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Dongles to Fake Presence of a Keyboard?

Posted by Cliff on from the you-can-even-build-one-from-spare-parts dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "I have a Compaq IPAQ desktop system (legacy free) that will not boot headless. (Yes I did try to tell the BIOS to not generate a no keyboard error, but there is no such setting for the BIOS of this system.) Since I would like to use it such and don't wish to waste a keyboard just to keep it from complaining, I'd like to come up with a small dongle that would fake the system into thinking that there is a keyboard attached. This is the same basic thing that KVM's do, so the circuit shouldn't be that difficult to find. Has anyone heard of such a thing? Can anyone provide or point to somewhere where I can find the basic circuit for this?" How hard would it be to take the connector part from a old non-working keyboard and wiring something like this up?

3 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Not terribly helpful, but ... by iMMersE · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't imagine such a dongle could be cheaper than picking up a really cheap and nasty keyboard. Here in the UK, you can regularly get keyboards for 2GBP at computer fairs.

    You'll also have the added advantage of having a keyboard attached to machine, just in case.

    --
    codegolf.com - smaller *is* better.
    1. Re:Not terribly helpful, but ... by mjpaci · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Isn't his machine 'legacy free'? That means no serial (RS-232), no PS/2. He is looking for a USB solution.

      --Mike

  2. Too simple by Bob+Cat+-+NYMPHS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Open old KB. Cut away everything except the controller chip and the traces between it and where the cable enters.

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    The latest Slashdot meme.