Cherry RK - Realkey analog technology

[crunch]

Cherry's new analog technology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xrcOZ904fA#t=70

[scottc]

Whoah, Cherry MX Keyboard 6.0! 6!

[Nuum]

But where's 4.0 and 5.0?
I like the design, but I don't quite get the "Realkey" part.

[Hypersphere]

Cherry DNA? Well, actually:
http://genomics.wsu.edu/sweet-cherry-genome-project/

And,
http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/cherry/results

But these have nothing to do with keyboards.

[Hypersphere]

Whoah, Cherry MX Keyboard 6.0! 6!

Might as well make it 10 (or X) to stay abreast of Mac and Windows.

[noobie94]

Looks pretty cool to me. I can live with fullsize, the red LED's are not my cup of tea and the price of €189 is a bit hefty.

[7bit]

Any pictures?

[Nuum]

Here are some: http://techhive.de/cherry-zeigt-realkey ... 610197473/
The article reads like an advertorial though.

Here's one in German with some technical info on "Realkey": http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/ ... &hgf=false
It says, that every key and every key combination has a designated resistance which gets measured by a Cortex M3 processor within 0.4 milliseconds after the key press.

[Findecanor]

Looks like yet another keycap shape for this one. A skirt (like the G80-3800 and G80-3850's) to make it appear as if they are lower than otherwise, but the caps also seem to be slightly contoured.
The Caps Lock key has the backlit legend in the middle, so I suppose that the key is centre-stemmed. In the video, we can briefly see that the caps are white with white stem, so I suppose not doubleshot.
I'm not sold on the cutout above the arrow keys or the MX logo pattern on the wrist rest.

[webwit]

So does it matter? With 20ms, that means 50 key presses per second.

[jacobolus]

The Caps Lock key has the backlit legend in the middle, so I suppose that the key is centre-stemmed.

The switches are standard MX switches.

[jacobolus]

So does it matter? With 20ms, that means 50 key presses per second.

Of course it matters: "The MX module is absolutely the most precise module, and the MX module is very fast. Digital technology is not good enough for it." (quote from the marketing video)

[Findecanor]

The Caps Lock key has the backlit legend in the middle, so I suppose that the key is centre-stemmed.

The switches are standard MX switches.

Yes I got that. I am talking about the Caps Lock key's keycap. It should take standard keycaps, unlike the MX-board 2.0/3.0 that have Caps Lock keys that are 1.5u + a step, and the rest of the G80 series whose keys are 1.25u + a step.

[Findecanor]

Hmm.. When you have only one single-throw switch, it is not uncommon to debounce it in hardware by using a lowpass filter which would dampen transients. However, lowpass filters can't be used with regular keyboard matrices because the signal changes as the microcontroller strobes different rows.
Maybe Cherry has found a way to build a matrix with lowpass filters embedded in the matrix itself, or they are doing a hierarchical approach instead of matrix ... (I'm grasping at straws here.)

[7bit]

Thanks!


So in fact nothing new and I can continue my winter hibernation.

[seebart]

[seebart manual translation]

CHERRY RealKey Analog Technology - short CHERRY RK - takes a totally new approach at reading keysignals: Instead of scanning the matrix every single switch is connected to the controller analogically. The results provide new advantages compared to present technology.

looks like the CHERRY REALKEY is a real marketing burner aimed at the gaming crowd.

reaction time 01.00 ms ANALOG TRANSFER FASTEST RESPONSE TIME

ok I'd like to see any user measure that, or let alone even notice the difference to MX or any other mechanical switch.

[Findecanor]

Hey, it does have a case of aluminium, but it is cast aluminium and it is thicker than other cases.

[andrewjoy]

The font on the caps is terrible and the back-light is way too bright, case looks nice.

[Halvar]

At least it's their first attempt at the high end mechanical market, which was overdue. It's good to see that they start to care for that segment at all. Looking forward to the first tests to learn more about the backlighting, quality of the case, keycap compatibility and scanning technique.

[shreebles]

Hey, it does have a case of aluminium, but it is cast aluminium and it is thicker than other cases.

That is really the true standout feature of this board.

The font on the caps is terrible and the back-light is way too bright, case looks nice.

I agree, the font is not for everyone, but the intensity of the backlight can be adjusted to one's needs. They probably just turned it up all the way to make it look more flashy at CES.
At least they went with a sensible color choice for the backlight, red being a scientifically less disruptive choice than blue (or green for that matter, but that's pretty much the same end of the spectrum).

But still, despite the cast aluminum, at 180€, getting a realforce for 50 bucks more doesn't seem such a stretch. At 120€, this might be a nice premium alternative to backlit boards such as the QPADs, FUNC KB-460 or Blackwidow.

[Khers]

But still, despite the cast aluminum, at 180€, getting a realforce for 50 bucks more doesn't seem such a stretch. At 120€, this might be a nice premium alternative to backlit boards such as the QPADs, FUNC KB-460 or Blackwidow.

TBH I'd rather buy this than either of the ones you listed. I do agree with this board being over-priced however, and I think that Cherry should have aimed lower, but rather for the same price point as e.g. the Ducky Shine. Whatever that is.

[shreebles]

I'd also buy this over the shine, and any of the boards I listed, except the realforce. Why wouldn't you prefer a TKL realforce? Because you have a HHKB?

[Khers]

I'd also buy this over the shine, and any of the boards I listed, except the realforce. Why wouldn't you prefer a TKL realforce? Because you have a HHKB?

Oh, sorry, didn't see that you mentioned the RF as well (read a bit too quickly/carelessly...). My comment was more with regards to the gamer boards. I would buy an RF over the Cherry RK any day of the week

[Muirium]

But Realforces are 6KRO. You can't compare, man, you can't compare!

Ahem. That video was a delightful slideshow of horseshit. I liked the bits when the American sounding voice over guy stumbled slightly over the awkward German-written English lines he was given. The bits about "Cherry DNA" neither read right nor sound right!

1 millisecond scanrate is perfectly standard in keyboard matrices. As is NKRO. My Soarer boards do both! I wonder what exactly is analogue about what else they're doing. The only potential non-bullcrap I can imagine they're talking about is some kind of faster debounce logic. A grid of resistors? A controller with 100+ pins? A CRYSTAL? OMG, it better be a crystal! They're magic, legit.

[Khers]

Of course! I regularly press at least a key per finger simultaneously so I definitely need 10KRO, no, wait I press at least two keys per finger simultaneously, so it's NKRO for me...

Personally I don't understand why anything above 6KRO is advertised as a feature. But then again, I'm one of the weird guys who is satisfied using a 2KRO Model M...

[Muirium]

I can live with 6KRO just fine. 2KRO though, been there, hated that! Terminal Model Ms can be a bastard, depending how they laid out the membranes. My 122 key can't do two mods and an arrow key reliably. Kills me! I hit Shift+Option+Left or Right literally dozens of times an hour when editing. Madness.

[shreebles]

There are some RARE occurences when 2KRO does not suffice for me. In this case, 6KRO is more than enough.

But a lot of the time it has more to do with combining a very close cluster of keys with modifiers. Such as WASD and CTRL, Shift. Some manufacturers go so far as to INTENTIONALLY screw up that cluster to make people buy the more expensive gamer boards (looking at you, logitech!)

[Khers]

I can live with 6KRO just fine. 2KRO though, been there, hated that! Terminal Model Ms can be a bastard, depending how they laid out the membranes. My 122 key can't do two mods and an arrow key reliably. Kills me! I hit Shift+Option+Left or Right literally dozens of times an hour when editing. Madness.

Two mods and an additional key is sort of what I'd like. I've never had any experience with terminal Ms but if they might be as bad as you say roll over wise, then maybe it would be worth it just to get the same sensation that these so called gamers must have on 6KRO

[davkol]

derp

[Khers]

I don't know what Plover is but I guess this isn't it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plover