Re: support for ancient peripherals
Kleene, Steven (kleenesj) wrote:
> My concern is about support for three ancient peripherals that I like better
> than the modern equivalents:
> 1. A Northgate Omnikey 101 keyboard (from 2006) with a 5-pin DIN cable,
> currently going via an adapter to a PS/2 port in the desktop;
I have one of these.
1. Most current desktop motherboards have a PS/2 port. Check the
specs before you buy.
2. There are two kinds of PS/2 to USB adapters; one kind will
work for you, and the other won't. You need an "active"
converter, as opposed to a passive adapter, which assumes that
the keyboard is of a new variety that just needs the wiring. The
active ones tend to cost $10-20, and the passive ones $2-5.
> 2. A Logitech M-MD15L three-button roller-ball serial mouse (from 2006); and
You can get USB to RS232 serial adapters for about $10.
> 3. An HP LaserJet 5MP printer from 1995 with a parallel-port connector.
StarTech sells a $42 PCIe card with a parallel port and two
serial ports. If you're getting a desktop, this might be your
preferred path.
Two other options:
The 5MP has an expansion slot where you can put a network
interface. HP J2552-60001 is the part number. Refurbs of these
sell for about $75, which is about half the cost of a new laser
printer which will have a network port, duplex, and be about 8x
faster.
StarTech also makes a $75 parallel printer network server, which
is probably more available than the internal card, and can work
on other parallel interface printers.
-dsr-
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