Author Topic: IBM Model M NEW 6ft SDL 6 Pin to USB Converter cables and adapters available  (Read 42727 times)

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Offline esoomenona

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I see these cables went down to $35 now.

Offline dragonxx21

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Would this be a good alternative to soarer's adapter?
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Offline esoomenona

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Soarer's adapter is really only necessary for older boards with different protocols or connectors. Many Model Ms come with PS/2 connectors, so they're easy to connect and use with many computers. Unfortunately, many newer motherboards and laptops don't come with PS/2 ports. If you wanted to use your Model M on one of these, you could use a PS/2 to USB adapter with the original cable, or get one of these to replace the cable altogether.

Offline dragonxx21

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Well I use a laptop and I'm unsure of what would be best. I'm leaning towards soarer because of the remapping ability.
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Offline fohat.digs

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Well I use a laptop and I'm unsure of what would be best.

That is an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Orihalcon's sleek USB cables are simple, clean, single-task, and work flawlessly.

Soarer's Converter / Teensy is a do-it-yourself toolkit that requires time at the workbench but provides a wide range of options. It also takes some (perhaps considerable) effort to make it attractive or hidden.
And remember:
Trump is weak, not strong. Losing, not winning. A failure, not a success. A villain, not a hero. A big blubbery babyman, anything, anything but a strong man.
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Offline Hellmark

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To be honest, I'm kinda surprised I've not seen someone come up with a replacement controller for the M where you could pop a Teensy in, for an internal soarer conversion.

Offline fohat.digs

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To be honest, I'm kinda surprised I've not seen someone come up with a replacement controller for the M where you could pop a Teensy in, for an internal soarer conversion.

That would not be hard to do. There is plenty of room inside, but would it really gain you anything?
And remember:
Trump is weak, not strong. Losing, not winning. A failure, not a success. A villain, not a hero. A big blubbery babyman, anything, anything but a strong man.
- James Talicaro CBS 2025-10-04

Offline Hellmark

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It would make things a bit cleaner. No worrying about having any external enclosures, extra cables, etc.

Offline rowdy

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Old thread, and I hadn't realised that orihalcon was a member here, but I have one of these cables and it works fine with my Model M on my Mac.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline fohat.digs

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It would make things a bit cleaner. No worrying about having any external enclosures, extra cables, etc.

There is nothing cleaner than orihalcon's cable. It is a direct replacement for the original coiled cable.
And remember:
Trump is weak, not strong. Losing, not winning. A failure, not a success. A villain, not a hero. A big blubbery babyman, anything, anything but a strong man.
- James Talicaro CBS 2025-10-04

Offline esoomenona

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Has anyone tried the cheaper SDL to PS/2 cable he makes?

Offline IonutZ

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Hey is there any chance that I can get one of these USB cables WITHOUT a chipset in them? Just a USB to Model M socket cable. Behind the cable I have a Soarer's converter which already does the PS/2 -> USB conversion with full NKRO.

Offline joneslee85

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It's great cable. Wonder if anyone out there made USB to SDL coiled cable?
TOO MANY KEYBOARDS THAT I COULD NOT COUNT! BUT I AM STILL USING MY MODEL F77

Offline ComradeSniper

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It's great cable. Wonder if anyone out there made USB to SDL coiled cable?

I'm not sure why you'd want coiled, tbh. The stock coiled cable on my M just gets in the way.

Offline Pacifist

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Holy **** jones you've resurrected quite a lot of threads these past couple days

Offline joneslee85

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I would love to buy 2 if you do customised coiled version
TOO MANY KEYBOARDS THAT I COULD NOT COUNT! BUT I AM STILL USING MY MODEL F77

Offline joneslee85

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It's great cable. Wonder if anyone out there made USB to SDL coiled cable?

I'm not sure why you'd want coiled, tbh. The stock coiled cable on my M just gets in the way.

There is something special about coiled cable that reminds me about my childhood when I first have my PC running DOS.
TOO MANY KEYBOARDS THAT I COULD NOT COUNT! BUT I AM STILL USING MY MODEL F77

Offline orihalcon

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Hi guys, I'll be relisting these soon as I realize that the original post is getting to be almost two years old now.  I'll try to make a habit of checking my PM's daily again.  Thanks!

Offline Michael

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I have bought several of these in the past. Amazing work, and solid quality. A+++++

Offline tjcaustin

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Hi guys, I'll be relisting these soon as I realize that the original post is getting to be almost two years old now.  I'll try to make a habit of checking my PM's daily again.  Thanks!

Right after I bought one on ebay.  Oh well, still means I don't have to buy a hugely expensive crimp tool and keep huge stocks of plugs and chips in my house.

Offline Muffin860

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If I buy this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Female-Soarers-Converter-for-Mechanical-Keyboards-Remapping-Macros-NKRO-/301452854832?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item462ffd8630

And use it to make my Rapid-I programmable: Would the keyboard still retain the function of the led modes? Also, I'm assuming that if I used one on a numpad that did not send real numpad scancodes, I could program it to do so? Thanks in advance.
IBM Model M

Offline iw0rm3r

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Re: IBM Model M NEW 6ft SDL 6 Pin to USB Converter cables and adapters available
« Reply #71 on: Sat, 10 February 2018, 08:45:53 »
I've got a IBM Model M from 1988 with detachable PS/2 cable, and I want to be able to swap my gaming keyboard with this one by hotplugging it (without restarting the PC). PS/2 interface doesn't let me do this so I've searched for the solutions a little and found your conversion cable. So the question is: can I hotplug Model M using your cable that is already connected to PC (so that I won't have to reconnect the USB end to PC every time)? And the second question: as I know, your cable is based upon Soarer's software, so is it possible to modify keyboard layouts with your cable etс.?

P.S. Sorry for my bad English.

Offline fohat.digs

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Re: IBM Model M NEW 6ft SDL 6 Pin to USB Converter cables and adapters available
« Reply #72 on: Sat, 10 February 2018, 09:38:49 »
The answer to both questions is "yes"

Orihalcon's cables can be hot-plugged and the chip inside can be re-mapped. The computer will only see one of them at a time, however, if you ever get more than one.
And remember:
Trump is weak, not strong. Losing, not winning. A failure, not a success. A villain, not a hero. A big blubbery babyman, anything, anything but a strong man.
- James Talicaro CBS 2025-10-04

Offline iw0rm3r

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Re: IBM Model M NEW 6ft SDL 6 Pin to USB Converter cables and adapters available
« Reply #73 on: Sun, 11 February 2018, 05:34:58 »
Thank you. And where can I download the software to re-map the chip?

Offline fohat.digs

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Re: IBM Model M NEW 6ft SDL 6 Pin to USB Converter cables and adapters available
« Reply #74 on: Sun, 11 February 2018, 09:08:38 »
I believe that Orihalcon will give you instructions with the purchase of his converter cable, otherwise wcass gave an easy re-mapping technique in reply #560


https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=17458.msg335414#msg335414


and there is a spreadsheet with scan codes and HID_listen values in Soarer's original docs.
And remember:
Trump is weak, not strong. Losing, not winning. A failure, not a success. A villain, not a hero. A big blubbery babyman, anything, anything but a strong man.
- James Talicaro CBS 2025-10-04

Offline Tactile

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Re: IBM Model M NEW 6ft SDL 6 Pin to USB Converter cables and adapters available
« Reply #75 on: Sun, 11 February 2018, 09:10:24 »
Thank you. And where can I download the software to re-map the chip?

The first post in this thread.
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