today i got the (apparently active) adapter and it works beautifully with my tested systems:
raspi,
Win7, and
WinXP. No need to install drivers, all 3 test systems were able to recognize the adapter plus the PS/2 keyboard automatically On the raspi, i had to reboot the system. The Win systems were plug'n play. Wonderful.
The adapter came shipped as bulkware in a ziplock bag including a multilingual instruction manual booklet(!). The small professional/commercial looking label sticker on the bag says "Fujitsu Siemens Computers (
FSC)" as does the invoice, but there is no such labeling or branding on the product itself:
That sticker and the product sticker on the bottom refer the number
S26391-F5100-V100, which seems to be the official manufacturer's product number. It is unclear
whether FSC is the original designer and manufacturer of this product and created this product code
or FSC acts only as importer/distributor/trading company for the item which could be designed and mass-manufactured by some noname Chinese or Japanese backyard factory
) . In any case, googling the number leads to the
PDF datasheet issued by another vendor in gemani who sells it for
5.95€ plus shipping.
With the help of the USB doctor we are learning that my
1999 model m keeb draws 0.10A in standby, 0.11A when the user does happy hacking, and additional 0.02A for each keeb LED: when NumLk CapsLk ScrollLk are all on, the keeb draws a total of up to 0.17A or
170 milliamps through the USB channel. I don't know if
1984 model m keebs draw the same max amount of current. A modern mechanical keeb, e.g. the
A-JAZZ or
iKBC line of mkb's, certainly draws more current from the USB channel to power all the RGB lighting effects etc.
The build quality is not bad. It is decent, nice, and nothing extraordinary. The plastic material and construction feels sturdy as imagined. The total weight of the product, i.e. adapter plus its fixed attached USB cable, is
56g, with most of this weight originating from the thick high-quality USB cable.
Since there was that label sticker already available from the plastic bag, it inspired me to act geeky and cut out 2 stickers. One for the top face of the adapter:
And one for the bottom side of the adapter:
Lol, i don't have thin powerful double-sided 3267 adhesive tape in the household. So i am trying liquid glue instead, probably with a FAIL, i'll check tomorrow. In any case, this buy for 2.99EUR shipped was a WIN, no doubt. The postage on the padded shipping envelope was 2.60EUR (
Deutsche Post Maxi Brief), so he earned
39cents yes?
At first, i was thinking about
the PS/2-to-USB mod but since my FSC adapter is so nice and I want to keep the PS/2 plug for my other PS/2 PC systems, I am not going to do the mod. My keeb has an original thick PS/2 cable and i would feel silly to cut it off for an unnecessary mod. I prefer to keeb my treasured collection items in original and pristine condition anyway. Also keebs the resale value up. The guy in the video is modding a
June 1998 IBM UK Model M; my unit is basically the same, produced half a year later than his. Both glorious fresh Model M makes!!