Use an USB keyboard through a ROSE extender

[guillaume kuster]

Hi,

I'm almost there in my plan to use only mechanical keyboards everywhere I type. The last dark spot is some part of my workplace where I still didn't get around a problem.

For some intensive typing task involved in my job, I have to relocate daily in a room where the the PC is kept in a bay with keyboard and mouse connected via a ROSE electronics CrystalViewMini extender.

ROSE CrystalViewMini extender

rose_crystalview.jpg (588.7 KiB) Viewed 2585 times

I tried to use a variety of USB to Ps/2 adapters with no results. Keystrokes would not be registered and the only sign that some kind of connection is established is that the caps lock led would light up.

Does anyone know if I can get a USB keyboard work with one of these?

[Muirium]

Hmm. Odd. PS/2 is fundamentally quite simple (which is its strength). What kind of keyboards do work with this anyway, general PS/2 stuff?

There's no shortage of native PS/2 mechanical keyboards if you're prepared to go IBM or most anything else 20th century, of course.

[Halvar]

Sorry if I'm thinking too simple, but the first thing that came to my mind is that, due to the PS/2 protocol, you will have to restart the "computer" that it is connected to after you plug in your keyboard. In this case this probably means that you'll have to power off the Rose extender.



If your keyboard is USB this of course won't help. You will have to tell us what keyboard it is -- some USB keyboard controllers, for example in Filco and Cherry keyboards, speak both. In that case you only need a simple adapter. But most modern USB keyboards don't work on PS/2 at all. I'm with Muirium: buy a nice vintage keyboard in that case!

(Calling on the DEMONGOLATOR to move this thread out of the mice cage)

[guillaume kuster]

Thanks Halvar,

that's a reasonable assumption as I thought to try to switch the extender off and back on again but haven't tried to reboot the computer. I'll have to check this method when I get back to work on Monday.

The keyboard is a KBT pure pro. If I am not mistaken, the spec sheet mentions PS/2 Key Rollover as handled so I figured it would work via PS/2.