I'm currently awaiting for dispatch/delivery of a 1995 PS/2 Model M keyboard w/attached flat cable but a missing PS/2 plug
It seems those flat cables were not very sturdy. (Yes, I checked the model number, it's PS/2).
Once cleaned up and checked out, my guess is the two easiest/least $$$ choices would be:
- replace the original cable with a new one and use an active PS/2 -> USB converter.
- crack open the above converter, hard wire it to the existing controller inside the keyboard case and wire in a nice USB cable with or without a socket.
But while looking through the collection of things I have stubbornly refused to throw away every year, I came across two things which at different times held permanent residence in my sack along with the rest of my gear:
a PS/2 to serial adaptor I think it was original issue with the early Microsoft Serial Mouse 2.0 which had a PS/2 plug.
a USB Prolific PL2303 Serial Port board (invaluable) Eventually cannibalised from it's original junction box and hard wired into my Palm III's sync base so as to make it USB instead of serial.
Since my Sun Ultra 24 workstation has an on-board RS232 which at some time in the past I enabled in BIOS and properly set up to use my serial data-logging hardware ...
~$ sudo dmesg | grep -i tty
--- snip ---
[1.821872] 00:02: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3, base_baud = 115200) is a 16550A
--- snip ---
~$
... and the PS/2 -> DB9 adaptor has this pinout:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/t12O8.gif
Would it be possible to wire the PS/2 Model M with a DB9 plug and directly use my workstation's serial port, like it was possible with the PS/2 mouse?
ie: I'd avoid converting PS/2 to USB and solve the current draw issue some PS/2 keyboards have and free a USB port.
Software wise, it would be (?) a question of loading the now blacklisted PS/2 module in my Linux Devuan installation.
I'd appreciate your input.