deskthority

I recently purchased a couple of Point of Sale keyboards from eBay that were described as working but with no cables.

One is a Tipro / DigiPos CID-AM-KM096A-RA-002. Model on the board is a SKLOP CID-KM096AKR. This has a PS/2 and 8 pin mini DIN (I think Apple keyboard?) ports. When connected to PS/2 initially all LEDs come on for a second as it receives power, then it goes to just the L1 LED being lit. Pressing various keys I get no output on the PC, but pressing some combinations of keys the keyboard will beep.
Using the Tipro Changeme software on a Win 10 32 bit PC it won't detect the keyboard over PS/2. On a Win XP 32 bit PC I have tried PS/2 and with a PS/2 to serial adapter attached to serial on the PC, Changeme won't detect the keyboard on either. On a Win 11 x64 PC I tried with the PS/2 serial adapter, and that wouldn't see it either. I have tried with two different PS/2 male to male cables when connecting via PS/2 to rule out a faulty cable. Have also tried unplugging the keyboard after boot, then plugging it in again and running changeme, but no difference. I haven't tried the 8 pin connector, I have a 8 pin to serial adapter on the way, so will try that when it arrives.

The other keyboard is a Devlin KMX-088-900-597. This has a PS/2 port labelled F.T. If I try this with my XP machine the PC comes up with an error and won't boot. I assume this PS/2 is meant as an input to the Keyboard rather than an output, and this is is causing the error. I also tried the PS/2 with a USB adapter on a modern PC, but got no output. The other connector is an RJ45 labelled K/B. With an RJ45 to PS/2 cable I get no output from the keyboard. The other two ports are DB9s labelled BCR (Barcode Reader) and PIN PAD. I think there are 3 LEDs at the top left of the keyboard, but these never light.
Does anyone have any advice on getting these working?

Welcome to DT

1. Tipro: disregard the PS/2 socket, it is for keyboard input/chaining. The 8-pin socket is for the connection with the computer and is in fact… a PS/2 socket in disguise. With that Tipro model, the computer OS must be 32-bit Windows and have a native PS/2 socket - so from your post you seem to have everything needed and to be good to go.

   kbdfr wrote: 13 Oct 2015, 09:32And again, usual male/male PS/2 cables work for connecting the boards to a computer.
   Remove the small plastic tab on one end, connect this end to the 8-pin socket of the keyboard and the other one to the computer.

   By the way, any adapter will prevent the ChangeMe software from detecting the keyboard
   
   Regarding the beep: this is simply a KRO issue, not a connecting issue.
   .
2. Devlin:
   no clue, sorry.

Please report here

Thanks so much (typed that bit on the Tipro, surpisingly difficult with blank keys!) I read lots of things mentioning about needing to connect direct to PS/2 and using a 32 bit system when initially setting it up, but never saw anything about needing to use the 8 pin socket. I did look previously for 8 pin to 6 pin cables, but couldn't find any, which seems a bit odd if that is how these are meant to be connected.

If I was previously connecting it to the PC on keyboard in and the PC gave no errors, it makes me wonder whether the F.T. PS/2 connection on the Devlin is actually for keyboard out, and just there is something about it the PC doesn't like. F.T. does make me think it might be F? Terminal, i.e. for connecting to the PC.