How to connect PS/2 female to USB female?

[hammeraxe]

This is more of a hobbyist than engineering question, but basically I need to connect a female PS/2 (mini DIN 6-pin) to a female USB (ie plug in a computer).

I haven't succeeded in finding a connector that does this, so i thought of doing a PS/2 to USB and then USB male to USB male (as this seems to be one of the few "single gender" connectors they actually make, although there are some PS/2 male to male as well). The problem is that these usually come as cables (e.g. 1.8 m long), but I would only need a connector. Is there such a thing and if so, where to get it?

 

[vk6kro]

Do you mean this thing?

http://www.google.com/products/cata...ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBgQ8wIwAQ#ps-sellers

http://base1.googlehosted.com/base_media?q=http://digitalcontent.cnetchannel.com/d0/80/d0809d98-ff7d-4d7a-9466-371cea3b0e96.jpg&size=20&dhm=b1bbbf3d&hl=en

Some PS/2 mice used to come with one of these so you could use them on a USB port if you liked.

 

[hammeraxe]

No, that's the point. This is how it looks:
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6378/connectorh.jpg

And this needs to be converted to male USB plug to fit into a computer.

 

[dlgoff]

The problem is that these usually come as cables (e.g. 1.8 m long), but I would only need a connector. Is there such a thing and if so, where to get it?

Could you make a short cable with a couple of male mini DIN 6-pin connectors?

 

[hammeraxe]

Obviously, pretty much anything can be done with enough soldering, but I was kind of looking for a ready made solution. It doesn't make that much difference though, as I haven't got the components anyway

 

[MATLABdude]

Obviously, pretty much anything can be done with enough soldering, but I was kind of looking for a ready made solution. It doesn't make that much difference though, as I haven't got the components anyway

A good deal *can* be done with soldering, but no amount of solder will convert the signals for you. Assuming this is a standard keyboard or mouse that follows the PS/2 format, the PS/2 has a data and clock line (in addition to the power and ground lines), which are encoded differently from the USB spec:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_connector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb#Cables

The adapter that vk6kro linked to has a little chip in it that does this necessary conversion FOR KEYBOARDS and/or MICE (I've seen them coloured purple or green, depending on whether you have a mouse or keyboard, they probably have ones that are smart enough to figure out what you have connected, at a correspondingly higher price point).

So it might be better if you step back a bit and let us know what the other end of your 6-pin DIN female cable is connected to?

 

[dlgoff]

My suggestion to make a short cable was to be used with vk6kros adapter.

 

[hammeraxe]

Yeah, i was thinking the same thing: using a serial-to-USB adapter and a short converting unit.

The device I want to connect is a Garmin GPS 35 satnav for embedded applications

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=62&ra=true

I've got the LVS version, so I figure the LVS version should be able to take power from USB.

I'm a bit concerned about the actual interaction with the device: ie will I be able to work with it from my script just as if it was connected by serial cable?