Mechanical Keyboard Sound Isn't That Simple
Figure 1: I couldn't think of a more literal way to represent this article if I tried... Looking back just a few years ago, there’s no doubt that the huge influx of people that joined the hobby at the peak of the COVID pandemic were drawn to keyboards by way of YouTube, TikTok, and other audio-visual content platforms. Even as the output from these content creators has waned in recent months, their collective impact and legacy on the keyboard hobby is rather firmly etched in the history books. As a result of all of their sound tests, build logs, and opinion videos, the message is clear to any new person joining the hobby: mechanical keyboards are all about the sound. Thock this, clack that. Whether it’s keyboards, keycaps, or even singular switches, seemingly everyone new to the hobby meticulously pores over each component of their keyboard not in an attempt to figure out how it will feel in hand, but how it will sound as they’re furiously grinding their way out from...
Mar 27, 2024
“Most mechanical keyboards achieve n-key rollover through workarounds or hacks such as simulating multiple keyboards at once. This often results in compatibility issues or partial functionality across different operating systems. When creating the Infinity Keyboard, we would not settle for such workarounds and went down to the hardware level to create a robust solution. N-key Rollover is built directly into the innovative design of the ciruit board, which allows each key to operate separately. Rgardless of operating system or setup, the Infinity Keyboard ensures all key presses will be registered. Infinity Keyboard, infinite key presses. ”
I believe this is not correct. The USB protocol cannot describe a keyboard state where more than six keys are pressed at once, the finest hardware cannot change that. The workarounds described in this description solve this shortcoming of the USB protocol. If you claim you don't use it, how else are you implementing n-key rollover?
On another notice, will a variant of this layout with ISO-enter and split left-shift be available in the foreseeable time?
The USB HID spec defines two separate types of keyboard devices. The first one is called a boot protocol device (designed to work with simple devices like a BIOS, only 6 NKRO, modifiers and LED states). And the second, a normal keyboard. Most keyboards just define themselves as a boot device because it is needed to deal with BIOSs. Devices that require a boot mode keyboard are supposed to request it from the keyboard. http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/HID1_11.pdf page 59, B2 and C
However, it is possible to send all keys supported by the USB spec in a single message using a different USB HID descriptor. Basically, instead of sending 6 bytes, send 1 bit for the state of every single key type supported by the USB HID spec. All modern OSs support this (unless it specifically requests a boot mode device). Soarer and hasu use this method in their own firmware (dfj, soarer and hasu did the investigation to make this work).
An ISO variant just needs enough interest.