simulating chorded keyboards

[David Rysdam]

Paul Beaudet <inof8or at gmail.com> writes:
> You might be able to get 7 if one of the keys is a modifier like ctrl alt
> meta or shift
>
> Still likely the keyboard, one adventurous way to check is to open up the
> keyboard and
> see if there is a diode for every key. If not that, well that explains your
> 3KRO.
> What is great, is that you can probably find one that does, near someones
> trash can.
> Might have to research to find the right models though.
>
> I read this a while back that cleared some of my questions.
> http://blog.komar.be/how-to-make-a-keyboard-the-matrix/
>
> Unapologetically written by an EE.. might want to skip to the section
> before diode part.

I'm not an EE but I have taken small roles in some television
productions, so I skimmed and got the gist. The real key is finding the
googleable term "NKRO".

Looks like these keyboards are about $100-$150. That seems a little
pricey for a fiddling around experiment unless I can find one lying
around somewhere. Alternatively, I see there are some keypads out there
with the diodes to allow 10KRO or NKRO for using with an arduino.

In a sense that's exactly what he wants, but I suspect that practically
speaking it's going to kill his project since he doesn't know anything
about electronics and I dunno if I want to spend the time being his
hardware engineer. We'll see.