Until now we have sent updates to the project only to backers of the Crowdfunding campaign. But here’s a status update for everyone:

– We have found a case that we could use. We are still exploring the idea of creating a custom case. Making your own case is tricky and very expensive, so we will see if that works out. If not, we will revert to the standard case we found worthy.

– We have come across unexpected technical issues. The pad sometimes gives wrong readings and it appears to happen when a button is pressed only lightly. This is extremely weird and we never heard of a similar issue ever. We believe it is some kind of power fluctuation problem and have created a new prototype that will make it easier for us to track the issue.

– We are shocked about price developments. A CPLD chip that used to cost 6 Euros now costs 40. We did not see that coming and it crushes our financial calculations. We might have to redesign to use different chips than initially planned.

We are positive we will be able to master all these issues, eventually, but it takes way longer than we expected. Since Covid, not only prices have gone up but turnaround times are much slower. Example: receiving new Prototypes previously was a matter of days or weeks, now we have to wait months before we receive a new board.