Keyboard freezing occasionally due to USB port alignment issue?

It looks like this probably explains my issue too:

Loosening the two screws closest to the USB connection makes it appear more centered.

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That’s useful feedback. If you feel like being a guinea pig and want to try taking a bit of sandpaper or a file to the wood near your USB port and are willing to post your experiences (ideally with photos),
I’d be happy to promise you a replacement enclosure if anything goes wrong.

-jesse

If I can make the time, I’m definitely down for giving this a try. Will post pictures.

For what it’s worth, I am still using the cable that came with my Model 01 and the Thunderbolt hub I mentioned earlier in the thread, and this issue hasn’t recurred at all in the last few days.

The only thing that I might have changed is that I put the cable in with the USB-C connector the other way up. It’s now in the keyboard with the metal seam upwards. (And yes, I know that sounds very silly seeing as USB-C is supposed to be a reversible connector.)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Oh, and the USB port in the keyboard might be a tiny bit misaligned, but certainly not close to as much as in the photos you shared, Jesse.)

@nickstenning - Thanks for the update. Do keep an eye on it. It may well be a bad cable or a bad port. (Though my hope is that it’s a bad cable, as that’s a much easier fix and something we’re already pushing on the supplier about :wink:

Before filing:

After filing:

I haven’t encountered any disconnects after this fix.

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Hi all, my first post here… My keyboard arrived late last week, and I had some time to play with it over the weekend. It is quite nice to type on, though the placement of some keys will take a great deal of getting used to, and I’m very reluctant to try writing code with it as a result.

Anyway, be that as it may, I’m having some problems with it that appear to be a result of the rather inferior mechanical qualities of USB-C connectors, especially the ones on my keyboard and the cable that came with it. Any small amount of wiggling, even from leaning my hand on it when it is mounted on the stand, can lead to all sorts of bizarre behaviour; from loss of comms to the computer to crashing the keyboard completely.

The alignment of the port in the body looks perfect, so I will try crimping the shell slightly to see if that will help stabilize it any. I don’t think trying a different cable will help, but if I can find one in the house I will try it too.

though the placement of some keys will take a great deal of getting used to, and I’m very reluctant to try writing code with it as a result.

When I got my first keyboard last year (second one will arrive this week :smiley:) I almost threw it out of the window when I started using it. I got so frustrated after my first session with it that I seriously considered burning it. It was just impossible for me to use the keyboard right away as my main keyboard.

However, the keys felt really nice and after tinkering with the base position it even felt really natural (which is a good thing for a “natural keyboard”), so I started practicing with the keyboard an hour every day. After two weeks I put my old keyboard (at home) aside.

This is when I started tinkering with the layout. The standard layout it came with really didn’t work out for me. It took me a couple of more weeks to get the layout the way I wanted it (I made a lot of changes and added a lot of macros to make copying/moving code around a lot easier).

For the past few months I’ve been using this keyboard at home while still using my old MS 4000 at work and you have no idea how happy I am that I can finally replace my work keyboard next week with a Model01. Once you get used to it and once you’ve configured the keys to do what you want… I promise you, you won’t want to go back. Just take your time to get used to it and to make it your own…

Before you try modifying the USB C port on the keyboard, please try another cable.

Modifying the USB port on the keyboard without talking to us (by emailing help@keyboard.io) first is 100% going to be a warranty voiding activity.

The USB port on the keyboard is (supposed to be) a relatively high-grade Japanese part from JAE. It cost more than 10x the Chinese parts our manufacturer wanted to substitute in.

The cable is a normalish Chinese cable and is much more likely to have a fit issue than the connector on the keyboard. If it’s possible to try a second USB C cable, that’d be an ideal next debugging step.

If you genuinely believe the issue is with the USB C connector on the keyboard, could you do me the favor of opening up the left hand side of the keyboard to see if the connector is stamped with “JAE”? If it is, then we know that it should be the real deal. If it’s not, we have real problems.

Thanks very much for your reply Jesse. I have not found a known good USB-C cable around the house so I’ll have to acquire one to test.

Yes, I can (just barely) see the letters “JAE” stamped on the metal shell of the connector on the PCB.

BTW, being no stranger to woodworking (though by no means an expert at it either) I am quite impressed by the quality of machining and the finish of the inside of the wood casing! Very nice!

Thanks! (And it…wasn’t always like that. Some of the first-batch keyboards were…not what we’d hoped in terms of milling/finishing)

rapware,

Have you used other non standard keyboards prior to your experience with the M01? I ask because the M01 is a major departure from standard 104 kb.

You probably would have had an easier transition if you had been using a kinesis or something that made you use your thumbs for other things besides hitting the space bar and hitch hiking through the galaxy.

Glad you enjoy the M01, and you’re right, you can’t go back. You never want to go back, I cringe every time I have to help friends and family on their 104s, its like going back to stone tools when you’ve got a smart phone.

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For the past 21 years I’ve been using different versions of Microsoft’s Natural Keyboards. Before that I used IBM keyboards. It indeed took a while to get adjusted to the keys and to get the layout the way I wanted it, but definitely can’t go back now. Typing on an “old” keyboard indeed feels like going back to the stone age…