What part of "unplug all USB cables" do you not understand?

[otakuneko]

Oh yeah? Well I has a Model M!

...cept, it's a new enough one that instead of the big DIN it has the ps/2.

Gimme a ps/2 keyboard any day. I don't even have a usb one. I'd rather my keyboard actually work at the command line, or in the cmos.

[Chromatix]

Actually, since the Model M was made by IBM in the first place, most of them have PS/2 cables, even (especially?) the early ones. The PS/2 socket was named after - wait for it - the IBM Personal System 2 (aka PS/2)! I still have an IBM-built 486 somewhere - from the PS/1 series - with PS/2 sockets built in.

So I have a 1989 Model M with a PS/2 cable, and a 1996 Cherry with an AT cable (the DIN-5). The clone industry continued to use the AT keyboard socket for over a decade after IBM introduced the PS/2.

[wolfie]

Old? I found a keyboard using a 5-pin DIN connector in our box of "still good keyboards." Worse, I found some DIN-to-PS/2 converters in my oddball wires box. I could inflict it on someone.

Is it one of the genuine IBM clicky (and heavy) keyboards? Is it AT compatible, or just PC/XT? If you answer "yes" to both questions, hang onto it - some people (myself included) consider those to be the ultimate in good "feel" - there's even at least one web vendor whose entire business is selling these vintage units. Keyboards are the only system component which doesn't become obsolete.