User Manual
PoKeys user manual
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7. PoKeys configuration options
7.1. Digital inputs and outputs
Unlike generic PoKeys devices, PoKeys57CNC doesn’t have generic pin headers with fully
customizable pin functions. Certain pins of the dedicated connectors on PoKeys57CNC can be reused
for other purposes if not used by the specific peripheral device. See the connector pinout diagram to
discover which pins can be reused as digital inputs or digital outputs. Pin numbers were assigned
according to the available functions of each pin in order to keep the device back-compatible with 3
rd
party software.
Although primarily targetted for CNC applications, PoKeys57CNC shares the same virtual USB
keyboard and joystick capability of PoKeys USB series of devices. Digital pins can be mapped to
virtual keyboard keys or virtual joystick buttons. On activation, PoKeys device sends a USB message
with the key code and modifier associated with this pin. Moreover, PoKeys57CNC device can also
simulate a series of key presses, what is called a macro sequence. Up to 64 different macro
sequences can be setup with the combined total length of 3584 characters with each macro
sequence shorter than 128 keys. All macros can be labelled with a 7-character name.
An extension to the USB keyboard mapping described above, PoKeys supports also triggered
mapping of inputs to USB keyboard keys. In triggered mapping mode, only pin state transitions (low-
to-high or high-to-low trigger a USB key press) with different key combinations for each transition.
Type-matic like repeat and delay is an additional extension to the triggered key mapping. Instead of
relying on the user’s system to trigger key repeat events, PoKeys can be configured to simulate
repeated key presses at the predefined rate (period between two key presses is adjustable in 5 ms
cycles – 0.78 to 200 repeats possible
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) after a predefined delay (adjustable in steps of 5 ms – 0 to
1275 ms possible).
PoKeys configuration software usage
There is graphical representation for configuration of each PoKeys device’s pin on left and right side
of main window. To change pin function, click on pin name and change its function in central ‘Pin
settings’ frame.
Figure 1: PoKeys configuration window
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The maximum repeat rate depends on the user's system