Re:Keyboard latency
by latigidigital on Tuesday October 17, 2017 @02:44AM
(#15489114)
I'd really like to see more research done on this subject.
I clock about 15 keystrokes per second while typing full speed, and I find serious issues with accuracy using most contemporary keyboards, even on gaming and higher-end OEM equipment.
Edit: Some keyboards are also practically unusable due to dropped inputs above a certain rate.
I am a fairly good typist (70WPM+) and I agree with this.
When I bought my first chromebook, I opened google docs and found the typing latency terrible. It couldn't keep up with me.
Then I let the chrome OS update, and everything was as smooth as butter.
An interesting way to test this would be to use a sensor to note how the point where a key was definitely "headed down" (say > 10% of its total travel) and then waiting for the message to show up.
In older keyboards the main CPU was doing some of the debouncing so it knew "right away" that a keyboard was pressed. That cuts down on latency as well.
Another test case might be to put a USB -> PS/2 adapter on the keyboard. This lets the onboard CPU know to send the keycode as soon as it has decoded and debounced it.