I have a laptop (IBM T60) and I want to connect an extern keyboard to it. Because the keyboard is a ps2 keyboard I bought a ps2 to usb adapter and plugged the keyboard into the adapter and the adapter to a usb slot on my laptop. But somehow the notebook does not recognize the keyboard. I even tryed a reboot while the keyboard was plugged in.
Do I have to "mount" the keyboard manually or something like that?
From this thread it appears that a common cheap PS2 to USB adapter doesnt actually do the conversion between PS2 to USB. The keyboard itself needs the USB controller circuitry that typically is embedded in PS2 mice.
I've seen other threads that claim something similar e.g. this old ubuntu thread
Can I ask what you paid for the converter? - from this thread you'll need a special circuit enable ps2-to-usb converter cable costing approx $15 - not the common cheap $3 converters.
There are two types of converters, one of them is just a mechanical interface, this means that is has no circuits inside. Most of the times you need a conversion of the signals, and for that you need an active chip.
So, what happens when you plug your adapter? can you execute lsusb after plugging the adapter and show back the results. Some converters are event detected by Ubuntu as barcode readers.
If your adapter is not listed at all, check dmesg results to see if there was a problem or even detected.
If nothing was detected, well bad luck, get an "active" adapter.
