[conspire] (forw) Testing New Keyboard

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Scott DuBois (rhcom.linux at gmail.com):

> I'm wondering, if the keyboard USB was being routed through a pointer device
> PS/2 adapter, has our friend considered now trying a keyboard USB to PS/2
> adapter? I'm sure the pin configurations are completely different.

It's another candidate solution.  I didn't think of that until late last
night while composing the Conspire posting and consulting Wikipedia
pages.  Throughout the PS/2 era, I was always careful to observe the
colour-coded distinction between keyboard and mouse/pointer ports, but
never really thought about it and did the right thing more-or-less
unconsciously.

> However, during his time testing, how did he manage to have both a
> mouse and a keyboard plugged in at the same time if both were using
> pointer device PS/2? I have not seen a board that provided two PS/2
> for the same device type before.

We have never seen the system unit and so cannot answer this with any
certainly.

I am guessing Robert had his mouse plugged into the mouse/pointer PS/2
port, plugged the USB keyboard + green conversion widget into the
keyboard PS/2 port, and never noticed that the widget's colour coding
was wrong for the keyboard port.

In all fairness to Robert, who really is a commendably meticulous
fellow, my collection of spare parts in my garage includes quite a
number of USB - PS/2 conversion dongles, and *I* never stopped to
consider that some are mouse-specific and others keyboard-specific,
differentiated by colour.  I've just kept them in ziplock bags in case
they're ever needed, and borne in mind that USB - PS/2 converters seem
in practice to be somewhat unreliable.  It may be, in retrospect, that
they're _quite_ reliable as long as you use the right-coloured parts for
the right purpose.

So, one of the lessons I to be gleaned has been a lesson for me, too.

In case it wasn't apparent, I'm something of a PS/2 diehard:  Yes, USB
has its merits, but the PS/2 port Just Works in all the ways that
matter, and enjoys a winning simplicity.  USB's hotplugging for input
devices underwhelms me as an advantage.