Posted by nicolas flammel on 21, 2001 at 10:32 AM:
In Reply to: Re: use a diode per button/switch posted by RandyT on 19, 2001 at 11:13 PM:
I have opened well over a dozen keyboards and tried them. The diodes did prevent ghosting, but the real problem is the number of sumultanious keys you can press and diodes won't help that. They varied considerably on the number of keys, but none were good enough for fighting games, or a 4 player cabinet. I did finaly come up with a very old xt keyboard that doesn't use a matrix.
: 0% chance eh? I should play the lottery.
: It seems to be tough for some folks to imagine that not all keyboards are created equal.
: For the record, the keyboard I am using will only do 8 simultaneous keys. PERIOD.
: Also,I was NEVER able to make it generate a ghost key. I repeat, NEVER. However, the masking problem was there.
: Now, why I think this is? The encoder has to store in it's memory somewhere what keys you have depressed. Because of the way a keyboard works, it has to "remember" which keys you pressed so it can send a "key off" command when you release it. If you have X number of locations for this temporary data, you get X number of keys. No more, no less.
: Say what you want. I have diodes on my switches. The switches still work (so they are not installed backwards) but my keyboard is stil limted to 8 total simultaneous keys.
: The chance of failure sounds like a lot more than 0% to me.
: Randy
:
: : get a bunch of cheap diodes (a bag of a 100 costs a few bucks) and put them in-line with your
: : switches (one per switch)
: : put one in, if the button doesn't work, flip it
: : around.
: : unless you mess stuff up, there is 0% chance you
: : will see any ghosting again.
: : henri
: : - for those who still think this doesn't work... i don't know what to say...
: : : when i press a few buttons on both player one and two's side either no input goes threw or the key press is just not registered.
: : : Most games are fine but fighting games are a complete drag because of this.