[Coco] CoCo keyboard can't keep up?

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday, July 29, 2010 09:21:45 am Chad H did opine:

> Hey guys, another question..
> 
> Sometimes I get a little quick on the CoCo keyboard and I get extra
> characters displayed in addition to the ones I'm typing and they are
> nowhere near the keys I'm pressing.   If I slow down all is good. 
> Anyone know what this could be?   It happens in DECB & OS9/NitrOS9 just
> the same.
> 
That is an un-avoidable artifact of the speed of the matrix scan when the 
coco scans the keyboard.  Unlike modern keyboards, there is no key down or 
key up events sent, just the xy position in the matrix of crosspoints that 
is the keyboard itself.  If a 2nd key is pressed before the first is 
released, you will get odd results.  FWIW, modern keyboards have their own 
gotchas in that regard.  I spend as much time correcting spelling mistakes 
as typing it in the first place because these old fingers don't always hit a 
key dead on and touch an adjacent key too.  Or the repeat delay gets 
skipped and I get 'eeee' for a single press before the finger backs up.
> 
> -          Chad
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Cheers, Gene
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