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Passive Converter

A passive USB-to-PS/2 converter

A Passive Converter refers to a simple device designed to merely change the port of a keyboard's cable. This excludes the translation of the keyboard's protocol, which is a task usually done by an Active Converter instead.

Thanks to their simplicity, Passive Converters are often more affordable than Active Converters, but their practical uses can be very limited.


Use-cases

AT-to-PS/2

A passive AT-to-PS/2 converter

Although Backwards compatibility is rare among protocols, the PS/2 protocol stands out as a prevalent example as it can interpret an AT keyboard. Furthermore, an Active PS/2-to-USB Converter can be used afterwards to practically convert an AT keyboard into USB.


Examples