Scott Denlinger composed on 2023-11-29 10:55 (UTC-0500):
> I'm running Trixie/Sid with a stock 6.5.10 kernel, and I have a Centronics
> Model M keyboard from 1988 (from my very first IBM PC!) which I love. I'm
> using it with an active PS/2 --> USB converter, which works well enough,
> but occasionally the keyboard dies and I need to plug the USB adapter back
> in, so I'd like to be able to plug it directly into my system board PS/2
> port. I can sometimes get the keyboard to work when plugged directly into
> the PS/2 port and I'm in rescue mode / logged into the console, but it
> never works in an X environment (for me, XFCE).
PS/2 ports were not designed for hot-plugging. Doing so can kill a PS/2 port
permanently. To keep your port alive, only plug a PS/2 keyboard into a PS/2 port
while the PC is powered off.
It may be that a PS/2 keyboard can also be damaged in same manner, or other. I
have an HP Pavilion that worked fine with the same Dell Quietkey keyboard I use
with other PCs from the time I got it until recently, when that keyboard quit
working with it only, fine with other PCs, except with a newer Pavilion lacking
PS/2 ports. With the latter, it had been working OK with a PS/2 to USB adapter,
but that quit too. I switched to a different Quietkey and both Pavilions resumed
working as they originally had been.
> The fact that it works intermittently from the console makes me think it's
> a kernel issue, but I don't know how to troubleshoot it at the kernel
> level. I would love to get it working in X, but I feel like I need to get
> working consistently in single user mode before I can troubleshoot
> the issue X seems to be having with the PS/2 interface.
> I do have a USB keyboard I can use to do some testing. Can I have both
> keyboards plugged in at the same time--the model M in the PS/2 port and
> another USB keyboard connected via USB? I do have "/dev/psaux" in the
> device tree, and I don't see anything like "/dev/mice" or "/dev/mouse", so
> I'm assuming the Model M keyboard would be /dev/psaux.
> Thanks for any tips, or links to PS/2 interface resources for Linux.
--
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata
