired of the black-caps-on-a-white-board look, but I know color can be very personal to people, which is why I wanted to offer as many as logistically possible. Interestingly though, even after introducing the rest of the Olympians to the team, Apollo still takes the lead:
Cases won't be the only thing making their way off the assembly line this month: the latest split wrist rests are also in production. This iteration will include a small notch along the split to help with alignment. 👌 Photos to come.
Lastly, if you're planning to attend the TexMechs Keyboard Roundup in April, we'll see ya there partner! 🤠
As always, I appreciate your support; whether you've been eagerly following this journey from the beginning, or you happily stumbled across this while scrolling in bed (no shame), I'm genuinely thankful that you're here reading this. I hope to have this project in your hands soon. 🫶
Best,
Alex