Touch Metal
Get In Touch
Feel free to get in touch via the contact page. I don't sell or give away information from users, and I won't start spamming you. I just like to know who is looking at this :)
AI Notice
This website and all work contained within, including the Touch Metal board, software and documentation, were developed without the use of AI, generative technology, grammar-checking/suggesting software, chatbots, or other assistive tools except a simple spell checker. For more information, see real-i.org.NEWS!
13 Apr 2026
Added a page for downloading the source code for the program loader (which lets you load a machine language file into the Touch Metal board). Not useful yet (since the boards are not generally available), but I wanted to figure out how to make this page :)Also added an AI Notice.
12 Apr 2026
Added a Hardware section to the Resources page, showing a picture of the board and some basic information.10 Apr 2026
Launching! Made a contact page with Mobirise, then added my own header, got rid of google stuff, etc. Look and feel is close enough to the other pages.9 Apr 2026
- Fixed the mysterious RESET speedup glitch. Also made HALT command work :)
- Added an output window for the assembled machine code (with a Copy button).
- Also got the Prog Load button wired, and it seems to work :)
8 Apr 2026
> Well, not much news so far other than everything that I'm working on! So let's see, so far:- The board is finished; it'a a custom PCB, around 1700 lines of C/Assembly running on a PIC18F27K42, including an LCD driver and a handmade 5x7 characterset;
- The website is coming along; it may expand over time, but I think it has the main pieces I want for now;
- A draft of the manual is at the printer right now (9centcolorcopies.com, my go-to for quick printing and binding). I'm trying a 5x7 format, closer to the size of the board itself vs. A5. Once this is more-finalized, I'll push it to my Amazon page for general access (the PDF will always be available to download for free though).
- The emulator is close to finished; the HALT instruction doesn't actually halt things yet; and the PROG LOAD button is a NOP;
- I've started working on a kickstarter pitch, to try to raise money, mainly for the FCC compliance testing (SDoC) to be able to make the boards available;
- I'll put out a video on my YouTube channel once all this is in place!