UPDATE 30-04-2014


FAQ:
Can I order a keyboard? -> No, sorry
Will you make more? -> No, sorry
Can you make the thread shorter so I can read all things and don't ask questions that have been asked multiple times before? -> No, sorry
Can you convince/force Jolla to produce 1 million keyboards for 10 euro's a piece? -> No



[edit]

VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/85450949
VIDEO 2: https://vimeo.com/85914466

PRE ORDERING



Okay, I have decided! I am going through with this and will try to make 100 pieces.

-The 22 heroes that have donated to me are first in line and their donation is converted in a 'qwerty-oh' voucher!
-The next 78 will go to the first people that complete their purchase via the donate button.

Price will be 100 euro's plus shipping. This is a summation of the components, bit of labour, return of investments and a safety factor.
Shipping: country-codes and costs

-If the demand is way higher, I will either make another (or more) batch of 100 or transfer the money back! Kind of like a kickstarter.
-No Paypal? Send me a PM

Questions? PM me with 'qwerty-oh question' as subject, then I will update this thread with the extra info!

The Qwerty OtherHalf
"Made in the bedroom, just like you"

[/edit]






Yes, I am the first one (nice, Jolla slogan used!) to open a thread about building an OtherHalf with a qwerty slider! In this thread I will post my ideas, pictures and ask questions to you guys.

The goal -for now- is to have a complete setup ready for when the first batches of Jolla phones is shipped. The qwerty slider is without a doubt the most anticipated extra feature and with some extra time on the hand, why not!?



So, lets dive right in! The Jolla phone will have a I2C connector on the back. Luckily, my RPi has I2C as well, so the first prototypes and proof-of-concepts can be tested. The RPi and Sailfish both support Python, which makes the programming a lot easier. I don't have any experience with the Sailfish SDK, but that will come later on.

The keyboard itself will be taken from my old -and dead- N900. Nostalgia much?! The keyboard consists of the motherboard with the electrical connections, a plastic sticker with pieces of metal to make the connection and the *click*, and the actual buttons.


The motherboard will be scrapped. To complicate things, I will try to build my own pcb from scratch. This tutorial provides all the necessary steps. It will be a double-sided board.

On this pcb, there will be a button-matrix similar to the one on the motherboard. To connect the keys to the phone, a mcp23017 i2c gpio port expander will be used.

Next step, pcb design. The N900 keyboard had some issues with NKRO, perhaps someone can shed some light on this to design a new way to connect the keys in a better way? The gpio-expander had 16 i/o ports.

The software: the keyboard has to be continuously scanned for key-presses. How will a background python (or other) script affect cpu and battery usage? Better/possible to start/stop the script when the keyboard is slided out? Continuously scan for I2C devices? For the near future, testing software will be on the RPi. I have some experience with that, but help is welcome.

The slider mechanism: Maybe the old slider mechanism from the n900? Design a new one? Other options? Personally, if parts are machined nice, I love to show mechanical parts. If not, the game is to not show anything.


Please keep the topic clean and respond if you would like to (and can) help!