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New encoder on ebay
Grasshopper:
--- Quote from: tahnok100 on January 10, 2006, 07:02:45 pm ---He came back yesterday. He says that there are no ghosting problems, it's not a matrix. He said though that the USB Keyboard HID report limitations apply when reporting keys, and referred my to usb.org. Any idea exactly what this means? I can't put any money towards this right now though.
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It would be nice if somebody knowledgeable and independent (i.e. not selling an encoder, I don't want this turning into a Randy vs Andy thread) could sort this issue out once and for all.
Andy once said the Ipac could support up to about 15 simultaneous keypresses in USB mode (although the Ipac has been updated since I read this comment so it might be out of date). Whilst 15 simultaneous inputs is plenty for a two player panel it bothers me a bit that Andy was unable to provide an exact number. Why the ambiguity? Also, I'm wondering whether this limitation is built into the Ipac itself, Windows' implementation of USB, the USB specification, or a combination of the three?
Havok:
Sounds like it's not quite as good as Randy's KeyWiz, but a step up from a keyboard hack. Hopefully someone here will pick it up and do a review...
Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: Havok on January 11, 2006, 08:20:34 am ---Sounds like it's not quite as good as Randy's KeyWiz, but a step up from a keyboard hack. Hopefully someone here will pick it up and do a review...
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True, since it is programmable (forgot to mention that the KeyWiz and I-PAC's are as well). The six simultaneous keypress limitation is a big issue, though.
Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: Grasshopper on January 11, 2006, 08:18:04 am ---
--- Quote from: tahnok100 on January 10, 2006, 07:02:45 pm ---He came back yesterday. He says that there are no ghosting problems, it's not a matrix. He said though that the USB Keyboard HID report limitations apply when reporting keys, and referred my to usb.org. Any idea exactly what this means? I can't put any money towards this right now though.
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It would be nice if somebody knowledgeable and independent (i.e. not selling an encoder, I don't want this turning into a Randy vs Andy thread) could sort this issue out once and for all.
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Please - No new Randy vs. Andy threads - (Although it has been a while - I can supply the popcorn this time
AndyWarne:
I don't think this will turn into an Andy Vs Randy thread as I am going to agree with him!
It is true that if this new board is based on a standard reference design for a keyboard type device, it will suffer the 6 key plus modifiers limit as Randy says. Yes this is not enough as two diagonally-pressed joysticks is 4 presses for a start.
One of the very first design aims for the I-PAC was to overcome this limit. Grasshopper has the correct figure, but there is always some ambiguity in the limit because the number increases (above 15) for each of the modifier keys in use (ctrl, alt, shift, rctl, ralt, rshift).
The Mini-PAC, I-PAC 2 and I-PAC 4 each use three different techniques in different combinations to increase the key limit. Just a bit of thinking out of the box does it.
Andy W