So, how's the JukeBox development coming along? Well, it sure is coming, I promise.
In case you don't know what a JukeBox is, it's a little hotkey device I'm building! I originally made this to assist with my endeavors in streaming, but it turns out having extra keys is very useful for a lot of things! Whether it be hotkeys for quickly running macros via AutoHotKey, managing your Discord audio settings, playing funny sounds with VoiceMod, switching tools in your favorite art program like Paint Tool SAI, or managing OBS like I do. It's a very powerful device, and all it does is act like a keyboard with the F13-F24 keys. I bet you didn't even know there was more than the F1-F12 keys, am I right?
About a year ago, I said I would begin selling these soon. That was a bit of a lie, fortunately I am very good at those. That last bit was also a lie, in case you couldn't tell. I got the opportunity to work on the JukeBox as part of an independent study for college credit, so I took a lot of time to plan and rethink the product. That part wasn't a lie The result is the new V5 board!
Ok so this isn't the actual V5 board yet.
I decided to completely change up what makes up a JukeBox. I decided to use an RP2040 chip, which is used to power a Raspberry Pi Pico. I used a Pico board, along with the old JukeBox V4 boards, an RGB LED ring, and an OLED screen to build my ideal V5 prototype. The result is the same JukeBox known and loved but with some added features, like reactive lighting and a screen to display fun graphics and info!
This is the finalized board, it's design has been shipped off to manufacturing, and will hopefully arrive right at the start of the new year. I'm paying a lot of money for just 10 of these things! I can't wait.
The plan is to sell 3 versions of the board, a basic variant (keyboard only), an RGB variant, and an RGB plus screen variant. Prices are still being determined, but they will be higher than previously anticipated due to rising material costs. The goal is to keep the basic variant at $25 to maintain affordability. You will also be able to choose what kinds of keys you want, be it Cherry MX Blues or Kailh Choc Whites.
I'm working on the final casing. It'll be a 3D printed shell with some nice M2.5 nuts and bolts. It'll also be in a mostly-opaque white so the RGB looks good shining through. The legs are also completely optional, both the case and the legs will have nice rubber feet to keep the board steady. The keycaps will be "relegendable", meaning you'll be able to stick a piece of paper in them with whatever you want on them. You get everything seen here, plus a USB-C cable, and my deepest gratitude. Maybe some day you'll get to have a JukeBox in atomic purple instead of a basic white!
The best part about it all is that you don't need to install any drivers! The keyboard component is always guaranteed to work on any computer that supports USB, and most usually do (hopefully). The screen and RGB won't work without a companion app, sadly, but I'm working hard to make it painless to setup and use, near plug-and-play. I've been writing it in Rust while working on the board, and it will support Windows and Linux without much issue.
Lastly, the entire project is going to be open source! The code will be under an open license, and all the physical parts will be usable under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA). I won't allow people to just up and sell the boards without modification, but if someone wants to make and sell their own variant I'd be more than happy to allow it if they ask. Devices like these should be cheap and accessible for everyone.
Hopefully I'll start selling these on my Ko-fi before Q2 of 2024. See you then!
