Main Restorations Software Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Everything Else Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements Monitor/Video GroovyMAME Merit/JVL Touchscreen Meet Up Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing Woodworking Software Support Forums Consoles Project Arcade Reviews
Automated Projects Artwork Frontend Support Forums Pinball Forum Discussion Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board controls.dat Linux Miscellaneous Arcade Wiki Discussion Old Archives
Lightguns Arcade1Up Try the site in https mode Site News

Unread posts | New Replies | Recent posts | Rules | Chatroom | Wiki | File Repository | RSS | Submit news

  

Author Topic: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?  (Read 2071 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

benarcade

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
  • Last login:October 13, 2023, 04:59:32 pm
Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« on: January 19, 2007, 12:34:23 pm »
It doesn't seem like it would be hard to hack a keyboard to use as my controller - lots of these around for $2 or free. Can I use a simple PS/2 to USB adapter to connect the second keyboard? Will there be any problems doing that?

Kaytrim

  • I'm too nice a guy
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2095
  • Last login:September 22, 2015, 04:11:30 pm
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2007, 12:37:47 pm »
It will work fine.  Windows willrecognize it accept key presses from it just like the other one on the PS/2 connection.

NickG

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 586
  • Last login:September 26, 2022, 05:25:23 am
  • Dig.
    • My Projects Page
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2007, 01:06:00 pm »
Edit: Oops, I reread the OP.  Yeah, that should indeed work.

Some usb to ps/2 adapters may have limited funcition for use as keyboard hack/keyboard encoder adapters. A problem I encountered while using one of these was that when I  tried to hold an input, such as a joystick direction the computer would stop responding after a second or two and my game character would stop moving until I centered and re-threw the joystick to the direction.  I looked in notepad and saw that all the other keyboard inputs also stopped repeating their characters after a set amount of repeats;  I think it was 16.  I am not saying that you will definitely have the same problem, just a warning that not all USB-PS/2 adapters are created equally, and that some are not suitable for games that require "constant" inputs. 
« Last Edit: January 19, 2007, 01:07:50 pm by NickG »

u_rebelscum

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3633
  • Last login:April 21, 2010, 03:06:26 pm
  • You rebel scum
    • Mame:Analog+
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2007, 02:24:24 pm »
Also, you can't have two seperate controllers using keyboard interface & the same keys.  Windows does not let applications know if the key pressed is coming from keyboard 1 or 2, so you can't have two keyboards plugged in and both players use the arrow keys.  However, you can have one use the arrow keys on keyboard 1 and the other use the numpad on keyboard 2 (like if they were sharing the same keyboard).  Just in case you're thinking of making multiple controllers with keyboard hacks.
Robin
Knowledge is Power

benarcade

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
  • Last login:October 13, 2023, 04:59:32 pm
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2007, 06:44:33 pm »
Cool - thanks! I'm gonna buy a keyboard and hack it.

Now all I need is a place to buy leaf joysticks and buttons...

benarcade

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
  • Last login:October 13, 2023, 04:59:32 pm
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2007, 05:54:37 pm »
Okay, so I plugged the second keyboard into a PS/2 to USB adapter, plugged it into my USB port, and it doesn't work. XP sees something is plugged in there but doesn't recognize it as a keyboard.

Any ideas?

loadman

  • Wiki Contributor
  • Trade Count: (+3)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4306
  • Last login:May 26, 2024, 05:14:32 am
  • Cocktail Cab owner and MaLa FE developer
    • MaLa
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2007, 12:09:47 am »
Okay, so I plugged the second keyboard into a PS/2 to USB adapter, plugged it into my USB port, and it doesn't work. XP sees something is plugged in there but doesn't recognize it as a keyboard.

Any ideas?

Give it up man.. :banghead:

Buy a keyboard encoder  usb or PS2


leapinlew

  • Some questionable things going on in this room with cheetos
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7919
  • Last login:July 27, 2025, 11:06:50 am
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2007, 12:51:42 am »
Okay, so I plugged the second keyboard into a PS/2 to USB adapter, plugged it into my USB port, and it doesn't work. XP sees something is plugged in there but doesn't recognize it as a keyboard.

Any ideas?

Give it up man.. :banghead:

Buy a keyboard encoder  usb or PS2



 :applaud: I agree, Save yourself some aggrivation and spend a few bucks.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2007, 01:36:32 pm by leapinlew »

benarcade

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 113
  • Last login:October 13, 2023, 04:59:32 pm
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2007, 12:57:22 pm »
Yeah, I opened up a keyboard and looked at the PCB - not the easiest thing to figure out - lots of tinkering to get it to work.

So what do you recommend for an encoder?

headkaze

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2943
  • Last login:August 14, 2023, 02:00:48 am
  • 0x2b|~0x2b?
Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2007, 01:36:54 pm »
You can't go wrong with a Minipac.