[Gta04-owner] [ANN] GTA04 Keyboard prototype

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 07.05.2012 um 08:47 schrieb Butrus Damaskus:

> On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 10:26 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller
> <hns at goldelico.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Am 03.05.2012 um 10:03 schrieb Butrus Damaskus:
>> 
>>> Very interresting, but I'm a little bit puzzled as how it should work
>>> in the real life...
>> 
>> That is a task for further study and optimization. We have just built one unit
>> and we need some 3D printed cases to do a better evaluation.
> 
> Ok, so let's start discuss that ;-).
> 
> My question was if you foresee the keyboard to be detachable somehow
> (than placing it on the rear side
> of OpenMoko would make sense) or whether there would be some mechanism
> to "open" the keyboard.
> Otherwise I cannot understand how the keboard on the backside would be used...

The idea is that the keyboard is integrated in the back battery cover. And if you remove
it, both parts (main body and battery cover/keyboard) are connected through a small
ribbon cable.

I.e. you remove the keyboard, fold it by 180 degrees so that the keys show in the same
direction as the display and you can us the display in landscape format.

If that works out with the snap mechanism of the battery cover and/or if it needs
some physical connection between both parts has to be worked out.

A complete alternative could be a battery cover with a hinge. Like this sketch:

	http://download.goldelico.com/gta04/images/Scan-120507143506.jpeg

Your phantasy and creativity is asked for...

> 
>> Some more general thought: I am not sure how we should handle such ideas and
>> how this community sees its role.
>> 
>> Should we announce/publish immediately as soon as we have a prototype?
> 
> Yes, please ;-)
> 
>> And ask the community for comments and participation in improving it?
> 
> I would say yes :)
> 
>> Or should we silently
>> finish some design and work with beta testers not on this list...
>> 
>> I think this is a fundamental difference to open software development. There we can
>> have a stable, a testing and an experimental branch and everyone can download
>> the one he/she likes. With hardware we have to build physical protoypes and make
>> experiments (which are not for free) to find out what a good solution is.
>> 
>> Nikolaus
> 
> 
> 
>>> 
>>> On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 6:06 PM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller
>>> <hns at goldelico.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> we have developed a prototype for a 80 button QWERTY keyboard PCB
>>>> that could eventually be connected/integrated into the GTA04. It should fit
>>>> into a specially designed battery cover so that you can easily stow it away
>>>> if not needed. Such battery covers could be produced individually through
>>>> 3D printing solving the issue of manageing and stocking 20 different key
>>>> layouts.
>>>> 
>>>> But watch yourself how we think it can look like:
>>>> 
>>>>        http://youtu.be/WM94%5fR5eKcc
>>>> 
>>>> There is also a new video showing a comparison with some other keyboards:
>>>> 
>>>>        http://youtu.be/wGASnE1zGh4
>>>> 
>>>> Pleas tell us if you like this idea and what you would like to pay for such an
>>>> extension unit through the Wishlist function of our shop:
>>>> 
>>>>        http://www.handheld-linux.com/wiki.php?page=GTA04%3AKeyboard
>>>> 
>>>> Two issues are still to be developed:
>>>> 
>>>> a) how to reliably connect it to the GTA04 PCB (soldering copper wires or a
>>>>    FFCs is a little difficult so it should have a tiny, flexible but robust B2B cable).
>>>> 
>>>>    Maybe, we can use a micro-USB socket or similar (we need to connect 6 wires).
>>>>    This may also need a redesign of the GTA04 board (for a nice plug)
>>>> 
>>>> b) design a 3D printable case with key-caps that is robust enough
>>>> 
>>>> If you want to support us for developing this idea, please give us a kickstart
>>>> donation.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Nikolaus
>>>> 
>>>> PS: the keyboard driver for the TCA8418 is already part of Linux 3.3 - and has
>>>> been backported to the 2.6.32-kernel. This has been tested to work on a
>>>> BeagleBoard XM.
>>>> 
>>>> http://git.goldelico.com/?p=gta04-kernel.git;a=commit;h=f19d5c430458bbce8955bc9e04dd161f6a80347d
>>>> 
>>>> It just needs platform data in the board file:
>>>> 
>>>> http://git.goldelico.com/?p=gta04-kernel.git;a=blobdiff;f=arch/arm/mach-omap2/board-omap3gta04.c;h=8a7e4b0803920f635e7101bfbd5a60b6b84b1107;hp=3e49efef2de0b42cd419a46a9cd45448fd04a44c;hb=4b2de3db742abce9212c1af2cc576e2a3a64b0d9;hpb=1d7c6b5f043661621ec374d96c3c4a4454f9bb7b
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