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90 points amichail | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.434s | source
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class3shock ◴[] No.42204139[source]
If you aren't a gamer is a keyboard with this tech worth looking at?
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ryukoposting ◴[] No.42204354[source]
Do you fully press (or mostly fully press) your keys when you type? If so, then no, Hall Effect keyboards probably aren't going to get you anything a mechanical keyboard won't. The headline feature is extremely high sensitivity, i.e. you barely have to tap the key for it to register.
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1. lsaferite ◴[] No.42204490[source]
To me, the headline feature is full control of sensitivity, in real-time if you want.

A standard mechanical keyboard has a fixed actuation point. If you want to change that you need to replace the switches. A Hall-Effect keyboard allows you to tune the actuation point exactly where you like. You can also tune the actuation and reset points independently and even in relation to each other. That allows you to have a reset on a slight raise of the finger without having to raise past as absolute point in travel.

As an example of how the analog nature of HE keyboard could be useful, you could (in theory) set it up so that key repeat rate is adjusted based on how far past actuation you have the key. So, if I press harder the key repeats faster. Sure, you can solve the same problem with navigation shortcuts, but the point is that having a keyboard that captures an analog value for each key opens a wide range of possible use cases. I'm personally ecstatic that they are finally releasing Low-Profile HE keyboards.

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2. ryukoposting ◴[] No.42208756[source]
The tunable actuation/analog sensitivity are really cool, but I was trying to look at it from the perspective of a programmer. The tunable actuation might be nice if you have a very particular way of touch-typing, but I (and most people I know) fully depress keys as they type, or at least they come very close to it. I personally use low profile Gateron Browns in my Keychron K3 Pro, and I bottom them out on nearly every keystroke.

And sure, the analog travel sensing is really cool too. You could make a keyboard do a lot of things with that, but as a dev I can't think of something I'd want my keyboard to do with that feature.

One thing I do find exciting is the potential longevity of a keyswitch with no electrical contacts except for the ones that connect the key to the circuit board.