I found this thread while trying to find some subjective tests on the Logitech G19. For a quick background, I play fast-paced movement first person shooters and use the directional keys and surrounding keys contrary to most gamers, who use the WASD or ESDF configuration. Once I began playing a game which required me to use up to five keys simultaneously (with one hand), I found that all keyboards were not created equal. Fortunately, my Logitech Elite USB has served me well for many years and I've been unable to upgrade to a backlit keyboard which types well and will allow me to connect via USB and allow my odd key depressions. Oddly, I've had better luck with cheap (read: less than $10) keyboards playing nicely and not one single "gaming" keyboard will accept my key combination variations using the directional keys...and it narrows the gap futher when I need backlighting and typing ease.
EDIT: oh, another requirement for a new keyboard is having the directional keys lined up with the rows of adjacent keys, and many newer keyboards have them lowered slightly...so it's been difficult, to say the least, to find an appropriate keyboard replacement/upgrade. I almost purchased an extra one (and Wal-Mart had them on sale for just $25!) when a can of soda exploded on my first and had to buy a replacement, but I figured "nah, there will be a newer keyboard I'll buy if something happens to
this one", but there aren't any that meet my needs! The G15 version2 fails my directional keystoke tests, but I cannot recall if the G15/G11 version1 (blue backlight; folding LCD screen) failed my directional keystoke tests...both pass WASD/ESDF easily, but directional keys are where it's important to me. I'm waiting for local stores to carry a display model of the G19 that I can plug my thumb drive into and use KeyScan on.
SO...here I am. I noticed that y'all use that link for testing the rollover, but I've been using this neat little program for well over a year in my hunt for an acceptable keyboard, since it's easier & faster to fire up a dinky program to test the keystrokes rather than fire up my games (in-store, mind you) to see if the keyboard works properly.
I think y'all will find this a very helpful program with great feedback on keystrokes. I can mash a bunch of keys at once, or progress my way up one at a time to find when it faults. It's been a wonderful tool for me to test potential purchases and I hope it is of use for y'all as well =]
It's called "KeyScan" v0.9 by Digital Genesis. Unfortunately, the download link is no longer working at
http://www.digitalgenesis.com , but you're welcome to grab it from me if you like:
http://jon8rfc.homeip.net/other/keyscan.exeSend it over to virustotal.com ease your worries about using a downloaded program--I won't be offended =] (if you haven't already heard of
that site, there's another handy tip!)
For the above download, as a reference of character: I've been active in the unofficial AIM tech-support community since about 2001. If you ever removed the ads from your buddylist, modified the look of AIM, or even used one of the old add-ons--like AIM+, deadaim, middle_man, smilez, vario, messenger:mate, etc, or visited bigblueball.com--I was probably involved in one way or another, helping find solutions to your problems.
EDIT2: oh, and a great keyboard for you typists would be the Majestouch Tactile Touch, which I read a review of in my CPU magazine, which prompted me to do a search on "n-key rollover", since I finally found out a proper name for the annoying phenomenon I experience and was unable to describe to tech support when asking questions about keyboards I was interested in purchasing.
http://www.computerpoweruser.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/c0909/10b09/10b09.asp&guid=