I recently purchased a Deck Legend - ICE PS/2 and I love it! Though I have been wondering about changing it from PS/2 to USB when motherboard manufacturers stop providing a PS/2 port. I already noticed Intel has seemed to stop providing a PS/2 port on their 1156 and 1366 sockets that they produce themselves, and my Asus Sabertooth x58 only has one PS/2 port that does both keyboard and mouse.

So I am wondering, what type of USB cable do I need to use? I saw that Deck sells one on their website, Deck Legend Replacement Cable, is that the one I need? Or will any USB cable work? Like can I take the one out of my old Saitek Eclipse keyboard and use it when I need to finally convert my keyboard to USB?

The cable on the Deck Legend has a PS2 connector on one end and USB on the other. It was made specifically so you do not need to purchase a different cable. In general here are the steps to change to USB from PS2:

1. Remove the 11 screws from the bottom of the keyboard.
2. Remove the top half of the plastic housing.
3. Unplug the cable and flip the connection around so the USB end is exposed outside of the keyboard.
4. Clip the resistor labeled 'Remove for use with USB' on the top left part of the circuit board. This can easily be done with nail clippers or scissors.
5. Replace the top housing and screws and you are good to go!

I am considering purchasing one of the 105-key legends, and after spending some time looking around the web I have seen that PS/2 is generally preferable because of key rollover (and potentially other advantages of interrupt versus polling.) However, as the original poster, I realize that many motherboards are coming now without PS/2 slots. I like the flexibility of the Deck to be converted, and my current motherboard supports PS/2.

Given I have little or no experience in dealing with circuitry, and lack simple tools such as a soldering iron (although I could likely borrow one from a friend,) is it preferable to purchase a USB and convert it to PS/2 for my use, or is it easier to purchase the PS/2 and perform the USB conversion if I have a motherboard without PS/2 in the future? This way I buy the right one up front

TL;DR
Which is easier, converting the PS/2 to USB or vice versa?

PS2 to USB is easier - it requires no soldering, just clipping out one resistor which can be done with fingernail clippers at worst.

USB to PS2 requires soldering the resistor back in so slightly more difficult.

I recently bought a laptop that does not have a PS/2 Port and I would like to use my Deck Legend (full keyboard) on it. So, what you're saying is in my case all I would need to do is open up my keyboard and swap the connections around so that it can use USB instead of PS/2? Or will an adapter work on this (in my search on this forum one of the posts said you could use an adapter if you were going from PS/2 to USB but not from USB to PS/2).

I didn't want to start a new thread since I found this one on the first page so I'm sort of necro'ing/hijacking it a bit. I hope you and the OP do not mind.

Thanks!

If you don't want to clip the resistor, you can try an adapter. Many of them don't work with the Deck because of its current draw.

I'm not sure if its ok for me to post links, but what I use is a translucent blue PS/2 to USB adapter from eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemNext&item=200738102622

It works fine with my Deck legend.