deskthority

Sorry, it's been a year now. Anyway I did build this installation. It did work and it didn't break during 2 months, hosting hundrends of visitors. Here is a link to my website for this project:

https://www.mikhailmargolis.com/digital_swamp

There is a video

Thanks to everybody.

M

update: so it's all working!

thanks everybody for advices.

especially @photekq who suggested to get the "cheap" CherryMX keyboards from China.

hello

me again...
so I've taken a road of alibaba keyboards and talked days and hours with different manufacturers.
asked them to do the tests and record on video to see if it's really N-key rollover.
here is one of them

http://www.seventy75five.com/private/misc/a40e6ec0fddae06a3b2f1c3861f503e1 ...

So I bought some simple USB membrane dell keyboards to do the break test.
They are extremely solid.. I don't think I can break them even if I really try.


Can you place the membrane keyboards above a heat map sensor? Nobody would know if the keypresses came from the keyboard or the heat map ...

UPDATE 1:
So I bought some simple USB membrane dell keyboards to do the break test.
They are extremely solid.. I don't think I can break them even if I really try.

UPDATE2:

However the bad news comes once again from this ghosting/rolling thing.
I would've expected, that when you step on keyboard ...

I think something like that would be a safer option. Even if you handed out slippers if someone were to fall and damage themselves you don’t want to be liable. Something like that would probably be the safest option in the name of art. Just imagine a 160 kg person falling and their elbow digging ...

Johnbo wrote: 29 Aug 2022, 19:13 What about this?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804337611582.html

hmmm!! very-very interesting! let me think about this. thanks!

The problem with all those pressure studies is that that's going to be for pressure on a flat, even surface. Keyboards are not that. If the entire weight of my body is spread over the surface area of my foot, yeah, it won't be too bad. But if I'm standing on a few switches, now the entire weight ...

Yes, I must also agree. Keyboards break too often in shipping not to fear for a world of hurt for a keyboard floor. Bare feet and sharp, broken plastic don't sound like fun!

People can still smoosh keyboards, I think, it's just the matter of full body weight and movement which is too much. I can ...

I feel like you're looking at static pressure and ignoring the dynamic pressures that come from walking, jumping, stomping, tripping and stumbling and falling onto them, etc.


true that..
here is an article which describes pressure on walking and standing...

https://ard.bmj.com/content ...

I planned to put them on the floor and allow people to walk over them and roll and sit...


lol those keyboards are going to be instantly destroyed. Have you tried stomping, standing on one foot and wheeling in place, etc. on a test keyboard to see how it fares?

If you really want the keyboard ...

I have to agree with mr Johnbo, I can't see how it would be possible to build this with keyboards, vintage or modern, without it breaking the first day of the exhibition. How important is the keyboards in the installation? It could be possible to build it by building a floor of frosted glass with ...

I'm with j's suggestions. Generic USB models from alibaba etc. will probably be the fastest, easiest and cheapest option. Look for "anti-ghosting keyboard", since NKRO seems to be used less commonly there. They usually list how many keys anti-ghosting they support.


Ok.. so "anti-ghosting" is ...

I think modern generic cherry clone stuff might be your best option. Gaudy gamer boards are easy to come by for cheap and should be NKRO USB. Aliexpress has loads of them new, eBay has plenty used as well.


Ok, it's all new to me...) I will look up Cherry keyboards. for Gaudy I'm not sure what ...

Photekq is who I had in mind when I mentioned Cherry earlier. Definitely worth talking with him. ;)

Thing is: we're keyboard collectors, so of course we're going to point you to nice stuff that we like. But let's step back a bit: you're really after the overwhelming impression of being surrounded ...

What would your total budget be?

Good question.

Sounds like more than I expected

Open to proposals..

(I thought of using cheap used 2 euros keyboards).

here what I got from Alibaba manufacturer

Thanks.

I wonder how do you know if keyboard is mechanical or membrane just by looking at their photos ? )

Please teach me.

I looked at your link by "Inosenz", but I don't understand exactly what he is selling. Space Invaders .. ?

SO:

I'm looking for 200 6KRO keyboards!!!

But honestly, your real obstacle is membrane keyboards. Unless you were poking keys in the 80s, It is quite likely every single keyboard you've ever touched in your entire life is a membrane keyboard! And they are all 2KRO, whatever the electronics. :O


Ok it's more clear now.

80s keyboards are ...

How many keyboards do you have in mind, anyway? ;)


thanks for a detailed answer.

Well 1 square meter corresponds to 16 keyboards

I have 15 square meters.. to give an idea -)

Now what I don't fully understand is where this 6-key limitation comes from. Correct me if I'm wrong, but apparently ...

Hello,

I've been designing an art installation around keyboards and computers. It consists of a room filled with keyboars and where people can walk, sit, lie down. All keyboards are connected via usb hubs to computer, which then processes which keyboard and which keys are pressed and projects an ...