Sprintek SK5100/SK5101 integrated circuits

[TalkingTree]

Has anyone ever used these ICs for a custom keyboard?
They seem quite nice and easy to setup. Softwares are provided to configure the matrix.

Among  the many interesting features:

• 4 sets of 8 x 20 keyboard matrix for Numlock and FN cases
• Up to 255 Custom/Macro keys
• Configurable USB 2.0 full speed and PS/2 interface
• Support two FN control modes: Level and Toggle

Both ICs have 56 pins and 5 are dedicated to LED indicators (including Kana and Compose).

If I'm reading the ordering page correctly, twentyfive SK5100 are sold for $10.25.

Here's the datasheet for anyone interested.

[pomk]

from the diagrams it seems that it would be possible to chain two of these. Would make for an interesting split keyboard, where the halves communicate via PS2.

[TalkingTree]

Unfortunately I was wrong on the ordering bit. Each IC costs $10.25 and MOQ is 25 pieces. One lot would cost $256.25.

EDIT: I must be blind. One can buy single ICs for $12.81 each.

[Tactile]

This thing looks really interesting. I'm not sure if I like the idea of the controller having 28ms debounce time programmed in with, I think, no way to change it. This might be a deal breaker for a serious gaming keyboard.