Ben Kurtz, the hacker behind AwghBlog, shows us how to connect a PS/2 keyboard to an iPhone. It’s a cool neat little project, very well detailed and can be done for under $100 (minus iPhone). A rough bill of materials drafted by Ben is included after the break; you can grab the parts off of Digi-Key, Mouser, SparkFun, Radio Shack, and Maker Shed. All the software needed for the project can be freely downloaded off of Ben’s blog.

Prerequisites

• Jailbroken iPhone – The official SDK doesn’t allow access to the serial port due to the Elf Conspiracy, so the jailbreak is required.  All you need to know about jailbreaking is at the iPhone Dev Team Blog.
• Arduino Diecimila or Dumilanove (or clone), available from many places.  This howto assumes that your Arduino is assembled.
• An iPod Breakout board, like this one from Sparkfun.  Any similar product will work.
• A Female PS/2 (Din 6) Keyboard connector.  Pull one off an old computer or buy one from Digikey or similar vendor.
• Wire, preferably several colors and about 24 gauge.  I’m using a spool from RadioShack in the pics below.
• One 500k Resistor.  I’m using an axial through-hole resistor from RadioShack, but you could add this to your Digikey order as well.
• Soldering Iron and Solder.  If you don’t know how to solder, you can learn here and here.
• (Optional) Pin Headers, like these.  I break these off and solder them to the ends of wires, so that they plug nicely into the Arduino.
• (Optional) Sweet 9v Battery harness so your Arduino becomes portable available from the Maker Store.
• (Optional) Stereo Headphone Jack from RadioShack or Digikey.

Ben Kurtz

The entire project will run you about $80 (excluding shipping) assuming that you only have an iPhone and PS/2 keyboard. If you don’t have a soldering iron, you can grab a cheap one for under 10 bucks, but a good quality iron will run you $100 or a bit less. Have fun, and try not to burn the house down!