NarannHi guys,
Thanks again for being super patient with us on this one.
I was able to reach NPKC last night with a brief phone call. NPKC rep mentioned the Eng team have updated the firmware during their CNY break; however, they still need to test out all the variables with the update, and would have an initial test result this Friday (2/18).
I understand that this may be the last thing you guys want to hear from us, and the long wait is undesirable. Please feel free to reach out to support if you change your mind about the wait for this keyboard, we'd be more than happy to work something out for you.
Thanks for checking in! @Phikzel@atari.super.nes@Vortex324
PSuttonNPKC: *We are doing things here and there, we keep you in touch, expect some feedbacks in, let's say, July 2017, yes, July is cool because everybody is in vacation so expect some delays again and blablabla*
NarannHi guys,
Sorry about the delay; the long weekend in the states kind of set us back a couple days. We have heard back from NPKC....and I come bearing good news..... :D
http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=60452575246695880791
Above is the firmware they have been working for the KC64.
There should be a file named - Setup.exe after you unarchive the rar.
Please give this update a try, we hope this should resolve some of the major key issues all of you have experienced with the keyboard.
Thanks again for all of your patience and support.
@PSutton@Phikzel@atari.super.nes@DanielFerrer@fuzzy-focus Xi
XiKI downloaded the package and, as far as I can tell, successfully flashed (or 'downloaded', as it says) the 'KC64BT' firmware to my keyboard. I've only tested it a little bit but it doesn't seem to have made a difference. I still noticed missing keystrokes.
Has anyone else tested the new firmware?
VonNihilIt's done nothing to fix mine, it's still got keystroke issues with my Surface and my desktop PC still gets a USB malfunction every time and won't work.
VonNihilApologies :( Thank you all for your feedback, I will hop on another call w/ NPKC tonight to see if there is any insight/tips.
For those of you that have not downloaded the file, please hold off for an update.
XiKSo while this doesn't appear to be a full fix I can say that I believe it's better than before at least. Definitely still dropping key presses though. It may help to tell them they're moving in the right direction at least.
boMDThe flashing tool provided is for Windows only.
The firmware files are provided separately so if there is another flashing utility around that might work.
VonNihilI am a Mac only guy... another little problem with this KB... no problem... we'll sort it out... but please, I wait until the final firmware patch is released. Meanwhile KB is in the original box. (is it curious how the KB case is so U shaped... the QC issues here are quite strange). Anyway what makes me remain is the PCB incredible layout. I will wait a little more...
fuzzy-focuswhat I don't understand is why they bothered releasing a "fix" if it didn't fix anything. if it doesn't work on our keyboards then it won't work on the ones at the factory either
ChrisWolffIndeed. But then you get back to the question: why did they bother releasing a keyboard in the first place that doesn't 'keyboard'?
On reflection... perhaps I lack experience in the world of keyboards, but whoever heard of a keyboard that doesn't work in these ways? There's so many standard keyboard controllers out there that it almost takes effort to bork it so badly.
VonNihilWhat worries me is that keyboard firmware isn't exactly rocket science. It's the kind of thing one guy should be able to debug in a day or two.
Which makes me think that maybe this is not a software issue, but a hardware issue.
And I'd be really interested in how massdrop intends to make that right.
fuzzy-focusI assume with a refund. But having to return the keyboard is a pain, especially when you know the value of the returned item is probably less than the return shipping cost.
fuzzy-focusHey guys,
Sorry about the delay. NPKC has been aware of the feedback from you all and has come up with potential solution with hardware update instead (pcb). This is still in testing, so you can expect another update from us. Again, we understand that this situation is not desirable, please feel free to reach out to support any time. Thank you all again for the feedback and support.
XiKJust to clarify further. We get a new PCB which we install ourselves. I assume the PCB will come without switches, so this would require considerable solderwork, right?
fuzzy-focusI think you are totally right... pufff. The correct way to go I think would be to send us a whole new KB with the switch we chose and also a bare PCB (paying a little) in order to have two full keyboards (obviously one for DIY). It would be quite fair to compensate us for all time lost. This is just my opinion.
VonNihilIt's a matter of manufacturing. I've made about 8 keyboards from scratch now, and I can tell you these are all growing pains I experienced in my processes. The missed keystrokes is one of three things: bad soldering, really hard with the mass methods that are being done-- bad solder, possible, lots of theft of material in the developing world... especially silver..., crappy firmware and it's probably not that honestly... this is really hard to manifest in software since you can literally just up the polling rate to try and fix this.
If I were to guess it's probably the solder itself. And now I'm tempted to try to replace the solder since impact (on clack) disconnects were fixed by just resoldering in some cases and I suspect the solder is not high quality.