[stormy]

Heya,

I've got a SGI Bigfoot keyboard I'd like to use for my Octane, but need an adapter. I know these were sold on eBay recently as an 'Indigo to ps2' adapter, but don't seem to be available anymore. I'm wondering if anyone here bought a few and might have a spare to sell me, thank you.

[robespierre]

I don't know that a (4D|Indigo|Onyx) keyboard to PS2 host adapter has ever been available!

[kaigan]

Heya,

I've got a SGI Bigfoot keyboard I'd like to use for my Octane, but need an adapter. I know these were sold on eBay recently as an 'Indigo to ps2' adapter, but don't seem to be available anymore. I'm wondering if anyone here bought a few and might have a spare to sell me, thank you.

You might be able to use a PS/2 to USB converter and this: https://www.drakware.com/shop/p/indigousb

I've heard good things about Drakware's converters, although I've never used one. Could be worth a shot, though!

[Raion]

USB to PS/2 adapters IME have never worked well.

[robespierre]

You might be able to use a PS/2 to USB converter and this: https://www.drakware.com/shop/p/indigousb

That is the wrong way 'round: it adapts USB keyboards to Indigo hosts. The OP wants to use an Indigo keyboard.
The Drakware adapter is likely based on a microcontroller that has USB host and device ports, but, they are not always switchable in software alone, but can be attached to different sets of pins. The other problem with "reversing direction" is that power would need to be made available from a different side of the adaptor, and this is a big problem in this case as the Indigo and USB do not use the same power supply voltage. So it would be a very elaborate hardware modification—it would be easier to start from scratch with a purpose-designed board. The same vendor does sell a Sun keyboard to USB host adapter, which would make a better starting point.

USB to PS/2 adapters IME have never worked well.

Adapters from USB keyboards to PS/2 or AT hosts barely even exist. A few "experimental" units are for sale from small webshops: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144111156837

Mostly what you get instead are passive adapters that simply wire the USB pins to PS/2 pins, and the keyboard must recognize this and itself implement a PS/2 mode. They do not work for other kinds of devices.

Chaining multiple active adapters is also fraught with problems, because each one consumes additional power and must initialize itself and begin communicating in the proper sequence.

[stormy]

Okay, well maybe instead I'll see if anyone would like to swap mine with a ps2 version.

[kaigan]

That is the wrong way 'round: it adapts USB keyboards to Indigo hosts. The OP wants to use an Indigo keyboard.

Ah - my mistake! I misunderstood the original question. Unfortunately, I don't have a good solution for using an Indigo keyboard on other devices. Should I hear of one, I'll be sure to post it, though.