5 Nov
2011
5 Nov
'11
1:41 p.m.
On Nov 5, 2011, at 4:27 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
If you have a PS/2-interface keyboard that you really
like, spend
some money on a real PS/2-to-USB *converter*, not just a connector
adapter (which most cheap ones are).
The pckeyboard site has some suggestions. There's really no reason
that a real adapter can't be every bit as good as a native USB
keyboard.
Most of the "connector adaptors" just wire the USB port up in a funny way so
that the controller on the keyboard knows it's supposed to act as a PS/2 keyboard
instead. Those cheap purple adaptors that come with a lot of keyboards won't work
with a number of newer USB-only keyboards whose microcontrollers don't have that
functionality built in.
It's interesting, though; a lot of the "better" keyboards that offer both
USB and PS/2 (I'm mostly thinking of Das Keyboard here) support full n-key rollover on
PS/2 and up to 6-key rollover on USB. I'm not quite sure the reason for that; both
PS/2 and the USB HID keyboard descriptors use key-up/key-down messages instead of just
indicating the active keys. I blame crappy programmers.
- Dave