miamicanes
Active Member
Suppose I buy one of Simply Automated's switches, and configure it with a single half-height paddle occupying the top half, and two quarter-sized paddles occupying the lower half.
Are their paddles lame and unergonomic like X10's paddle switches, where it's really just a spring-loaded pushbutton that gets toggled when you smack the upper half of the paddle? Or are the padles spring-loaded and tactile, with a clearly-defined neutral position, and nice, satisfyingly-tactile "off" and "on" positions if you press the paddle's bottom (off) or top (on)?
God forbid, if they don't give you a nice, satisfying, tactile click, do they at least HAVE discrete "on" and "off" presses (ie, pressing the top half of the paddle generates a different event than pressing the lower half of the paddle)? Or are they basically X-10's faux-paddle button switches reborn with a slightly more robust and sophisticated protocol?
Likewise, do the switches broadcast events for both keydown and keyup, and allow you (with appropriate self-written software) overload multi-key gestures that use the 4 lower buttons as modifier keys for the upper paddle?
For example, suppose I bought the SA switch that has a half-height paddle switch above a 2x2 matrix of 4 buttons. Suppose I did the following:
Press and keep holding the lower-left button (let's call it "B3")
Press and release the paddle's top half.
Press and release the paddle's top half again.
Press and keep holding the lower right button (let's call it "B4")
Release the lower left button (B3)
Release the lower right button (B4)
If I were watching the serial output of a UPB serial interface, would I see something like:
B3 down
Paddle-on down
Paddle-on up
Paddle-on down
Paddle-on up
B4 down
B3 up
B4 up
Or would I see something different, because it might only send messages when keys are pressed, or might be stupidly matrixed and not support pressing more than one button at a time?
Are their paddles lame and unergonomic like X10's paddle switches, where it's really just a spring-loaded pushbutton that gets toggled when you smack the upper half of the paddle? Or are the padles spring-loaded and tactile, with a clearly-defined neutral position, and nice, satisfyingly-tactile "off" and "on" positions if you press the paddle's bottom (off) or top (on)?
God forbid, if they don't give you a nice, satisfying, tactile click, do they at least HAVE discrete "on" and "off" presses (ie, pressing the top half of the paddle generates a different event than pressing the lower half of the paddle)? Or are they basically X-10's faux-paddle button switches reborn with a slightly more robust and sophisticated protocol?
Likewise, do the switches broadcast events for both keydown and keyup, and allow you (with appropriate self-written software) overload multi-key gestures that use the 4 lower buttons as modifier keys for the upper paddle?
For example, suppose I bought the SA switch that has a half-height paddle switch above a 2x2 matrix of 4 buttons. Suppose I did the following:
Press and keep holding the lower-left button (let's call it "B3")
Press and release the paddle's top half.
Press and release the paddle's top half again.
Press and keep holding the lower right button (let's call it "B4")
Release the lower left button (B3)
Release the lower right button (B4)
If I were watching the serial output of a UPB serial interface, would I see something like:
B3 down
Paddle-on down
Paddle-on up
Paddle-on down
Paddle-on up
B4 down
B3 up
B4 up
Or would I see something different, because it might only send messages when keys are pressed, or might be stupidly matrixed and not support pressing more than one button at a time?