What is this cable for?

[Demo24]

Found this plugged into a ps2 port and then the other end in a switch. Never seen something like this before so kind of confused, maybe for fax?

 

[brainhulk]

Remote keyboard?

 

[Fritzo]

We had an old IBM keyboard that used an RJ45 on one end and plugged in with a PS/2 connector.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yeah, some older equipment like bar code scanners also used that cable.

 

[Puppies04]

Hi-tech Russian keylogger from the cold war.

 

[exdeath]

Its obviously used to connect two things together.

 

[rudeguy]

KVM comes to mind but I'm not sure

 

[Demo24]

Yeah, some older equipment like bar code scanners also used that cable.

What about an old Dymo? This person had one that must have been 10yrs old at some point before we were able to finally replace it.

Can't see any reason why there would be a KVM cable there, it was on a user's PC and I wouldn't be surprised if they just found it and plugged it up.

 

[TwiceOver]

And you thought you had slow internet. Check out this guy getting internet through his PS2 port... Ouch.

 

[TerryMathews]

What about an old Dymo? This person had one that must have been 10yrs old at some point before we were able to finally replace it.

Can't see any reason why there would be a KVM cable there, it was on a user's PC and I wouldn't be surprised if they just found it and plugged it up.

I don't know why a dymo would connect to PS/2, it really isn't a bidirectional connection, and it's unidirectional in the wrong way for how you use a dymo.

The only things I can think of have been named here already
1) IBM Model M
2) KVM
3) Bar code scanner

Also credit card reader.

 

[Maximilian]

Looked on wiki for "KVM" and saw this clusterfuck:

 

[SunnyD]

NSA.

 

[Mixolydian]

Saw the connector and thought it was mini-DIN8. disappointed.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I don't know why, but that reminds me of "AppleTalk" connectors. I think Jobs plugged two computers in together that they had built in China and said, "Hey! You can see that computer from this one..." and AppleTalk was born. That's about the extent of the engineering they put into that crap.

About YOUR cable. It's difficult to say what that's used for because you don't know where the pin assignments are set. Chances are, it's something proprietary. If you can date the cable and tell *when it was made, you might have a good estimate of what it's used for. Late 90's is a good guess because PS2 was still a big standard and RJ45 had replaced token ring.

 

[Markbnj]

Looked on wiki for "KVM" and saw this clusterfuck:

All lower-end KVMs end up looking like that if you have a few machines. The rack mount units have all the connectors in the rear, but they are a lot more expensive.

 

[Mixolydian]

I don't know why, but that reminds me of "AppleTalk" connectors.

For one thing, the connector has the same icon as the one used for AppleTalk.

I think Jobs plugged two computers in together that they had built in China and said, "Hey! You can see that computer from this one..." and AppleTalk was born. That's about the extent of the engineering they put into that crap.

Actually Jobs was highly opposed to Macintosh networking. The engineers "snuck" it in without his knowledge.

AppleTalk was actually quite brilliant for its time, as it required minimal to no setup.

 

[Thebobo]

We had an old IBM keyboard that used an RJ45 on one end and plugged in with a PS/2 connector.

yar looks like that

 

[sdifox]

Appletalk

 

[ViRGE]

Appletalk

Appletalk (or rather Localtalk) used a 3-pin DIN; or if you used UTP cabling, a RJ-11 connector. So this wouldn't be Localtalk. That's a 6-pin DIN and an RJ-25 connector. The only thing Localtalk-like is the double arrows.

 

[Demo24]

I don't know why, but that reminds me of "AppleTalk" connectors. I think Jobs plugged two computers in together that they had built in China and said, "Hey! You can see that computer from this one..." and AppleTalk was born. That's about the extent of the engineering they put into that crap.

About YOUR cable. It's difficult to say what that's used for because you don't know where the pin assignments are set. Chances are, it's something proprietary. If you can date the cable and tell *when it was made, you might have a good estimate of what it's used for. Late 90's is a good guess because PS2 was still a big standard and RJ45 had replaced token ring.

Not actually an RJ45 on the end, it's RJ11. They had just plugged it into the switch anyway. Only 3 wires in there as well; black, red, and green.

No idea how to date it, other than just common connector knowledge. The ps2 connector has bi-directional arrows on it, and the rj-11 side has an 'R'.


A bar scanner or a cc reader does make a bit of sense considering the environment.