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Use USB keyboard on ASUS P5A-B / MS-DOS

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First post, by wkjagt

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I have a nice ASUS P5A-B that I am really happy with. One thing bothers me though, and it's probably just because of my lack of understanding. I am currently using it with a cheap PS/2 keyboard and an adapter to the 5 pin keyboard connector on the keyboard. But I would love to use it with my USB keyboard (a 60% mechanical keyboard). It seems that this keyboard doesn't support the PS/2 protocol. I tried using a passive USB -> PS/2 adapter but that doesn't work and gives me a keyboard error during post, as if no keyboard is connected.

However, the Asus board also has USB on a small extension board, which seems perfect for my use case. When I plug my keyboard directly into that, and boot the computer, I don't get a keyboard error, but the keyboard doesn't actually function. The lack of the keyboard error seems to indicate that the BIOS is satisfied when it comes to having a keyboard connected. But when I press ESC during the memory test in POST, it doesn't skip the test. Once in MS-DOS, the keyboard doesn't do anything. I can't go into the BIOS but that's because I don't have a physical DEL key. I have to check what key combination DEL is on my keyboard.

Does anyone know if this is even possible? Or is using an USB keyboard in MS DOS just not a thing?

Stay at home dad playing around with 286-486. Programming C and assembly. Repairing old stuff.

Reply 1 of 4, by Gmlb256

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DOS predates the USB standard, so it wasn't a thing. At least on Bret Johnson's website, there is a USB driver for DOS which includes the keyboard support, but it consumes a lot of conventional memory, does nothing for POST, very limited motherboard chipset support (the ALi chipset isn't one of them sadly) and are hit and miss in my experience.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 2 of 4, by wkjagt

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That makes sense. I guess I was hoping that somehow the motherboard would Just Take Care Of It™. Especially since it didn't complain about no keyboard being present during POST. Ah well, maybe I'll find a nice PS/2 keyboard at some point. Seems that all the nice 60% mechanical keyboards are USB protocol only though.

Stay at home dad playing around with 286-486. Programming C and assembly. Repairing old stuff.

Reply 4 of 4, by wkjagt

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Half-Saint wrote on 2023-01-16, 23:26:

Have you tried something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Replaceme … B000A0K2JO?th=1

Yeah I have, and I hoped it would work, but for these passive adapters to work, the keyboard needs to support the PS/2 protocol. These adapters don't have any logic in them, they just pass the connections from the USB plug to a PS/2 plug (ground, 5V, clock and data). For many USB keyboards this works, because they support both protocols, and switch between them based on what they're connected to. But apparently (from some random stuff I found on the internet), it's really hard to find a small mechanical keyboard that supports the PS/2 protocol. And mine (an Anne Pro 2) doesn't, unfortunately.

Stay at home dad playing around with 286-486. Programming C and assembly. Repairing old stuff.

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