Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial
Behind the Scenes of Issue 77
Newsletter issue, new discount code, matrix research, covid, listing of the week.
Published May 9, 2022
Hey y'all,
Welcome back for another edition of Keyboard Builders' Digest (this time Issue #77), a weekly roundup of this DIY keyboard focused newsletter and blog from Tamas Dovenyi – that's me. If you are new to this, you can read how this started out and what this is all about nowadays. If you like what you see, you can subscribe to the newsletter (free) and donate some bucks to keep this otherwise free and ad-free project alive.
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I'm behind schedule and knocked out by covid so give me some hours to update this post… Until then:
Newsletter issue
So I've been testing Buttondown, an alternative newsletter service, along MailChimp and I had an issue with mails sent out with Buttondown landing in spam folders.
I was wondering about this because the two newsletters (content-wise) were identical.
Then it turns out the MailChimp subject line is: "Issue 76 / Keyboard builders' Digest" – which is pretty neutral with regards to spam rules. Whereas the Buttondown one was "KBD newsletter #76".
We have some apparent flags here for spam filters: a word in capital and the cursed word "newsletter" too.
This time I'll change the subject and hope the opening and clickthrough rates (kind of anti-spamfolder indicator) get closer to those of MailChimp.
Because otherwise I'd prefer Buttondown now. After struggling with the first mail, getting rid of MailChimp's WYSIWYG interface and using markdown to create and style mails is freakin' cool.
New discount
Matrix Keyboards offered a 5% discount for you. Coupon code: KBDNEWS.
Covid
I contracted covid or something similar. I got three jabs and already contracted it once, maybe in 2020 before any vaccines were rolled out, so it's OK.
One of my colleagues called me that he was tested positive and in 4 days I was knocked out too.
The most annoying part is that I still can't stare at my monitor's screen for too long because it hurts my eyes. It's nothing serious otherwise.
PCB scholarship
So because of my illness I couldn't finalize the rules and details of this "scholarship". I received discount codes worth of $300 but have to figure out how to distribute them. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
Matrix research
Because I tried to minimize computer time, I dug up a breadboard and my "old" laboratory power supply from a heap of junk and done some tests.
I did a lot of measurements and experiments with various diodes and controllers to figure out the real forward voltages, threshold voltages, and drop needed to avoid ghosting with the exotic matrices I've introduced recently.
As a self-thought hobbyist I really struggled with setting up and evaluating these experiments so take everything with a grain of salt.
Here are some preliminary data, hopefully I'll be able to confirm and clean this up soon.
https://kbd.news/forward-voltage-calculations-1416.html
The gist:
Listing of the week
Finally, a real gem – not on ebay but a local site.
Two photos uploaded by the seller. The first one is slightly blurred and shows half of the keyboard.
The second one is this (not manipulated in any way):
The best thing? I bought it eventually. :D
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That's all for today folks.
Feel free to comment in this issue's r/mk thread, and as always: keep learning and building.
Cheers, Tamás
Published on Mon 9th May 2022. Featured in KBD #77.
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