Mac Keyboard Guide
Incorporate a PS/2 Keyboard
In our first trial, we looked for the cheapest PS/2 mouse and keyboard we could find. A Dell QuietKey keyboard and a Dell PS/2 mechanical mouse were liberated from disuse in the garage. Both are completely uninteresting. A visit to Microcenter turned up a $3.99 PS/2-USB mouse adapter , a $12.99 dual-head adapter for both mouse and keyboard, and—hey lookit—a $5.99 PS/2 optical mouse, complete with scroll wheel. Equipment in hand, we embarked on our plugfest.
We looked forward to the four dollar mouse adapter, but it never worked. Most obviously, the PS/2 connector is so fat that you have to shove it past the video adapter and neighboring USB connector, into the USB slot. More critically, the Mac doesn’t see it as a valid USB device — it doesn’t appear in System Profiler, and no PS/2 mouse we connected would actually do anything. (The optical mouse lights up, so at least power is making it across the USB connector. But the adapter shows no other signs of life.)
The dual-head adapter works like a charm. Both PS/2 mice are immediately recognized and perform as expected. The left button is, as you would expect, “click”. The right button automatically maps to right-click, bringing up contextual menus wherever the graphical interface supports them. (When using a single-button mouse, Control-click brings up contextual menus.) The scroll wheel immediately works to scroll windows, and clicking the scroll button turns the mouse into a scroll tool - move the mouse up and down, and the window scrolls to match. The Dell keyboard automatically acquires Apple’s keymappings for PC keyboards.
It’s worth noting that our dual-head adpter cost $12.99, but we later saw a similar one at Fry’s Electronics for $9.99. It was in the exit aisle, sandwiched between the Mars Bars and the condoms.