What happened to the Blue Cube adapters?

[robo]

So... I have a second Model M in the mail, and went to order a second Blue Cube PS2/USB adapter. Unfortunately, they seem to be out of production, and I see PS2 to USB adapters selling for $30-60 each...

Does anyone know of a source for these, or is this just such a niche item now that it's expensive?

What's the least expensive way to get (reliable) USB action from an old PS2 keyboard these days?

[Polecat]

First one I used was from Radio Shack:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153735195807

Bought a blue cube after that, and the two worked and didn't work on the same keyboards. In other words the two were identical as far as how they worked electrically. For the keyboards that didn't work on these two converters I bought a Soarers from Orihalcon, and it has worked flawlessly on every PS/2 and AT keyboard I've tried it with.

[anmq91]

I would recommend trying a cheap passive adapter first when converting PS2 to USB. As I understand, the Model M's with a PS2 plug shouldn't require an active converter to work over USB. But then again, it depends on a number of factors. Suggest it better to try out a 2 USD adapter before shelling out the big cash.

[Chyros]

They suck ass anyway.

I had one, took up WAY too much room, and fell apart in the end. Fuck that shit.

[fohat]

I would recommend trying a cheap passive adapter first when converting PS2 to USB.

I have never had any problem with the cheap $1 ("Y" adapters with green and purple sockets for keyboard and mouse) Chinese adapters on ebay.

[robo]

I had bad luck with the cheapo adapters (the ones with the keyboard and mouse inputs). They kinda worked but would stop working randomly or input weird stuff. This was way back but IIRC the Model Ms draw more power than later PS/2 boards and this causes the crappy adapters to malfunction, or something...

The new Model M is a 1993 SSK so perhaps it’ll use less power than my current 1989 one... I’ll give it another shot with the cheap adapters first.

[swampangel]

This trendnet adapter looks the same as the cheap ones with the green/purple ends, but in my experience it's been solid https://www.ebay.com/itm/Trendnet-TU-PS ... 3761345435

Otherwise a soarers or hasu's converter would do the job. If you want to DIY it be aware that the teensy 2.0 seems better at handling higher power consumption than the cheap pro micros.

[robo]

I’m not opposed to a DIY adapter. I assume the generic Teensy 2.0 compatible boards on eBay should work fine?

[cli]

I’m not opposed to a DIY adapter. I assume the generic Teensy 2.0 compatible boards on eBay should work fine?

Teensy 2.0 works fine, you will not regret it.
You can remap keys with the firmware, very convenient to have my CapsLock key (I never shout) remapped to the Windows key.

[swampangel]

I’m not opposed to a DIY adapter. I assume the generic Teensy 2.0 compatible boards on eBay should work fine?

Yeah the cheap ones should be just fine. I've used them for ADB adapters at least.

[SneakyRobb]

The blue cube was a stop-gap. You have a customer that has item 1, and item 2 that don't work together. How can your customer use these 2 item together? A market for your item exists. Enter your stop-gap, adapter, etc.

As either side of the gap goes away, your item goes away. People have over time ditched their PS/2 keyboard, the market for the cube has lessened. So you who make blue cube, stop making the product as no one is buying it.

[JBert]

@SneakyRobb Not to mention that at one point they got competition on the enthusiast market from converters like Soarer's converter or its minituarized version, the Orihalcon converter.

[Muirium]

There’s pretty much no market left for them, right enough. Enthusiasts want more features have our alternatives, while the mainstream doesn’t even remember PS/2 existed.

Similar thing happened with the ADB to USB converters of the 1998 iMac era. Intense interest back in the day, when people badly needed a real mouse or an AEK on their new computer. Complete desert since. There’s a time window for adapters. Then we all move on.

[Polecat]

There’s pretty much no market left for them, right enough. Enthusiasts want more features have our alternatives, while the mainstream doesn’t even remember PS/2 existed.

Similar thing happened with the ADB to USB converters of the 1998 iMac era. Intense interest back in the day, when people badly needed a real mouse or an AEK on their new computer. Complete desert since. There’s a time window for adapters. Then we all move on.

I have a feeling the blue cubes were made up as one huge batch, which finally sold out. I think this is the norm for overseas manufacturing, where the price of materials and labor is relatively low. When it costs barely more to make a million than a thousand of something you might as well make a million and sell as many as you can. Now this version is all over ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274142194813

I bought one of these several months back when they first appeared, but I haven't plugged it in and tried it. How could I not buy one for a buck and change, right? I haven't counted how many sellers have these listed, but it's a bunch. And they must have been made recently since there were none until maybe six months ago.

[kmnov2017]

I would recommend trying a cheap passive adapter first when converting PS2 to USB.

There is no way a passive adapter will work on a Model M. You WILL need an active converter. I have 4 active converters all of which cost like 89 cents shipped from China.

Here's a link of a recent order that works perfectly fine

https://a.aliexpress.com/2sPnzdR2x

[Muirium]

That is correct. A passive adapter needs an internally USB savvy keyboard. So by definition it will fail with a vintage keyboard like the Model M.

You can’t passively add USB to something made before USB was even invented!

[kmnov2017]

I had bad luck with the cheapo adapters (the ones with the keyboard and mouse inputs). They kinda worked but would stop working randomly or input weird stuff....

That happens because the contacts between the cables and the internal chip gets loose with time. The way to fix it is by prying open the middle casing of the active converter and then checking the solder points. A quick resolder usually fixes it.

[fohat]

That is correct. A passive adapter needs an internally USB savvy keyboard. So by definition it will fail with a vintage keyboard like the Model M.

You can’t passively add USB to something made before USB was even invented!

I disagree. I have used many simple cheapo adapters on many pre-USB keyboards with very few problems.

[Muirium]

I didn’t say cheapo. I said passive.

All a passive adapter does is route the ground +5v clock and data pins of the PS/2 or AT cable to the ground +5v and data- and data+ pins of the USB cable. The keyboard has to know how to report as a USB HID device or that simple trick won’t work.

An active adapter works as a go between, communicating with the PS/2 keyboard as an AT host, then relaying that state information as a USB HID device to the actual host computer on USB.

[swampangel]

Yeah. I think people are saying "passive" when maybe what they mean is "non-programmable".



^ that's a passive adapter that would have been included with 2000-era peripherals that could communicate over usb and ps2 natively.



^ that's a cheap, active adapter. PS2 protocol goes in, USB HID comes out.

[Muirium]

Yup. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. (Well, actually the reverse: what you’ve pictured there is a USB to PS/2 adapter like Filco includes with the Majestouch. The same principles apply. Doesn’t work with my Realforce!) Those wee buggers were everywhere for a long while. And entirely useless on anything pre-USB.

Because of their ubiquity, they were the ones known simply as “adapters” by everyone I knew at the time. Sure enough, they were the ones my friends would inevitably plug Model Ms and the like into when I loaned them, as a gateway drug! “Your old keyboard doesn’t work,” was their ritual reply. I always told them so! Plug it in directly, no dodgy adapters!

[swampangel]

Yup. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. (Well, actually the reverse: what you’ve pictured there is a USB to PS/2 adapter like Filco includes with the Majestouch. The same principles apply. Doesn’t work with my Realforce!)

Yeah; just happened to be the easy one to find a picture of. I'm not sure I ever owned one with a male usb end, other than the gameport-to-usb adapter for a Logitech Wingman joystick.

[Muirium]

These little bastards:



Or maybe these:



I honestly can't remember the late nineties PC spec colour for keyboard and mouse. They were both ugly pastels, so helpfully!

In any case, they're nothing but a couple of ports wired straight back to back. No electronics, entirely passive. Like Filco's later reverse version for the nkro-seeking gamers of the USB era!

[SneakyRobb]

These little bastards:



Or maybe these:



I honestly can't remember the late nineties PC spec colour for keyboard and mouse. They were both ugly pastels, so helpfully!

In any case, they're nothing but a couple of ports wired straight back to back. No electronics, entirely passive. Like Filco's later reverse version for the nkro-seeking gamers of the USB era!

Yes. That is it. These all will work.

The basic problem for selling these items. Is you need to sell them to people with PS/2 keyboards that want to use them with USB computers. That's it. That is the market. If those conditions are not met. You cannot sell item.

[Polecat]

I didn’t say cheapo. I said passive.

All a passive adapter does is route the ground +5v clock and data pins of the PS/2 or AT cable to the ground +5v and data- and data+ pins of the USB cable. The keyboard has to know how to report as a USB HID device or that simple trick won’t work.

An active adapter works as a go between, communicating with the PS/2 keyboard as an AT host, then relaying that state information as a USB HID device to the actual host computer on USB.

Exactly correct. In the PC world there was no USB before Windows 95B, and USB didn't really work correctly until Win98. Around that time some of the mouse and keyboard manufacturers started making their devices internally compatible with both protocols. The way we used to tell was to look at the label. If the device was spec'd for 5 volts it was PS/2. 12 volts meant USB. If the label had both voltages listed both protocols were supported internally, and *only* in that case would the little purple (keyboard) and green (mouse) passive adapters work. Those adapters came both ways because the device came with either a PS/2 or USB plug, and the passive adapter was used if you wanted the "other" protocol.

[fohat]

If the device was spec'd for 5 volts it was PS/2. 12 volts meant USB.

Mu - I stand corrected. I had always assumed that those $1 "Y" connectors, like what swampangel showed, were passive.

But now another one: I thought that USB was 5V "universally" ....

[Muirium]

USB is indeed 5v, always, as far as I know. (Surely back in the pre-USB 3, fast charging for phones and tablets days. I don't know how all that later stuff works.) So I'm not at all sure what 12v on the label would have been about.

[Polecat]

USB is indeed 5v, always, as far as I know. (Surely back in the pre-USB 3, fast charging for phones and tablets days. I don't know how all that later stuff works.) So I'm not at all sure what 12v on the label would have been about.

Oops, sorry, of course you're (both) correct. It's been too long. I was (mis)remembering the early dual-protocol mice, which were RS232 serial (12v) and PS/2 (5v). I still have a big box of those here, all ball-type of course, maddeningly irritating to use. And which had their own set of (passive) adapters of course.

[robo]

I took a look through my cabinet of mysterious old computer related junk (accumulated back when I worked in IT and would snag interesting and possibly useful cables and adapters when I saw them getting tossed... basically a snapshot of 2000-2012-ish tech), and located not one but two Belkin PS/2 to USB adapters. So I'll be trying those out. Apparently some Belkins work fine and others don't... luckily the two look the same but have slightly different part numbers, so maybe one of them is a good one.

[SDS604]

Why not use this chance to upgrade to the Bluetooth/USB controller board and skip the cables/adapters altogether?