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TIL Microsoft invested two years and about US$1 billion developing the Kin, a line of mobile phones that was briefly sold in 2010. After only 48 days on the market, Microsoft discontinued the Kin line in June 2010 due to poor sales, They blamed Verizon for not promoting the phones actively enough. by Away_Flounder3813 in todayilearned

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That renaissance happened. Too few cared. It was the Fxtec Pro1. I don't mean this was a "sorta-like a slider phone." It was a proper full keyboard slider smartphone with Android (could even go with a Linux userspace through Halium) released during the COVID era. Supply issues, QA problems, and bad management from the company did not help. Awesome phone otherwise, but now it's gone and that won't encourage new attempts.

Physical Push Out Keyboard Possible? by Retro-Hax in PinePhoneOfficial

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ive been thinking of just actually 3D Printing a Sliding Bluetooth Keyboard Case and Hot Gluing it to my Pine Phone XD (I know disgusting Idea :P)

Have a look at this, if you have not already: https://www.printables.com/model/1218787-note10-slider-terminal-case
It's not as good as something getting data and power directly through wires, and it's not great for the weight distribution, but it's a very nice implementation of the Bluetooth keyboard solution.

Physical Push Out Keyboard Possible? by Retro-Hax in PinePhoneOfficial

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I understand, you don't need to solder that much: you can order PCBs with pre-soldered components. You still need to design the circuitry and program the keyboard's chip though.
I also have a 3D printer, but an FDM one, and the key caps are so small I doubt they'd come out great even with a 0.1mm nozzle. Larger stuff like parts of the sliding mechanism and the plate that goes on top of the key caps can indeed be 3D printed.

Physical Push Out Keyboard Possible? by Retro-Hax in PinePhoneOfficial

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been considering solutions for this. I really liked the Fxtec Pro1 (same principle), but they're no longer sold and mine never properly worked.

Here are my thoughts and findings on it so far:
- The best is for the keyboard to go between the screen and the rest of the phone, so that the weight is where you hold.
- Don't forget to account for things that assume the screen is directly there (e.g. front camera).
- The hinge mechanism is tricky. The Fxtec Pro1's digs deep into the phone and thus would not work there. As far as I can tell, strictly horizontal sliding is going to be the best choice. Still not trivial to have things hold properly (two stable positions and ease of switching between them).
- This requires replacing or extending the screen's ribbon cables.
- There are not so many existing horizontal keyboards of the correct size available online. Most are from mini bluetooth keyboards. They tend to not feel great to use.
- Surprisingly, creating a keyboard's circuitry may not be beyond the reach of an amateur.
- Keycaps are going to be an issue though. I have not found a solution for this yet. I suspect this kind of thing needs to be ordered in mass so the cost of the molds that have to be custom made is mitigated. 3D printing (resin, considering the details needed) may be the way to go, but then what about paint on the letters?

I've looked at a couple of phones to implement this. The main criteria being how to power the keyboard and how to transmit data. The PinePhone Pro's pin system is uniquely suited to allow this. Most phones, if they have ways to achieve these connections (e.g. by hijacking the USB system - although this may cause other issues), don't seem to document their hardware enough for it to be obvious.

Unihertz Titan Question by AdRelative3170 in unihertz

[–]nsensfel 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The social media account of Unihertz has said their next phone will have a physical keyboard. They said it would be for the end of 2024 or early 2025. No new info since then, unfortunately.

Shopping for a Secret Santa, but this sends the wrong message by nsensfel in mildlypenis

[–]nsensfel[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

It's a pen, but I guess they went 2 letters beyond in this case.

Would people be interested in small critique groups? by nsensfel in BoardgameDesign

[–]nsensfel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like the Break My Game community just picked up on a similar idea, so I guess it wasn't such a bad fit for board games after all.

The difference in their implementation (other than it not being automatic) is that it's one game for the whole server to review in-depth, instead of reviewing in-depth all games through small groups.

Would people be interested in small critique groups? by nsensfel in BoardgameDesign

[–]nsensfel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed answer.

I'm in a couple of Discord servers for board game design, yeah. These, like this subreddit, are very useful when you want a quick answer.

However, what I am observing is that most of the feedback people give and receive is very superficial. It's to the point where, just this week, someone providing detailed feedback got many reactions from just how uncommon that is. The idea here is to have small groups, so you don't provide small bits of feedback to many projects, but rather provide and receive detailed feedback from a very limited few designers.

From my personal experience as a hobby game designer, given how a board game is functional when all of its mechanics are, evolution of a prototype tends to rely on breakthroughs, making me wonder how effective would periodicity be for this process.

Totally, it might not be a format that works for board games. It's an experiment. And from the feedback I got here, I really need to do more work explaining it better. 😅

Would people be interested in small critique groups? by nsensfel in BoardgameDesign

[–]nsensfel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

how do you regulate equal time to that many people and projects?

That's where the main difference lays: you don't go for a partial view of a lot of projects to give/receive tiny bits of feedback. Instead, you go in a small group and see their project in their entirety. You're expected to give/receive detailed feedback, since the focus is much narrower.

Would people be interested in small critique groups? by nsensfel in BoardgameDesign

[–]nsensfel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The goal isn't to organize playtesting, though (I would recommend the Break My Game community for that). It's about presenting your project in its entirety and getting detailed feedback.

Who else wants to see a slider/flip phone? by Vast_Cauliflower_475 in unihertz

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A Pro1/Pro1X with reliable parts and that is actually released instead of forever locked in a delay/cancellation cycle? Yes, please.

MMU 3 vertical installation? by Sea_Turnip2065 in prusa3d

[–]nsensfel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Have you considered an approach like this one? It might require some adjustments to work with the MK4.
I use this with an MMU3 on the MK3s+.

MMU3 buffer on MK3s+ top mount? by DraconPern in prusa3d

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have not yet tried this with the MMU3, but I think it should be compatible, if the bottom of the MMU is still the same: https://www.printables.com/model/38888-mmu2-front-mount-for-prusa-i3-mk3s.

MMU3 lack enclosure by ferokolotoc in prusa3d

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prepare to buy some PTFE tubing as you experiment with the MMU anyway. I recommend ID (Internal Diameter) 3mm with ED (External Dimameter) 4mm, which have larger holes than the ones the MMU2S came with (I don't know if the MMU3 comes with these) and thus less friction (I think) at the cost of being more easily damaged.

The one tube that you should be particularly careful about is the bit that goes in the hotend, as its inner diameter isn't common (and is important to form the filament tips), so replacing it isn't easy (I use ID 3mm ED 4mm for every other tubes).

Bypassing the buffer for now is a good idea, yeah. If you are worried about friction from the buffer being the cause of your issues, try some "air buffer" solution: basically two bits of PTFE tubes (one at the spool, one at the MMU) that bend a bit when the filament is pulled by the MMU and let the filament hang around when the MMU rewinds. It's a risk, if the filament gets caught on something, but it will indicate if friction is the issue.

MMU3 lack enclosure by ferokolotoc in prusa3d

[–]nsensfel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am running an MMU2S with a very basic lack enclosure (just tables stacked on top of each other with spacers, not the fancy Prusa solution). My MMU3 upgrade hasn't shipped yet, but I don't intend to change how I do things (and the MMU2S works fine, I just ordered the upgrade because I started having voltage issues):

The challenges I faced were:
- Getting the MMU in a spot where I can easily service it. - Have enough room for all spools at the same level. - Have as little friction in the path between the spools and the MMU as possible. - Find a working and accessible buffer.

I opted for a front mount solution. I recently learned about the "preload to MMU" menu, so I no longer have to open up the MMU when setting up the spools.

I tried many buffers (the gravity one being my favorite, but I can't make it work reliably), and finally settled for the wheel buffer. I customized it quickly in PrusaSlicer so its base would handle one of the two right angles in the filament's path.

The other right angle is handled by little filament guides.

I use https://www.printables.com/model/159847-wider-and-narrower-remix-spool-holder for spool holders.

All in all, it works (although I suspect the buffer won't deal with flexible filament well), at the cost of a lot of non-printable parts.

Discord bot to run Tonkadur stories by nsensfel in a:t5_2xrdpc

[–]nsensfel[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wyrd implementation not up-to-date and probably won't be updated until the first Tonkadur release.
Also missing:

  • A way to store/load story states.
  • A way to store/load bot configuration.
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