PS/2 Keyboard - all the same? USB to PS/2?

Deskguy

Hi,

Still trying to figure out about a keyboard for my project.

I have read another post about the Parallax keyboard not necessarily working on a computer, but what about the other way around. Would it be "safe" to say that any "normal" PS/2 keyboard would work on the Propeller?

What about a keyboard which is USB, can one just use a USB to PS/2 connector, and then everything is fine?

I don't have anything against the Parallax keyboard, but just looking for something even smaller.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Best regards,

David

rokicki

I suspect this would work and am very interested in your experiments.
(I believe you need to use a USB keyboard that is explicitly designed to
do this, though; this may be the majority of the keyboards out there, or
a small minority, I don't know.)

Luis Digital

"What about a keyboard which is USB, can one just use a USB to PS/2 connector, and then everything is fine?"

Once I tested with a mouse USB (USB to PS/2), but did not work.

Deskguy

Hmmm. That's what I was afraid of.

I am still in the planning stages of my project, so I don't have all the goodies to test it out yet. So before I go spending a good few bucks on a mini-keyboard, I wanted to double check the collective wisdom of others.

Thanks for the input.

Unless there is some sort of trick to this, it might send me back to the drawing board.

David

Pavel

USB to PS/2 mouse converter does not work for keyboards. There were USB->PS/2 converters made for keyboards but hard to say if you can still find one (I gave my away years ago).

SRLM

You should write a simple program for the Propeller that takes a keyboard input and flashes a light (or types on a screen), then take it to the electronics store. Keep on testing until you find something you like.

BradC

Ok.. with very few exceptions there is nothing available called a "USB-PS2" converter.. the little green dongle thingo you get with keyboards and mice that have a USB male and PS2 female on them are passive devices. The Mouse/Keyboard itself has to have the ability to talk either USB or PS2 and all the little plug does is convince the end device to do that. There is no active electronics in there to enable you to plug a USB keyboard/mouse into a PS2 connector.

The dongles are usually device specific (within reason) and therefore you can't just grab one you had lying around and whack it on a USB keyboard/mouse and expect it to work.

PS2/USB converters on the other hand are generally fully active devices and allow you to plug any PS2 keyboard and/or mouse in and it will interface to a USB port.

I like the suggestion by SRLM where you build a portable thingo with a PS2 connector on it to carry and test. A Proto board with an LCD display would be ideal if it were battery operated.

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Pull my finger!

Deskguy

That's a great suggestion.

I guess I'll buy the 'official' Parallax keyboard, and then perhaps build a 'portable keyboard tester', and visit some store. No doubt one would get some odd looks [noparse]:)[/noparse]

Thanks for everyone's help.

David

Ale

[noparse][[/noparse]quote]No doubt one would get some odd looks [noparse]:)[/noparse]

I get them anyways, because I acutally look at the keyboard not for their looks but how comfortable to type they are, and so on . Apple keyboards are nice... but they lack fundamental keys, like Insert ! and page Up Page Down do wired things. Probably that is configurable... but where ? (X).