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
- All mappings revert to stock
- First keystroke is captured
- Subsequent keystrokes are ignored
- Keyboard remains in an unrecoverable state
This state that the keyboard is in is easily and repeatedly reproducible if you use a USB 3.0 switch like the Sabrent USB-SW30. Clicking the switch puts the keyboard in the unusable state. The first key that is pressed is captured, but it is done so with the standard out of the box keyboard layout. For instance, my Caps Lock key is set to MO(2). But, when my keyboard gets into this state, the key reverts back to a standard Caps Lock key. Pressing it as the first key turns Caps Lock on, and subsequent keypresses with another keyboard will output uppercase characters. Turning Caps Lock on/off with the other keyboard will revert it back to lowercase. The current recommendation would probably be to use the Original QMK Firmware until Drop's fork of the firmware is fixed. Reproduction of the issue: https://youtu.be/tienz1HhNjQNote: The video is a little fast-paced.
Note: I have personally reproduced this issue with: