Dell Ps2 Serial Port Adapter With Dongle
Asks: 'Recently, I was charged with the mission of obtaining a particular small external USB keyboard, for use on a Win2K laptop. However, when the USB version proved unavailable, I obtained the equivalent PS/2 version and an inexpensive PS/2-to-USB adapter. Should have been cake. Except that it didn't work.
Win2K failed to see the keyboard, claiming instead to see an unknown USB device. A different USB adapter didn't help. A different keyboard didn't help. Trying on a different computer didn't help. Googling my eyes out for several hours looking for answers didn't help (although I found a few people with the same question). So I thought I'd beseech the Slashdot crowd and ask how many people have had success using legacy input devices with small, inexpensive PS/2-to-USB adapters?'
'Here's the in question. Here's the we tested, and here's the (ignore the picture; it's wrong).
9R4P4 Dell Original Micro Serial to Serial Serial (RS-232) Dongle Adapter Cable. EUR 29.45; +. NEW Dell Serial Port PS/2 Add In Card N3563 Cable for XPS 400 410 600 F3636. EUR 28.30; +. DELL OPTIPLEX SFF SERIAL & PS-2 I/O PORT ADAPTER AND CABLE. EUR 28.31; +. (had line item ' - Fixed Serial/Parallel card is detected as an unclassified card.' Under 'fixes and enhancements' section. Assume it's actually for PCIe card, not adapter card.) I've successfully used a PS2 mouse on the PS/2 port. I've used WinSSD w/ serial loopback dongle on many other dell platforms (390,.
Several things about this experience have left me very confused. Keyboards and mice are simple manifestations of the USB HID (Human Input Device) class, and Win2K ships with a fairly complete set of HID drivers -- plugging in a keyboard should (and often does) Just Work. Hence, these adapters are sold without drivers. Further, the PS/2 electrical and logical specifications are older than dirt, and well understood. USB is also very well specified. So building an adapter should be a very straightforward effort, with little room for surprise or failure.
And yet, the damn thing refused to work. All PS/2 keyboards tested worked fine when connected to native PS/2 ports. All computers tested recognized all other USB devices when plugged in. But no matter what we did, we couldn't get any system to recognize any PS/2 keyboard plugged into these PS/2-to-USB adapters.
As the evening wore on, I started to wonder just how many other people had experienced this perplexing situation, and how they resolved it. The makers of these adapters wouldn't knowingly sell non-functional merchandise, so I assume that somehow these things can be made to work.
What I'm wondering is what special conditions, if any, are required to get them to work.' OK, I'm pretty sure that that adapter doesn't provide any USB interfacing beyond what's there in teh keyboard. You probably would need the adapter for sale here: i l.asp?item=MISCABUSBW3R Linked from that same page.
A USB device is a smart device with a chip that discusses what it is with your computer. A PS/2 keyboard is NOT. The more complete adapter probably fills in the gaps with a USB device chip that identifies itself as a PS/2 port. Later, Necris P.S. Good luck with your setup! Someone mod this guy up.
This is exactly what happened. I have a PS/2->USB convertor, and it's a real convertor that will convert a PS2-only keyboard to USB (or, incidently, a PS2 mouse. I think it can even handle a splitter and do both.), and it cost 15 bucks. It clearly has circuitry in a little bump in the middle. What the goober that posted purchased was a plug adapter that just makes a dual PS2/USB keyboard physically fit into a USB socket and switches the internal keyboard circuitry to use USB.
This will obviously not work on a PS2-only keyboard, as they have no USB circuitry. I'd blame the store for selling them, but it clearly says that it won't work without the correct keyboard. And I guess someone has to sell replacements if you lose them. I have a dongle designed for a Mac that also works on Linux - I assume it will also work on Windows. It has both a PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse port, and plugs into the USB port on a PC. The parent is 100% right on this. You need one with active circuitry and not just a cable adapter.
These devices run around $50. Maybe the OP was trying to be too cheap??? They are easy to find via google. First hit in fact.
I used this on my Thinkpad T21 a few years ago with my older keyboard. No longer use it as all my de.
The first thing I look at when considering a laptop is what ports are available. My general rule for ports when looking for a laptop for me or someone else: Both nic and modem should be available, the primary connection should be a pcmcia card, whichever they use less or don't expect to use should be onboard. At least: 1 serial, video out, ps2.
It must have a floppy and cdrom-type drive and pcmcia slots. Those are all basic essentials, anything beyond that is gravy. But, in this case. I've had this same issue, and fixed it. For me it was NOT a software issue at all. I may have mixed feelings about M$ too, but blaming Windows for hardware problems is just stupid. I don't know the technical details, but I can say that adaptors like [amazon.com] consistantly work great, while adaptors like [amazon.com] don't work at all.
As far as I can tell, since the adaptors which work are always larger, I assume they have extra electronics inside so they can communicate with the USB port more intelligently. If someone else knows the technical details of how this works, I'd love to hear about it. The small adapter you in the photo to which you link has no electronics inside. It is only a connector adapter. Some mice have PS/2 connectors with extra pins that are needed with USB. When you use the provided adapter, those USB pins are connected.
Only the mice with the extra USB arrangement work with the little adapters, not all PS/2 mice. It's a fact that the more complicated PS2 to USB adapters do not always work reliably in Windows XP. We redefine the Caps Lock key to be a Control key. 'All four of us agreed during the call that Windows XP is constantly reorganizing itself.' Perhaps that explains why I've seen it 'forget' on one neighbor's machine which video card it had (reverted to plain vanilla VGA and something like 8 colors) and on another's machine that it had a network card installed--in the middle of using that card to migrate their old programs and settings from their old Windows 98 machine with the XP program designed to do that migration. Billy the G must get up every day and lau. I don't know the technical details, but I can say that adaptors like this consistantly work great, while adaptors like this don't work at all.
As far as I can tell, since the adaptors which work are always larger, I assume they have extra electronics inside so they can communicate with the USB port more intelligently. If someone else knows the technical details of how this works, I'd love to hear about it. There are two types of differences: the pinout and the protocol. If you have a PS/2 only keyboard, yo.
That's all fine and dandy in this case. I stick by my actual advice, he's already said it works in the native ps2 port.
He's also said other devices work with the usb adapter. Simply hook the keyboard up ps2 and the mouse up through the adapter instead of the other way around. After all, the ps2 port on a laptop will usually work for either a mouse or keyboard, not like desktop ps2 ports in which you have to use them in their respective ports. (I've never really looked into why this is, but I do know th. I didn't say I dealt with 20 windows systems, I said 20 is about the number at which you start to see the problems. Actually I deal with significantly more than 300 servers and 700 desktops. But 20 is enough to start getting a better idea of whether or not something works consistantly.
'it worked on mine machine' is meaningless in the windows world. Tell me, on your 700 desktops, have you ever installed a piece of hardware, using good media to install the drivers (because windows built-in driver support su. >But 20 is enough to start getting a better idea of whether or not something >works consistantly. >>'it worked on mine machine' is meaningless in the windows world. Agreed, though I think you can start getting *some* idea at less than 20. (Not really at 1 or 2, though.) Administering six PCs is enough to let you weed out the stuff that works on about three quarters of all Windows systems and fails the other quarter of the time. I administer about a dozen Windows desktops, and I can tell you that.
I bought a cheapie keyboard/mouse adaptor from Fry's. It has separate mouse and keyboard PS/2 ports, and it claims that you can, with a laptop keyboard/mouse Y cable, plug in two keyboards and two mice. Win2K required four reboots to install the HID drivers. That's one reboot each for 'two' mice and 'two' keyboards. After that it worked OK.
Linux required tweaking as I wanted to be able to use the built-in ps/2 touchpad as well. The keyboard was recognized but the mouse wasn't. A bit o' research with Google pointed me in the right direction [tweak xconfig] and I was off an running. MacOS X just worked. Plug it in and go. No reboots, no tweaking. Lansweeper License Key here. I have an older Logitech model similar to [amazon.com].
My PS/2 ports both blew, probably from repeated hot plugging/unplugging, and I had to get a PS/2 ->USB adapter. The thing works fine for me. Now, one caveat.my system is strange.
The wireless receiver for both my keyboard/mouse has two PS2 outputs, one for the mouse, one for the keyboard. I am actually able to run just one of these through a USB adapter and have both mouse and keyboard work. I have no idea how this happens, it just does. I went to Radio Shack, bought the first PS2->USB adapter I saw and it has worked fine ever since. Didn't do anything special, are you sure your connector/USB port is working correctly?
I am actually able to run just one of these through a USB adapter and have both mouse and keyboard work. I have no idea how this happens, it just does. Because the mouse and keyboard, in the PS2 versions, are fully capable of sharing only one port. So the receiver unit you have is simply putting both signals out both connectors. The only reason there's two connectors on it at all is because some older motherboards have two connectors on them and only read the mouse signals on one and the keyboard signals o. Gta San Andreas Zombie Apocalypse Mod Download Pc. I can say empirically that this is not the case, as I am using a PS/2 Compaq keyboard (which did not come with a USB adapter) through a Belkin FSU119-E PS/2-to-USB adapter.
My laptop (a Sony Vaio) does not have any PS/2 ports, but the Belkin adapter allows 2 PS/2 devices to be used in one USB port. I have also used other non-USB keyboards through other 3rd-party PS/2-to-USB adapters with success. On a side note though, I have run into an issue where Windows 2000 and XP both ignore the keyboard repeat rate.
The BIOS keyboard settings won't do anything. Windows has its own drivers and doesn't use BIOS for the keyboard.
I'm currently using a USB keyboard on XP and the keyboard control panel works fine. My keyboard is listed as a HID Keyboard Device, part of a USB composite device (volume buttons too). The composite device uses the driver usbccgp.sys, the HID device uses hidclass.sys, hidparse.sys, hidusb.sys, and hid.dll.
The keyboard itself uses kbdclass.sys and kbdhid.sys. Are you possibly using some third-party. The very clear description of the first product reads. Application: USB ADAPTER for USB A Type Male to Mini Din 6 Pin Female ***IMPORTANT NOTE***: 10160 is the adapter ONLY, without chips and any software. If you do NOT have the related chips and software on your computer, we strongly recommend you to by the whole convertor Did you *buy* the whole convertor, or do you have the chips & software required to translate PS/2 ->USB already in your PC ( pretty damn unlikely! The outpost convertor looks to be the same dealie.
Your problem is the keyboard, not the adapter. The adapter is only for dual function devices. These devices are able to tell the difference between PS/2 and USB and switch to that mode.
The adapters are nothing more then strait through contacts with the correct pinout. What you need is a USB / PS/2 keyboard. Then you can plug it into the adapter and all will be well. Being slashdot, I doubt you read right off your [centralcomputer.com] Application: USB ADAPTER for USB A Type Male to Mini Din 6 Pin Female ***IMPORTANT NOTE***: 10160 is the adapter ONLY, without chips and any software. If you do NOT have the related chips and software on your computer, we strongly recommend you to by the whole converter. So either get the right keyboard, or [centralcomputer.com].
I have four of those adapters. I purchased them back when I had to get my Mac, Windows and Linux boxes working on the same KVM switch.
One of them only works in Linux, one works in Windows and Linux, but poorly (caps lock and scroll lock seem to come on if I hit two keys at once) and in MacOS 10.3 not at all, and the others work perfectly. Unfortunatly I don't have the package for the one I have in my office, and it's in cable form with no identifying marking on it, so I can't tell you who made it or anythi. I have the Belkin USB-to-PS/2 Y-adapter to use my olde style keyboard and mouse with my laptop. Worked perfectly right out of the box with no reboots. Keyboard is a Gateway AnyKey from '94, the mouse is a Tobshiba from somewhere in the late 90s. The PS/2 ends of the adapter go to my KVM cables; the USB end into a Compaq laptop. If USB-to-PS/2 works there, I'd expect it to work most places.
One thought, I don't know if the USB-to-PS/2 adapter makes the PS/2 items hot-swappable like USB items. It's no big deal to plug in a USB mouse or drive into a running MS windows system. Normally a PS/2 mouse or keyboard has to be plugged in when you boot the system. I don't know off hand if PS/2-through-USB follows the USB rules or PS/2 rules. Just a thought. I've had two such devices - PS/2 mouse and keyboard plugged into adapter plugged into Mac.
Both have their limitations and quirks. The first one regularly used to send some sort of signal, pretty much at random, which, under OS X, would start scrolling a window at random (not even the one with the mouse over it or foremost one either), the other's kind of ok but does wierd things at wierd times - such as sending some characters at random whenever it's reset and the user presses a key for the first time sinc. I too, saw a pile of these at work, and thought 'This is great, a USB master to PS2 signal generator all in a small plug'.
I wanted to use these to have a hot pluggable keyboard and mouse in a no keyboard P3 LINUX server under the desk. Mine did not work either. Silly me, thinking what is apparently a really cool USB device is merely an empty shell.
My Cow-orker brought my attention to the name of the manufacturer stamped on the plug. I tried to dissect one at work, and sucessfully cut off the rubber s. I bought a cheap ($25 or less) belkin converter so I could hook my laptop into my KVM (ps/2 unit).
The *keyboard* worked fine. The mouse (a logitech marble scroll) didn't work at all. I also tried this with a different (logitech) mouse and a different system (actually a sunray) and it didn't work any better there. I suspect, though I'm not sure, that the logitech mice do something different that prevents them from working with this device. 'didn't work at all' == the only motion I'd get, if any, was up a. I was looking into this other day. I have a Trackman Marble FX (best trackball ever, I love them) and it's an old PS2 piece of hardware.
I'm looking to upgrade to a G5 if Rev B's ever come out, but they don't have PS2 ports. I found when googling around that even these snazzier adapters with circuitry cannot handle properly the additional buttons on some mice and keyboards (or in this case, probably my trakcball with all 5 buttons). Apparently the drivers for these devices play tricks to send non-standard c. Let me guess.
You bought a happy hacker keyboard. But you didn't want to shell out the $70 for the newer, USB model, so you bought the older, much cheaper, PS/2 model. Well, eat it. I have the newer, in black, usb version. It's FUCKING GREAT!
Very small footprint (I never use the function keys or the numpad anyway, so it was great to get rid of them). Everything fits, and I REALLY REALLY like the control key at my left pinky. Getting used to the fn-delete for backspace was a slight trick at first. Worst than that for me. I have a focus FK-2001, the best keyboard ever made since the IBM keyboard of power.
Its got basically the same layout, but updated to the standards of the late 90s. It clicks and feels like a keyboard should.
And reliable? Each key can be disassembled right down to the real metal contacts with little more than a screwdriver (not that I have ever needed to do so).
Above the board and below the key caps, is a metal spill gaurd that shunts liquids away from the key mechanisms and dow. I've purchased two different brands of PS/2->USB converters (both of the 'keyboard & mouse' variety), and they have both sucked horribly. The first one would randomly 'lock up' the keyboard, causing whatever character I was pressing at the time to be repeated over and over until you unplugged the adapter.
The mouse wasn't 'smooth', either. It felt delayed. The second adapter made the mouse's refresh rate really awful (reminded me of Windows 3.1 days) and wouldn't let you press more than 1 key at a t. I suspect (based on other's posts) that you just have the wrong adapter. Having said that, we just went through a similar problem with USB-Serial converters. USB is well defined and RS-232 is ancient (and well defined). Yet, our product (which meets the RS-232 spec strictly) didn't work if the customer was using a USB-Serial converter.
We found the converters (we tried several brands) were doing some subtly 'unusual' things with both the signals and the serial port registers. We ended up modifying the product firmware and the software on the PC side to make allowances for these converters.
This may be your problem. If that particular converter hasn't been tested with your model keyboard, by the manufacturer, it may have problems. That's what they are there for. Since you paid for the OS, you should go ahead and avail yourself of the phone support. That is a big part of the value of proprietary software, you have a company you can blame/sue/etc until you get some satisfaction. I know it costs money to call MS, but it's not your money, so go for it (the folks at MS need to eat too ). Just remember: Expensive software ==>expensive support Free software ==>free support Be warned that in either case you may get no answer (or a wr.