Interface recognition

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Use this guide to find out which type of interface (connector, pinout and protocol) your input device has.

Connecting a plug to the wrong port is likely to cause electrical damage. Also, with the exception of USB most ports are not hot-swappable, so you MUST turn off your device before inserting/removing the plug.

DIN

The 5-pin DIN connector used by the Datacomp DFK119G.

5-pin DIN

8-pin DIN

8-pin DIN male connector used by the Loewe TBT 01 keyboard.

10-pin DIN

13-pin DIN


Mini-DIN

Two PS/2 ports (left, middle) and an ADB port (right)

4-pin mini-DIN

  • Apple Desktop Bus (ADB). Mostly keyboards and mice, but also others such as joysticks and dongles. All peripherals but mice have two ports: either could be connected upstream to the host and the other downstream. The chain terminates with the mouse.
  • Vintage Macintosh AV OUT port.

5-pin mini-DIN

Pins are laid out like a 6-pin mini-DIN but one pin is missing and the stud is in the centre.

6-pin mini-DIN

PS/2 interface dual keyboard/mouse port on a Pentium III notebook computer.
  • PS/2 interface. Plugs (and ports) are often green or purple with a symbol of a keyboard or mouse to distinguish between which type of device goes where. When a downstream port is found is on a device, it accepts only a peripheral of the same type (keyboard or mouse).
  • Silicon Graphics proprietary keyboard and mouse. Used only for the Indigo, whereas newer systems got PS/2 ports. Like ADB, keyboards have two ports: one to the host and one to the mouse.
  • Commodore Amiga 4000 (T) or Amiga CD32. The CD32's port also carries RS-232.

7-pin mini-DIN

8-pin mini-DIN

Keyboard, mouse:

  • Sun keyboard/mouse interface. Used by keyboards and mice for Sun SPARCstations and servers. The mouse connects to the keyboard, which connects to the host.

Keyboard:

  • Intergraph InterPro/InterServe keyboard.
  • NEC PC-98 series keyboard.
  • Juki DATUM keyboard

Mouse:

Game controller

  • Joystick port for Commodore 16-line "home office" computers: Commodore Plus/4, 16 and 116
  • PC Engine gamepad/controller
  • Phillips CD-i gamepad/controller
8-pin Mini-DIN female sockets on a Macintosh Classic.

Other


9-pin mini-DIN

Modular connector

Nomenclature: yPxC. First digit is width in pins, second is number of pins actually present/connected.

Modular connectors are often incorrectly called RJ9 (4P4C) or RJ11 (6PxC). Those are actually specific interfaces, not connector types.

Some keyboards have it on the keyboard side, either for a detachable cable (with standard plug at the other end) or as interconnect between main (or left and right) and numeric keypad.

4P4C

Terminal keyboards: Many different variations exist. Including

Computer keyboards:

6P6C

8P8C

SDL


D-subminiature

Female DE-9 plug

Primarily mice:

  • Serial interface. Primarily "serial mice" and trackballs. Some unorthodox devices also use it. Some joysticks with Game port use it for secondary input. Thumbscrews are common, whereas other interfaces with DE-9 ports tend to not have them. If the device is labelled as running on 12V, that is also an indicator for serial interface because most other with this port run on 5V.
  • Bus mouse. Multiple types exist for: Amstrad PC, Commodore PCs/Commodore Amiga and Atari PC/Atari ST, NEC PC-98, among others.

Various:

  • Atari controller port: Primarily joysticks and mice for 8-bit and 16-bit home computers from Atari and Commodore. Also used on the FM Towns. This port supports numeric keypads, light pens, rotary knobs, and various other peripherals. There were add-on cards and adaptors for using Atari-compatible joysticks on other platforms. Depending on the implementation, it may or may not be hot-swappable.
  • J-PC: Japanese home-computer peripheral port. Mostly joysticks and mice. Sometimes compatible with Atari port but dangerous when not.

Primarily handheld joysticks:

Primarily gamepads:

  • Sega 8-bit/16-bit controller port. Sometimes compatible with Atari port but dangerous when not. (Mouse did exist but is rare and Sega-branded. Keyboard is very rare)
  • 3DO gamepad. Often a game-pad with passthrough and headphone jack.
  • "Famiclone": clone of Nintendo FamiCom/Nintendo Entertainment Systems. Often in style of Nintendo or Sony PlayStation controller. Probably works only with the type of console it was originally sold with.

Male DE-9 plug

Sparsely used male DE-9 plug seen with the Wang 723T/KBD-UST keyboard.


Female DE-15 plug

Female DE-15 connectors used as the Atari extended joystick ports on the Atari 520STE.

Same size as DE-9 but with 15 pins. Also used by VGA.

Male DA-15 plug

Female DA-15 plug

  • Neo-Geo game controller.
  • Mindset joystick and mouse port.
  • Atari 5200 analogue joystick with numeric keypad

Phone connector

6.35 mm TRS (¼ inch)

3.5mm TRRS

  • Often used as interconnect between halves of a split ergonomic keyboard. The protocol is often special to the keyboard model, based on I²C. The tip/ring assignment varies.

2.5mm TRS

  • Sometimes used for MIDI

Hirose

HR12


Other

See also

References

  1. ↑ Deskthority — OASYS and FM Towns by MMcM. Posted 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2024-05-03.

External links

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