How a keyboard knows which key you pressed

How a keyboard knows which key you pressed

A keyboard doesn't have a wire for every key.

Keys sit where two wires cross. On an IBM Model M, 101 keys share a grid of 8 rows and 16 columns: just 24 wires. The chip powers one column at a time and listens on the rows. Press H, and its row answers when H's column is powered. Then it sends the computer one number: 11 means H.

Send it to someone who types all day.

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