geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: bigpook on Wed, 21 May 2008, 07:39:54
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I am bidding on an older IBM model M on ebay, I just realized that it comes with a 5 pin din connector. I think I have a 5 pin din to ps2 converter somewhere here in the house. There shouldn't be any problem doing that, right?
Actually, I have some model m's with the removable cable and they are ps2 connectors, could I use that cable instead?
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It shouldn't be a problem, the ps2/din convertor just connects the right wires, nothing magically there. you can assure yourself by looking at the schemes at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_connector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT_keyboard
They are almost identical, you can just check the with a multimeter (or if you can see the colors of the lines) if same signal lines of both cables come to the same positions on the keyboard side connector.
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As a real-world example, I used a din<>ps/2 adapter for years without issue. In fact, at times I even had a ps/2<>USB adapter chained in there as well.
Worked just dandy.
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cool, thats good to know. The board is a model m 1390120....
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Don't rely on the colour scheme of the wires. I have replaced a couple of DIN plugs with salvaged ps/2 plugs by simply cutting off the DIN plug and soldering on the tail of the ps/2 plug. No two cables have used the same colour scheme. If you are using cables from the same manufacturer you may be lucky, however it is best to use a multimeter and a wiring diagram to work out the colour codes used by each piece.
Eg.
http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/KeyboardPC6_pinout.shtml
http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/KeyboardPC5_pinout.shtml
If you use an adaptor cable or plug you don't have to check any of this.
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1390120, I've always wanted to try one of the really early M's (they're rumored to have slightly more robust build quality than the 1391401s), although I've always been partial to the 1390131, which is the same as the 120 but with the LED status lights.
It'd be interesting to know if you could just swap in the SDL->PS/2 cable for the SDL->AT one on a board like that. If not, just get one of these and you should be good to go:
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm/fa/items.main/parentcat/11298/subcatid/0/id/146730
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Thanks for the link, thats a real din to ps2 converter.
I will try the SDL->PS/2 and see if it works first though.
I didn't realize till later that there are no led lights. Which is kind of weird. But thats ok, as of right now, no one else is bidding on it. It it works out I will get it for less then $20.
My goal, eventually, is to get at least 1 of all the model m keyboards that were offered. I have a 1986 spacesaver and a 1986 1391401. I favor the spacesaver mostly, its just a pleasure to type on. And its not as big as a buick like the 1391401.