[linux-audio-user] PC Keyboard questions

[Paul Davis]

On Fri, 2006-11-03 at 13:52 +0100, David Causse wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I plan to make live music with a computer. My problem is I want to 
> control the PC with the PC keyboard. Freewheeling permits to control 
> with the PC keyboard.
> 
> My keyboard have some annoying limitations for example I can press at 
> the same time the letters 'azer', 'qsdf', 'uiop' but I am unable to 
> press 'rtyu' at the same time, nothing is printed. I guess it is due to 
> some limitations in its design. I'm afraid it's a hardware issue and I 
> won't find an easy workaround. I'm also afraid that this special use of 
> a keyboard is not the mind of manufacturers...

it is in fact a hardware problem. AFAIK, it is common in some form to
every keyboard ever made, although the precise impossible combinations
vary when you compare things like a Sun keyboard to a standard PC one.
its caused by the "matrix" below the keys - its like a bus system in
which several keys share the same bus. if one of them is using the bus,
the others can't.

--p