[Ham-Computers] RE: Where can I find...

[Hsu, Aaron]

Thanks for volunteering me, Duane...what are friends for, hi  =) !

Unfortunately, those connectors are somewhat proprietary.  There are 4-pin,
5-pin, 6-pin, and 8-pin (dual row 4-pin) connectors that I've seen.
Luckily, you can always pull the pins out of the female end of a connector
and re-arrange them if you know the proper pin-outs.  I don't have the
pin-outs handy here, but the most common connector I've seen is the 5-pin; a
data+, data-, +5v, and GND (not in any specific order).  The fifth pin is
used as a key.

As mentioned before, the best bet is to go back to the motherboard
manufacturer.  An alternate is to determine the pin-outs on the motherboard
and re-pin an adapter from another manufacturer...I've seen the brackets
with connectors at CompUSA and Fry's.  And, as Duane mentioned, there's
probably a plethora of these adapters available used...check your local
HAMfest.  I'll dig around at the TRW Swap this weekend.


73,
  - Aaron Hsu, NN6O


p.s.  Although the PS/2 Mouse and Keyboard connectors are basically the
same, there are usually some differences.  Unless the port was specifically
designed for both, here are some of the differences:

  * There's often a current limiter on the Mouse port +5v line, typically
25ma or less.  On some motherboards, the mouse and keyboard share the same
+5v line and the current limit is for both devices combined.  This explains
why newer optical mice don't work properly on some systems...same with some
keyboards.
  * Mouse ports are usually mapped to a different I/O port, so the system
won't know how to find a keyboard plugged into a mouse port.
  * Mouse ports are typically assigned to IRQ12, the standard mouse IRQ.