aemerson_

5 ms·

1.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Thank you for flagging this, it is now fixed. It was an issue with Firefox and the codec we use for the audio samples. I just changed the codec for the audio to something that works on all browsers.
2.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
(For reference @ebastler designed the PCB for Altar II, and did an amazing job)
3.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Early summer 2027 is the target.
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Don't tempt me with a good time. I would love to tackle a mouse — I have a lot of ideas!
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Yes the butterfly switches were pretty bad. Superficially ours are similar but there are a few key differences: - Ours has an actual mechanical switch (with a spring and contact leaf) that is pressed, the butterfly switches were a metal dom
6.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
I'm afraid not. For two reasons: Firstly it makes no sense for a backlight to be anything but a warm colour at night because it strains your eyes exactly when they are most prone to it (at night, in the dark). And secondly because it a
7.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
The final weight has not been determined yet as we are trying out different materials, internal designs and components. But the final weight will be 300g-400g or so.
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
I have not written about the process but it is a great idea, I'd love to do that. An audio format might also be interesting.
9.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Fitting the USB-C port into it was actually a real challenge. We also have custom made USB-C housing because all the off the shelf ones were thicker than the keyboard!
10.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Ah very interesting. I will make sure these are included.
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Thank you so much. It means a lot to hear that. We're a very small team (1 full time, 3 part time) so going up against a company worth five trillion dollars is quite daunting!
12.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Good question on the haptics. There's no feedback when press most of the keys. But there is some feedback when you do things like turn the dial, or complete a shortcut (e.g. cmd + c). This is all configurable in the companion app as we
13.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
The battery is in the logo side, correct. In fact most of that entire area is taken up by the battery! We did expand vertically that area slightly as you can see, to allow for a slightly thicker batter.
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
That is a very interesting detail, I never knew that!
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
The switches feel like a M-Series MacBook with a decent amount more travel and more "snappy", tactile feeling. They feel quite different to, for example, Choc switches (which we used on our previous keyboard).
16.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Thank you, and what you say is completely fair. The Keychron K3 is an excellent keyboard and certainly gets the job done for many people. I would actually argue Altar II is excellent value at $249, especially when you consider the materials
17.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
It is fully compatible with Linux with respect to typing, volume control and so on. The firmware source code will be published publicly on Github in the future, as our other keyboard (Altar I) is: https://github.com/electron
18.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
We have spent a lot of time and effort finding manufacturing partners and ensuring they can produce Altar II at the scale and quality we require. In fact we have delayed announcing Altar II for a long time because we wanted to be absolutely
19.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
I believe you are referring to the "pre-travel" of the key and yes, Altar II has a very small amount of pre-travel actually. This is partially due to it having such a small vertical travel.
20.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Thank you, it's been a real labour of love! People are raising a good point RE Touch ID. It is possible to add a fingerprint sensor. But that fingerprint sensor will never be able to do the things that Touch ID is most useful for: i.e.
21.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Reservations are open until the Kickstarter launches on November 10th 2026.
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Thank you so much! A genuinely silly amount of time went into the website. If you'll indulge me for a moment, because I never get to talk about this stuff: the corner radii of the cards on the site are actually "squircles" ra
23.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
The travel distance on the Altar II switches is 1.8mm, so about 0.8mm more than on a MacBook keyboard. Similar to those keyboards, there is very little pre-travel on Altar II keys. With regard to Windows keys that is a possibility. We shipp
24.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
This price is only for people who reserve before we launch on Kickstarter. I agree it is good value but also I should point out the retail price will be $349 for anyone buying after we fulfil all the pre-orders. Rest assured we are building
25.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Glad you like Altar I! They feel quite different to the Chocs, unsurprisingly. Although the required actuation force is close to the Choc Reds (40gf on our switch vs 50gf on the Choc Reds), because it's spread over such a small vertica
26.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Everything lives on the keyboard itself. The app just configures files on the device, basically. The keyboard also works without the app of course. This approach has the added benefit of making your configuration portable. For example if yo
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
Not at the moment. If we did a numpad I would probably do it as a separate device. Personally I don't like how the numpad sits between the edge of my keyboard and mouse. I'd prefer it to the left of my keyboard or to the right sid
28.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
It does! We do some firmware trickery to make the globe key behave just like the Magic Keyboard. Can you tell me what exactly you use it for? I just want to make sure we have your use case covered.
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by aemerson_ 1mo ago
It's kind of like a M-series Mac keyboard but with substantially more travel on the key (we have about 0.5mm more travel), and more of a more definitive sense of when the key is actuated. It's a much more tactile experience than t
30.
by aemerson_ 1mo ago
I appreciate the TE comparison! I am very inspired by them. Maybe in the future we can make a thicker keyboard for you.

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