The Classic 2 is a brand new revision of the original Classic, and kits are available today starting at $144CAD!
The Classic 2 is just like the original in every way that matters. It’s also a major upgrade for the few things that needed tweaking.
USB-C connector
That’s right, the Classic 2 has a USB-C connector!
The original Classic has a bulky USB-B connector on it (if you don’t know, it’s the connector that you often find in printers). USB-B connectors are very mechanically strong, a quality we prioritised for the purposes of longevity.
Since we launched the original Classic, we’ve been shipping many devices with USB-C connectors. We’ve shown to ourselves that these connectors are just as reliable and strong as USB-B connectors.
So, yes – the Classic 2 will have a USB-C connector on it, and it’ll be just as mechanically strong as the connector on the original Classic.
An improved scroll wheel
A common issue with the original Classic was that the scroll wheel would often act oddly if spun too quickly, or would sometimes reverse direction unexpectedly. This issue arose from the way the scroll wheel works.
Want the gory technical details? Expand to find out more.
The scroll wheel operates using something called a “binary Gray code”.
The binary Gray code is simply a way of seeing the direction in which something is moving. If you’ve ever been to a parking garage that has a parking space counter, it’s usually implemented as a binary Gray code.
The way it works is that two lasers are positioned at the entrance to the garage. If, for example, a car breaks the first beam and then the second, the garage’s software knows that a car is entering. If the second beam is broken and then the first, a car is leaving. Our scroll wheel is implemented in a very similar way.
The scroll wheel design uses a phototransistor to detect the “laser” (which is actually an infrared photodiode, in our case). The microcontroller polls the phototransistor to see if it’s detecting any light.
And this is the key problem: the detection poll. The microcontroller in the original Classic is very, very slow. It runs at just 8MHz, which means that if the scroll wheel is spun too quickly, the microcontroller can’t keep up.
In our parking garage analogy, it’s as if multiple cars pass through the laser beams very fast. If the garage’s software is too slow, it’ll think only one car entered the garage. That’s exactly what’s happening in our scroll wheel, since the microcontroller is too slow.
The good news is that we put a new microcontroller in the Classic 2: the Raspberry RP2040. This new microcontroller runs the scroll wheel algorithms fifteen times faster than the one in the original Classic.
The result is crisp, accurate scrolling without any spinouts or unexpected reversals.
Same great shape and performance, with improved printability
The ergonomics of the original Classic were something that we really worked hard on, and many people agree that it works well. Because of that, we didn’t change the ergonomics, at all.
The Classic 2 has exactly the same shape. We promise – we didn’t mess with it in the slightest!
We did, however, change it to make it more printable. The original Classic had some odd overhangs and support material requirements that we’ve worked out of the design.
So, now, the same great ergonomic shape should roll off your printer much more smoothly than before.
We also kept all of the high-performance harware inside. The Classic 2 still has the great PMW-3360 optical sensor for unparalleled accuracy, and still uses great D2LS-21 switches for fantastic clicks.
And… still open-source
Of course, the entire Classic 2 design is open-source, under the CERN OHL license for the hardware and GPL for the firmware.
We’ve also released full assembly documentation and everything you’d need to build a kit, repair it, make one yourself, or mod it.
Thanks to everyone in our community!
We’re excited to share this with you, and we hope that the Classic 2 will serve this community well. We’re looking forward to seeing your builds and mods in the future!
Stay in touch with us!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have an upgrade kit so I can upgrade my original Classic to a Classic 2?
Unfortunately, no. The original Classic PCBs weren’t designed to be upgraded at a later date, so it’s not possible to swap in the new components for the old ones. Additionally, almost all of the plastic parts have been updated, so the Classic 2 parts aren’t compatible with the original Classic.
Will you continue selling original Classic kits?
No, the original Classic design will be retired from our shop.
Will you continue providing maintenance kits for the original Classic?
Yes! We will continue providing support in the form of maintenance kits to everybody who supported us by purchasing an original Classic kit.
Is there a left-handed version of the Classic 2?
No, and we’re not actively working on it at the moment. It’s on our roadmap, however.
Can I buy a “BTU mod” from you?
At the time this post is released, there currently is no BTU mod for the Classic 2. That said, we don’t plan on providing BTU mods to our supporters. The biggest challenge for us is that BTUs are very expensive, even in large quantities, and it’s a very tough for us to balance the quality we want to deliver and price.