Retro Keyboard emulation - Enigma machine

Hi all
I'm looking to build an enigma machine based on Arduino / ESP8266. My issue is that I want to create the keyboard that I use to only have A-Z keys. Due to the nature of it, I want mechanical keys not touch screen.

I see two options : 1) two 4x4 matrix array keypads (or maybe a 4x4 and a 4x3) 2) repurpose a wired USB 26-key finance keypad. This is more complex : I'd need USB connection hardware, then some sort of library to read the keyboard inputs.

My question is : assuming I am getting data from keyboard via USB and in through a suitable connection, is it possible to sense the ASCII codes for keys like 'function' so that I could respond to a press? I don't know enough about keyboards to know if that would send anything without a second key being pressed at the same time, which would defeat the purpose...

Thanks

Most Arduino cannot act as a USB host device, so you can't connect a USB keyboard. Also it seems like a very complex method.

Can you not simply use 26 buttons/keys of your choice connected as a 4x7 matrix and use the Keypad library to read them?

I'd go with the mechanical keyboard option. Just pop off the keys that you don't need. You can connect a USB or PS2 keyboard using the PS2 library to most any Arduino including Uno.

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