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A keyboard wedge allows non-keyboard devices to connect to a computer and send data as if it were from a keyboard. Software versions also exist, useful for devices not intended for the software. Older wedges use PS/2 ports, while newer ones offer both PS/2 and USB interfaces.
A keyboard wedge is an interface that allows a non-keyboard device to connect to a computer as if it were sending data from the keyboard. Because most data entry software is set up to capture data from a keyboard, you must use a wedge keyboard if you want to connect a peripheral such as a barcode scanner or magnetic stripe reader and send information to the program. The wedge is so called because the physical version “gets wedged” between the keyboard and the computer. The keyboard is connected to the wedge, which in turn is connected to the computer, so that data can be entered using the keyboard or other peripheral.
There are also software versions of the keyboard wedge. These programs take the information sent from the external input device, usually connected via a COM or USB port, and send it through the operating system’s keyboard buffer, so that the computer thinks the information was sent via the keyboard.
A keyboard wedge may be useful when using the software with a device for which the software was not intended. While some data entry software is written specifically with barcode scanners or magnetic stripe readers in mind, most are written with the assumption that a keyboard will be the only device used to enter data. For efficiency reasons, however, many businesses use barcodes instead of manually entering the unit code, and since most people don’t read barcodes, a method was needed to translate the barcode into the information constituents and pass it to the computer as alphanumeric data. The keyboard wedge was developed in the early days of computing, by a programmer from Altek Instruments in Great Britain.
Older keyboard wedges are built to interface with a computer via a PS/2 port, as that is the traditional keyboard port. Newer versions usually offer an interface for both a PS/2 cable and a USB cable as USB keyboards become more and more standard. Some wedges are built to interface with proprietary ports such as Port 17 from IBM or OCIA. This type of keyboard wedge is increasingly difficult to find, but small companies still exist to fill the niche.
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