Exploring Different Keyboard Sensing Technologies

We've printed your switches at my university, they feel really great. Now we need to build a full keyboard in order to try out the typing experience, when used inside a keyboard.

Do you think the PCB and typing assembly could be made curved, like the assembly of a Model F or M keyboard?

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your work! Was a great reference when working on hall effect datahand style project.

Thanks for sharing, I’ll print this out to try. What’s the license in the pcb and switches?

I can't say for sure about the Wang terminal keyboards, but what you're describing sounds a lot like a mechanism from some IBM Model B keyboards (usually called Beamsprings). I have an IBM 5251 keyboard that has a solenoid that hammers the side of the metal case whenever you type, and I've heard that it was added as users would have been used to typewriters and wanted to know for sure when they had registered a keypress

This guy sells new beam-spring keyboards with optional solenoids. https://www.modelfkeyboards.com

I have never seen one in person.

The foam has disappeared, but the enthusiasts are going on. While it's not a craze, I believe mechanical keyboard is still superior for longer writing sessions (Apple's and Logitech's scissor switch keyboards are pretty good, too).

Gamers are moving to hall effect switches because of the things they enable, but from what I have seen, some people are still building their keyboards, and people still use mechanical keyboards.

I'd love to continue use mine, too, but they are bit too noisy for my office, and I don't continue computers at home as much, anymore.

Another chilling effect is caused by the tariffs, because people can't get their keyboards or parts as easily anymore. I got mine from Kickstarter directly, but it's impossible for me now.

Various patents expired and now you can get excellent typing keyboards from China for $30-50. Basically everyone I know who types for a living has one.

Gamers have moved on to analog keyboards which are controversial because some of their features straddle the line into cheats. e.g. with an analog keyboards you can negate all inertia in Counter-Strike or do speed tricks in Trackmania not otherwise easily accessible to keyboard players.

They have become mainstream, so they are not special any more.

Even keyboards with what used to be enthusiast features, such as aluminium case, double-shot PBT keycaps, switch foam, plate foam, flex cuts, hot-swap, damping, etc. are available off-the-shelf at very reasonable prices now.

> Is the mechanical keyboard craze still going on?

It depends on your definition of "craze".

Mechanical keyboards are more popular than ever, and became mainstream to the point where nowadays they are just considered keyboards. Even Logitech sells whole product lines of mechanical keyboards, and even has specialized lines of mechanical keyboards.

Also, multiple companies sell ergonomic keyboards that fall within the "craze" classification. Even if they don't ship with noisy switches, they are still in line with what mechanical keyboards were known for.

Nowadays even the pure mechanical keyboards have non-mechanical switches. Optical, magnetic, hall effect, etc. they ship in the standard cherry MX form factor. But aren't mechanical.

A few years ago you had blue switches, red switches, brown switches... You could count the types of switches with your fingers. Nowadays the offer is so vast that you can't keep track. Some companies even sell sample kits with an array of different types of switches for customers to try out. That's a relatively new development.

And do I need to mention the massive inflow of mechanical keyboards on offer from cheap Chinese manufacturers? We're not looking at 400€ mechanical keyboards, but 20€ mechanical keyboards.

The truth of the matter is that in the past you barely had any choice in keyboards. You could choose brand and color, but it was always the same keyboard. Anyone who wanted something beyond this pattern was drawn to mechanical keyboarss. Not today.

So, knowing this, do you think it is a "craze"?

It's still a craze but the people who want a nice keyboard to use daily found theirs and drifted away from the novelty/modding, I think.

I've used a HHKB Pro 2 since 2010 and it's still going strong. I have a replacement ready if/when it dies, but other than a shiny space bar it looks and feels like new.

I absolutely love my UHK [1] split mech keyboard that I ordered from Hungary several years ago. It’s the only one I stuck with after trying some other popular ones. Other than being split, the keyboard layout is standard so it’s easy to adapt to.

It probably helps me avoid RSI. I keep an apple trackpad between the two splits, so I never use a mouse. And a microphone in the middle as well, you can guess why. I clamshell my MacBook and almost always work on a monitor. Besides ergonomics, the biggest benefit is the on-board programmability; it lets me define custom layers and macros so I can trigger complex window management, app switching, and IDE navigation with simple key combos.

[1] https://uhk.io/

Mechanical keyboard is still a sensible choice. With the advent of cheap 3D printing and custom PCBs, there's now also a lively DIY community, especially for odd/split layouts. I don't think it's a craze. It's just a hobby.

It's less as hyped as during covid, but it's definitely still going strong. Its a hobby/collector thing. Cheaper than cars/watches/audio collecting.

I believe that keys with optical switches are less reliable, being sensitive to things like sensor misalignment or dust.

I have not used any keyboard with optical switches, but several decades ago I have used keyboards with hall sensors, which had a superb quality and reliability, much better than anything that I have used later.

Sadly, I had to abandon the first keyboard that I have used with computers owned by me, which had Hall sensors, because it was not IBM PC compatible (its origin was in some DEC-compatible video terminal and I had used it with a Motorola MC68000 based PC, which I have replaced with a PC/AT clone, for which I had to use a compatible keyboard, of much lower quality).

Otherwise, I am certain that it would have remained perfectly functional until today, unlike the many keyboards that I had to replace since then, when too worn out.

Optical switches are great but they suffer from one problem that will annoy anyone that spent a ton of money on one: They don't last forever.

The reason is that the optical components are all plastic and that plastic degrades (yellows) over time due to exposure to UV light (which is all around us). They should last about 10 years in a normal office environment but I've heard reports that they're really only lasting about ~5 years.

Admittedly, five to ten years is probably fine. Just the gunk buildup in a normal keyboard is enough that most people would rather just buy a new keyboard than deal with cleaning it out. Even if the switches are hot-swappable! It really is a tedious thing that requires a lot of time and special tools (to do it right). Some keyboards and switches can only be hot-swapped a few times before they start to become wobbly/loose anyway.

I designed my Void Switches (https://github.com/riskable/void_switch) because I was sick of replacing keyboards so often (my fingers are like salt-water-drenched hammers, apparently). I also wanted a keyboard that was super easy to clean! Check it out:

https://imgur.com/pqGf0se

Every few weeks I take the top of my keyboard off and clean it out in sink with soap and water (and a scrub brush made for dishes). Been typing on this AHEK-95 for just over three years now so I've probably washed it at least 50 times and it's still working great!

NOTE: This is NOT patented technology! Logitech, Wooting, and all other keyboard manufacturers: WTF are you even doing‽ Copy my design already! I'll even help you do it! Make a keyboard that lets end users 3D print replacement switches/parts and you'll OWN THE MARKET (until others hop on board). What are you waiting for‽

In the piano-/synth-keyboard world, this is accomplished by 'interlocked blades', consisting of two curved blades interconnected with notches for each key, allowing the curve of the pressure mechanism to be tuned according to the depth and scale of the notches.

Its always curious to me that this technology hasn't been adopted in the QWERTY keyboard field, although that may be due to patents .. as I understand it the piano keyboard manufacturers are very aggressive about protecting these patents, and its one of the reasons that all synth manufacturers get their keybed mechanisms from the same supplier (Fatar TP9S) .. though recent technology has moved on to use piezo-electric switches.

https://www.fatar.com/products/tp9s/

(Some other interesting details here: https://www.fatar.com/products/)

There do exist switches with an almost flat force-curve, but those I've seen have been very light. For example 30g Topre.

That's mostly copycats of Ben Heck approach from 2012 - some technical improvements, but like without understanding, further thinking about function - or imagination why someone needed it first, then what would be next. So all seems stuck for me, and not much than a bit a closer since then to what (and how) I want, starting from smoothly increasing the repeat rate with pressure for cursor keys or scrolling (but not to have few levels only to macro-simulate that, then OS's are used to not get such things right - High Resolution Scrolling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSy9G6bNuKA 2024).

(* XBOX Controller Mods: Analog WASD Gaming Keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEwDImE0DU4 2012 *)

Keyboards with Hall effect switches have been frequently used many decades ago, before personal computers became dominant.

They were typically used in the more expensive models of video terminals that were used together with minicomputers or mainframes.

Personal computers used cheaper keyboards, to minimize the cost, so after everybody switched to using PCs the more expensive but better keyboards with Hall effect sensors have disappeared.

The keys with Hall effect sensors contain a special analog integrated circuit instead of metallic contacts. The IC is packaged similarly with a transistor, having 4 or sometimes only 3 pins that are soldered on the keyboard PCB.

So to make this kind of keyboard, you need a vendor for such an integrated circuit. Semiconductor IC vendors do not make such ICs, unless there is a market big enough for them.

During the seventies and the eighties, most IC vendors had such ICs in their catalog, but when the market for expensive keyboards disappeared, the production of such ICs has also stopped.

This has made more difficult for anyone to start making such keyboards, instead of other kinds of keyboards, because they must bet on selling enough of them, to be able to convince an IC vendor to make a batch of such ICs.

I have not seen any modern keyboard with Hall effect sensors, so I do not know whether they really use the kind of sensors made for keyboards that have been used originally. Perhaps they repurpose Hall sensors made for brushless DC motors, which are easily available anywhere, but they might need some additional external components in comparison with the special keyboard sensors.

That's pretty interesting. My first mechanical keyboard (Logitech G710+ with genuine Cherry Brown switches) withstood daily bashing of 7+ years, and it still types like the first day. Considering I wrote a Ph.D. on that incl. code and manuscript, it has been used relatively heavily, mixed with some gaming.

I have two other 75% mechanical keyboards, but they are not used as much, and I can't give any feedback on their longevity, but high quality switches do endure from my experience.

On the other hand, I had quite a few top of the line Microsoft keyboards, which were built very well, but their stems wear down after some time, even though their membranes survive. They become a workout instead of being a work enabler, then they are given away.