ANAVI Macro Pad 10 and Knobs are Here!

One, two, three new products! After several months of development we are happy to present you 3 new open source hardware mini mechanical keyboards and knobs. The crowdfunding campaign started on Monday!

ANAVI Knob 1, ANAVI Knobs 3 and ANAVI Macro Pad 10

ANAVI Macro Pad 10, ANAVI Knobs 3 and ANAVI Knob 1 all come with gold-plated black printed circuit boards, Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontrollers, USB-C connector and clickable rotary encoders. The popular open source KMK firmware allows you to easily program and configure custom keyboard layouts and macros using CircuitPython.

ANAVI Knobs 3

Once again we rely on Crowd Supply for the crowdfunding. The campaign has a very modest goal of just $1 and it has been already funded. Our plan is to make the keyboards in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, EU thanks to the trusted supply chain we have established throughout the years. We hope you will jump in and help us bring these entirely open source mechanical keyboards to life!

ANAVI Knob 1, ANAVI Macro Pad 10 and ANAVI Knobs 3

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ANAVI Macro Pad 2 in a Home Automation Control Center

Do you remember our tiny keyboard with just 2 keys called ANAVI Macro Pad 2? Recently AE Chadwick used ANAVI Macro Pad 2 in his amazing home automation control center for his 1939 Minimalist Cottage.

ANAVI Macro Pad 2 in a Home Automation Control Center
ANAVI Macro Pad 2 mounted below a Stream Deck

AE Chadwick ran new wiring straight up into the ceiling and through one wall to connect to his home media server. Stream Deck is the primary interface and ANAVI Macro Pad 2 fits below it. Our open source hardware 2-key keyboard has a simple but important task in this complex setup to perform the feature ” “tap any key to wake the computer.”

3D printed parts to hold ANAVI Macro Pad 2

AE Chadwick also designed a panel cut with CNC and 3D printed parts to hold the electronic gadgets. He was kind enough to share his experience in a Crowd Supply Field Report.

AE Chadwick, thank you for using ANAVI Macro Pad 2 and for sharing details about your project with us! It looks amazing!

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ANAVI Macro Pad 10 and Knobs Coming Soon

With Crowd Supply we are preparing a new crowdfunding campaign for 3 open source hardware mechanical keyboards: ANAVI Macro Pad 10, ANAVI Knobs 3 and ANAVI Knob 1.

ANAVI Macro Pad 10, ANAVI Knobs 3 and ANAVI Knob 1

There are many common things between these 3 mini mechanical keyboards:

  • Seeed XIAO RP2040 – a power module with USB-C and Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU from Seeed Studio
  • Rotary encoders
  • KMK – an open source firmware for mechanical keyboards written in CircuitPython
  • Open source hardware designed with the free and open source software KiCad

Subscribe at our pre-launch page at Crowd Supply to be the first to know when we launch the crowdfunding campaign!

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ANAVI Info uHAT Manufacturing Progress

Thanks to the support of all backers at Crowd Supply, ANAVI Info uHAT has been successfully funded and has hit all stretch goals so we proceed with manufacturing. This week we received from the local factory the first batch of almost fully assembled boards. Only the EEPROM is missing. We will flash and solder it in-house.

The printed circuit boards still on panels before adding the EEPROM

The printed circuit board of ANAVI Info uHAT has a green solder mask and a gold surface finish. There are a few steps more to complete the manufacturing process. An EEPROM has to be flashed and soldered on each board. It will contain software description of the add-on board following Raspberry Pi Foundation’s HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) specifications. After that each board will go through a quality assurance, and finally each kit will be packaged in a recyclable cardboard box.

Panels with ANAVI Info uHAT

Low-volume manufacturing is not an easy task nowadays, especially during a global chip shortage. As usual we will keep you updated. Thank you again for supporting ANAVI Info uHAT!

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ANAVI Info uHAT Demo at the Technical University of Berlin

On 29th June, we had the opportunity to present and demonstrate the ANAVI Info uHAT add-on board for Raspberry Pi and some of our other open source hardware gadgets at the Technical University of Berlin for an event called “Open Source Hardware: Tools and Collaborations for A Better (Product) Future”.

OPENNEXT agenda on 29 June 2022

The event was organized by OPENNEXT. This is an organization that aims to bring together SMEs and makerspaces across the European Union (EU) to develop new hardware products based on open-source principles. The event brought together representatives of the Technical University Berlin, the Grenoble Institute of Technology, the University of Bath, the DDC – Danish Design Center, and many more organizations involved with open source software and hardware. Lukas Hartmann, the creator of the open source DIY laptop MNT Reform, was also a panel speaker at the event.

Panel discussion during OPENNEXT event in the Technical University of Berlin

This event was a great opportunity to show off the ANAVI Info uHAT with a mini OLED I2C display attached to the top of a Raspberry Pi and controlled using a Python3 script with the luma.oled library. The source code is available in GitHub. In the meantime, we are also improving the ANAVI Info uHAT user’s manual which is also available in GitHub.

Last but not least, don’t forget to check and support the crowdfunding campaign for ANAVI Info uHAT at Crowd Supply.

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ANAVI Info uHAT is a Certified Open Source Hardware

ANAVI Info uHAT has now officially been certified as open source hardware by the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA). OSHWA, a non-profit entity registered in the US, organizes the annual Open Hardware Summit and also maintains the Certified Projects Directory.

ANAVI Info uHAT with mini OLED I2C Display

OSHWA runs the certification program ensures that the definition of “open source hardware” used by a specific project matches the community’s definition of open source hardware. They provide a unique indentification (UID) for each version of the certified hardware based on the country code and a serial number. For example, the UID for ANAVI Info uHAT is BG000081. The prefix BG is the country code for Bulgaria, because the Info uHAT is made in my hometown of Plovdiv. The serial numbers show that now there are 81 open source hardware devices from Bulgaria.

OSHWA certified ANAVI Info uHAT with UID BG000081

As a fully open source project, we also use only free and open source software has been used to design the printed circuit board, the stickers, the source code examples, and to write the documentation.

ANAVI Info uHAT printed circuit board in KiCad

The crowdfunding campaign at Crowd Supply is still going on and we hope more people will jump in and order ANAVI Info uHAT.

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ANAVI Info uHAT – an open hardware Raspberry Pi add-on board with a mini OLED display, buttons, and slots for sensors

Together with Crowd Supply we recently launched a new crowd funding campaign for ANAVI Info uHAT – an open hardware Raspberry Pi add-on board with a mini OLED display, buttons, and slots for sensors.

Thanks to early backers ANAVI Info uHAT was successfully funded and hit its first stretch goal in a just a couple of days. So we’ll be adding some awesome KiCad and ANAVI Technology stickers. KiCad is the free and open source software we used to design this and other Anavi printed circuit boards.

As a small open source project, ANAVI Info uHAT relies on the community of passionate open source makers. We are near our second stretch goal of $1,000. If we hit it, we will make more video tutorials for all supported sensors.

There is still more than a month until the end of the crowdfunding campaign and we hope more people will jump in and order ANAVI Info uHAT!

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VisualStudio Keymap for ANAVI Macro Pad 8

Many thanks to Efthimios Iosfidis, an open source engineer, maker and developer from Greece. Efthimis added a QMK keymap with VisualStudio shortcuts for ANAVI Macro Pad 8.

ANAVI Macro Pad 8
ANAVI Macro Pad 8

Furthermore Efthimis modifed the hardware a little bit and raised the keypad 15 degrees from the back side with metal stand-offs. As you can see on the photos the result is pretty cool!

ANAVI Macro Pad 8 with modified enclosure

More details about the new keymap and the modification of the enclosure are available as a Crowd Supply field report submitted by Efthimios Iosfidis.

Efthimis, well done and thank you again!

By the way, “field report” is a program by Crowd Supply to highlight talented creators by publishing their projects, spreading the word among the community and also giving a $25 Crowd Supply credit. So if you are using any of our open source hardware products available at Crowd Supply don’t think twice and submit a Crowd Supply Field Report now 🙂

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ANAVI Gardening uHAT: Safety First

Earlier in January all ANAVI Gardening uHAT kits were delivered to the Crowd Supply warehouse and soon after that Crowd Supply team sent them to their final destination: our valuable and trusting crowdfunding backers! Thank you again for the support.

ANAVI Gardening uHAT Developer Kit
ANAVI Gardening uHAT Developer Kit

ANAVI Gardening uHAT is a versatile development board, so please follow the instructions below for safe use:

  • ANAVI Gardening uHAT should only be connected to a compatible Raspberry Pi with 40-pin header.
  • Do not expose it to water or moisture, and do not place it on a conductive surface whilst in operation.
  • Do not expose it to heat from any source; it is designed for reliable operation at normal room temperatures.
  • Take care while handling the board to avoid mechanical or electrical damage to the printed circuit board and connectors.
  • Avoid handling ANAVI Gardening uHAT while it is powered on. Only handle by the edges to minimize the risk of electrostatic discharge damage.

In the meantime, there is a work in progress going on the user’s manual which is available at GitHub. We will soon update it. As usual, GitHub pull requests with improvements and fixes to the documentation or the source code examples are always welcome.

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ANAVI Gardening uHAT: Shipping Soon

At the beginning of January all ANAVI Gardening uHAT kits were shipped to the Crowd Supply warehouse. We are happy we managed to do it ahead of schedule. Even Tux, the mascot of the Linux kernel, helped out with the transportation.

In the coming weeks, the crowdfundng orders will be prepared for shipment to backers. A tracking number when the order ships.

ANAVI Gardening uHAT
ANAVI Gardening uHAT

Thanks for your patience and support for this open source hardware project! We hope you will enjoy and have a lot of fun with ANAVI Gardening uHAT!

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