Editing Introduction to keyboards (section)

==Connecting up==
{{Main|Keyboard protocol|Converter|Adapter}}

Many people have indeed saved old keyboards instead of throwing them away. The good news is that most of them can in fact be connected to your brand new PC or Macintosh.

There are two devices that you may require for this. The first is a '''[[converter]]'''. A converter is a device which translates the communication between the keyboard and computer. The most common converter is the type that translates between the [[AT keyboard interface|AT protocol]] (used by those purple plugs and sockets) and [[USB]] (the modern rectangular plugs and sockets). If your keyboard has a mini-DIN 6 [[PS/2 interface|PS/2 plug]] (which can be purple but may be beige) and the computer has no purple socket, then this is what you need. As a note, PC keyboards can be connected to [[Macintosh]] computers using such a converter, so even if you switched to Mac, your old PC keyboard can still be used.

Some keyboards and mice understand both PS/2 and USB, and ship with a small adapter to allow them to be connected to PS/2 sockets. These adapters contain no electronics and '''are not converters'''. While converters in a very small form factor exist, if the object is green or purple the chances are very high that it's nothing more than an adapter with wires joining a PS/2 socket to USB plug.

<gallery widths=250 heights=187>
File:Belkin F5U119vE1 PS2 to USB converter.jpg | Belkin F5U119 dual PS/2 to USB converter
File:Blue Cube.jpg                             | "Blue cube" single inline PS/2 to USB converter
File:PS2 passive adapters.jpg                  | PS/2 to USB adapters: these are not converters
File:AT to PS2 adapter.jpg                     | 5-pin DIN to mini-DIN 5 (AT to PS/2) adapter
</gallery>

Even older keyboards (which were often of a higher quality) typically used a 5-pin DIN plug. In most cases, these keyboards are also AT protocol. Commercial converters only provide PS/2 sockets, so an '''[[adapter]]''' is needed: this is a short cable or combination plug/socket with a 5-pin DIN socket for the keyboard and a mini-DIN 6 plug for the computer. This can be plugged into the purple keyboard socket on the computer, or into a PS/2 to USB converter. Community-made converters exist that convert direct from 5-pin DIN to USB.

There is a small possibility that the 5-pin DIN plug represents the even older [[XT keyboard interface|XT protocol]] from the early 1980s. Again, converts exist for the XT protocol, so the keyboard can still be used with a modern PC. In some cases, the keyboard will talk both XT and AT; these are called [[XT/AT switchable]] keyboards, and in most cases you'll want the switch set to "AT" and not "XT", for use with a commercial converter.

Non-PC keyboards, such as those intended for the Macintosh, for other computer systems or for terminals can often still be connected to PCs. Community-made converter software exists for many different keyboard types; such converters can either be purchased ready-assembled, or you can buy the parts and assemble them yourself.