Black Box AC249A User manual

1000 Park Drive • Lawrence, PA 15055-1018 • 724-746-5500 • Fax [phone]
© Copyright 2000. Black Box Corporation. All rights reserved.

AUGUST 2000
AC249A
PS/2→USB Converter
CUSTOMER SUPPORT INFORMATION
Order toll-free in the U.S.: Call 877-877-BBOX (outside U.S. call 724-746-5500)
FREE technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: Call 724-746-5500 or fax [phone]
Mailing address: Black Box Corporation, 1000 Park Drive, Lawrence, PA 15055-1018
Web site: www.blackbox.com • E-mail: [email protected]
PS/2→USB
Converter

1
FCC AND IC STATEMENTS
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
AND
INDUSTRY CANADA
RADIO-FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE STATEMENTS
Class B Digital Device. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with
the limits for a Class B computing device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful
interference in a residential installation. However, there is no guarantee that
interference will not occur in a particular installation. This equipment generates,
uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy, and, if not installed and used in
accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio
communications. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or
telephone reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off
and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one of the
following measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to
which the receiver is connected.
• Consult an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
Caution:
Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party
responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to
operate the equipment.
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class A limits for radio noise emission from
digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulation of Industry Canada.
Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites
applicables aux appareils numériques de classe A prescrites dans le Règlement sur le
brouillage radioélectrique publié par Industrie Canada.

2
EUROPEAN UNION DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY
The PS/2→USB Converter has been tested and found to comply with the
requirements of the EMC Directive 89/336/EEC.
TRADEMARKS USED IN THIS MANUAL
BLACK BOX and the logo are registered trademarks, and ServSwitch is
a trademark, of Black Box Corporation.
Apple, Mac, Macintosh, are registered trademarks, and iMac is a trademark,
of Apple Computer, Inc.
IBM and PS/2 are registered trademarks of IBM.
Microsoft, IntelliMouse, Windows, and Windows NT are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
and/or other countries.
Any other trademarks mentioned in this manual are acknowledged to be the property of
the trademark owners.

3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Chapter Page
1. Specifications ..................................................... 4
2. Introduction ....................................................... 6
2.1 Overview ...................................................... 6
2.2 System Requirements ................................. 8
2.3 Features ....................................................... 9
3. Installation ....................................................... 10
4. Operation ......................................................... 12
4.1 The LEDs ...................................................12
4.2 The Wakeup Button ................................. 12
5. Troubleshooting .............................................. 14
5.1 Calling Black Box ..................................... 14
5.2 Shipping and Packaging ......................... 15

4
1. Specifications
Operating System Required — Microsoft Windows 98 or
Windows 2000 or higher (not Windows NT) or
Mac OS 8.6 or higher
Compliance — CE; FCC Class B, IC Class/classe B
Standards — USB 1.0 and 1.1
Interfaces — USB, IBM PS/2 keyboard/mouse
User Controls — (1) Bottom-mounted pushbutton for
waking the computer from sleep mode
Indicators — (2) Top-mounted LEDs: (1) for keyboard
activity and (1) for mouse activity
Connectors — (1) USB Type A male at the end of an
11.8-inch (30-cm) cable and (2) 6-pin mini-DIN female
mounted on the end of the Converter body
Temperature Tolerance —
Operating: 41 to 104˚F (5 to 40˚C);
Storage: –4 to +176˚F (–20 to +80˚ C)
Humidity Tolerance — Up to 80% noncondensing
Enclosure — Plastic

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CHAPTER 1: Specifications
Power — Unit gets all its power from the USB bus
Size — 0.9"H x 2.2"W x 3.2"D (2.3 x 5.5 x 8.2 cm)
Weight — 2.6 oz. (50 g)

6
2. Introduction
2.1 Overview
Universal Serial Bus (USB) port technology has
emerged in response to the proliferation of external
peripheral devices that are increasingly being connected
to the latest generation of PCs: keyboards, mice,
scanners, digital cameras, removable-disk drives, etc.
USB behaves in a way similar to older buses such as the
RS-232 serial, IBM®PC parallel, and IBM PS/2®
keyboard/mouse buses, but it is much faster. Also,
because it doesn’t need to be assigned any of the
computer’s IRQ (interrupt request) lines, more devices
can be attached to it, and the perennial computer-
peripheral problem of IRQ conflict is eliminated.
You can use the PS/2→USB Converter (product code
AC249A) to attach a PS/2 type keyboard and mouse to a
desktop, laptop, or handheld computer that uses USB
instead of the PS/2 keyboard/mouse bus. This is
especially useful for laptops, because you can attach an
external mouse and keyboard to them at the same time
without causing conflicts.

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CHAPTER 2: Introduction
On one end, the Converter has two 6-pin mini-DIN
connectors that you’ll plug the mouse and keyboard
into, marked with the appropriate icons. On the other
end, it has a 1-ft. (30.5-cm) cable with a USB Type A
plug that you can attach to the USB port of a computer.
If your computer, like many of today’s models, only
has one or two USB ports, you might want to attach the
Converter to the computer through a “USB hub” such as
our USB Director (product code IC165A). The hub will
provide additional USB ports so that you can connect
more devices to the computer at the same time.
The Converter can also be used to attach PS/2
keyboards and mice to the user ports of all-USB KVM
switches, or to attach iMac™ and other computers that
have only USB ports to the computer ports of PS/2 type
KVM switches.
The PS/2→USB Converter gets all its power from the
attached computer through the Universal Serial Bus, so
you don’t need an external power supply for it. And
because it’s fully USB compliant, the Converter also
supports energy-saving “suspend” and “resume”
operations.

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2.2 System Requirements
To use the PS/2→USB Converter, your computer needs
to be either (a) an IBM PC compatible machine
running Microsoft®Windows®98 or Windows 2000 or
higher or (b) an Apple®Macintosh®compatible
machine running Mac®OS 8.6 or higher. The computer
must have a USB host controller installed and must have
at least one free USB port.
NOTE
Do not attach the Converter to a PC running Windows NT®.
Windows NT does not support USB properly.