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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: benarcade on January 19, 2007, 12:34:23 pm

Title: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: benarcade 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?

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: Kaytrim 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.

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: NickG 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. 

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: u_rebelscum 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.

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: benarcade 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...

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: benarcade 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?

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: loadman on January 21, 2007, 12:09:47 am

Quote from: benarcade 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?

Give it up man.. :banghead:

Buy a keyboard encoder  usb or PS2

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: leapinlew on January 21, 2007, 12:51:42 am

Quote from: loadman on January 21, 2007, 12:09:47 am

Quote from: benarcade 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?

Give it up man.. :banghead:

Buy a keyboard encoder  usb or PS2

 :applaud: I agree, Save yourself some aggrivation and spend a few bucks.

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: benarcade 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?

Title: Re: Has anyone used a PS/2 to USB adapter for a second keyboard?
Post by: headkaze on January 21, 2007, 01:36:54 pm

You can't go wrong with a Minipac (http://www.ultimarc.com/minipac.html).