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#1
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USB vs. PS/2
I've heard of people having problems with a USB keyboard because
it's doesn't work until the OS has loaded the driver, being unable to go into BIOS or use the boot option hotkey, or press F1 when a fault occurs in POST. It just occurred to me that I've never used a USB keyboard and I don't have one with me to try out. A quick search seems to indicate that the problem occurs with some motherboards but not with others. I've also observed mice behave smoothly into a PS/2 port and erratically with USB. The trend is apparently towards USB for both keyboards and mice and many new mobos come with only one PS/2 port. I even saw someone in a forum declare that "PS/2 needs to die". Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? |
#2
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USB vs. PS/2
On 05/15/2012 12:52 AM, Dishum wrote:
I've heard of people having problems with a USB keyboard because it's doesn't work until the OS has loaded the driver, being unable to go into BIOS or use the boot option hotkey, or press F1 when a fault occurs in POST. It just occurred to me that I've never used a USB keyboard and I don't have one with me to try out. A quick search seems to indicate that the problem occurs with some motherboards but not with others. I've also observed mice behave smoothly into a PS/2 port and erratically with USB. The trend is apparently towards USB for both keyboards and mice and many new mobos come with only one PS/2 port. I even saw someone in a forum declare that "PS/2 needs to die". Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? Never saw the sense of USB keyboards or mice The only time I use them is if there are no ps/2 ports on the machine... or possibly to save a machine with a broken ps/2 port -- https://www.createspace.com/3707686 |
#3
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USB vs. PS/2
On 5/15/2012 1:42 AM PT, philo typed:
Never saw the sense of USB keyboards or mice The only time I use them is if there are no ps/2 ports on the machine... or possibly to save a machine with a broken ps/2 port I still prefer old school PS/2 ports, but they getting more rare with newer motherboards these days. I tried to get this EVGA X58 SLI (132-BL-E758; BIOS date 5/11/2010; v6.00 PG; release number IX58SZ64) motherboard, with its one PS/2 keyboard, to work with my old PS/2 mice with two different USB-PS/2 adapters but very unstable (loses connections). I also love them because I can use my old KVMs to share my clicky PC104 keyboard, 19" monitor, etc. to save room. Those KVMs, with USB ports, are expensive. Now, I have two mice on my desks for two different computers. -- "Busy as ants hurrying orcs were digging, digging lines of deep trenches in a huge ring, just out of bowshot from the walls;" --The Return of the King (book) /\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site) / /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net | |o o| | \ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link. ( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed. Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer. |
#4
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USB vs. PS/2
In "Dishum"
wrote: Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? My USB keyboard works fine at boot time on my very, very old Asus P4PE motherboard. But as they say, YMMV. Makers probably just want to eliminate as much hardware as they can from their products. -- St. Paul, MN |
#5
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USB vs. PS/2
philo wrote:
On 05/15/2012 12:52 AM, Dishum wrote: I've heard of people having problems with a USB keyboard because it's doesn't work until the OS has loaded the driver, being unable to go into BIOS or use the boot option hotkey, or press F1 when a fault occurs in POST. It just occurred to me that I've never used a USB keyboard and I don't have one with me to try out. A quick search seems to indicate that the problem occurs with some motherboards but not with others. I've also observed mice behave smoothly into a PS/2 port and erratically with USB. The trend is apparently towards USB for both keyboards and mice and many new mobos come with only one PS/2 port. I even saw someone in a forum declare that "PS/2 needs to die". Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? Never saw the sense of USB keyboards or mice The only time I use them is if there are no ps/2 ports on the machine... or possibly to save a machine with a broken ps/2 port Same here. When I said that I've never used a USB keyboard, I meant for regular use. I use USB keyboards and mice for exactly the same reasons as yours and such times are only when I work on and with other people's computers. |
#6
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USB vs. PS/2
"Dishum" wrote in message ... I've heard of people having problems with a USB keyboard because it's doesn't work until the OS has loaded the driver, being unable to go into BIOS or use the boot option hotkey, or press F1 when a fault occurs in POST. It just occurred to me that I've never used a USB keyboard and I don't have one with me to try out. A quick search seems to indicate that the problem occurs with some motherboards but not with others. I've also observed mice behave smoothly into a PS/2 port and erratically with USB. The trend is apparently towards USB for both keyboards and mice and many new mobos come with only one PS/2 port. I even saw someone in a forum declare that "PS/2 needs to die". Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? I made the transition to USB for the connections somewhat under duress, as my old KVM switch was always unreliable. (It uses a physical switch to change things.) Also I got a new Dell desktop that had no PS2 ports, so to do anything on that machine I had to do it all with USB I/O. The Trendnet KVM I bought made me long for the days of PS2 ports. That said, there are some advantages. For one thing you only have to make one connection to the USB port from the KVM, as multiple devices can exist on one USB port. (I have this going in, too, as my keyboard has two USB ports on its backside) There's also never any problem of connecting the wrong device to a port. But I don't think the easier wiring is really that big of a deal. I haven't had any reliability problems with the USB devices -- this Gigabyte motherboard recognizes them in the BIOS, so there's no difficulty there. And when I manage to get a new KVM switch installed I'll then be able to better comment on reliability. |
#7
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USB vs. PS/2
Dishum wrote:
philo wrote: On 05/15/2012 12:52 AM, Dishum wrote: I've heard of people having problems with a USB keyboard because it's doesn't work until the OS has loaded the driver, being unable to go into BIOS or use the boot option hotkey, or press F1 when a fault occurs in POST. It just occurred to me that I've never used a USB keyboard and I don't have one with me to try out. A quick search seems to indicate that the problem occurs with some motherboards but not with others. I've also observed mice behave smoothly into a PS/2 port and erratically with USB. The trend is apparently towards USB for both keyboards and mice and many new mobos come with only one PS/2 port. I even saw someone in a forum declare that "PS/2 needs to die". Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? Never saw the sense of USB keyboards or mice The only time I use them is if there are no ps/2 ports on the machine... or possibly to save a machine with a broken ps/2 port Same here. When I said that I've never used a USB keyboard, I meant for regular use. I use USB keyboards and mice for exactly the same reasons as yours and such times are only when I work on and with other people's computers. PS/2 for that purpose, is a superior solution, for the reasons mentioned. The OS always seems to recognize it (unless the PS/2 port is blown out, by hot-plugging it, and you don't get too many reports of that type). It just seems to work. And because it's interrupt driven, the response is instantaneous. With USB, the USB bus uses a polling method, to determine if devices have info to offer, and if the polling process is delayed for any reason, then so is your input delayed. Perhaps the addition of a new USB device (just plugged in), can affect the keyboard/mouse USB response slightly. The reason Intel is on such a mission, to remove PS/2, is so the SuperI/O chip can be completely removed from motherboard designs. At the moment, perhaps the hardware monitor function is all that remains of it (once floppy, parallel port, serial ports, CIR/SIR, PS/2 are removed). The only bit Intel is missing, is ADC converters capable of measuring power supply voltages (which as of today, would still be an accessory function available on about half the SuperI/O chips). And perhaps Intel doesn't think that function is worth having, or perhaps Intel doesn't even recognize that as an "official" chipset function as such. Once the legacy interfaces are removed, and all the third-party chipsets are removed from competing with Intel (by lacking a license for the bus interface), then Intel provides all the "intelligent" functions. The only things left on the motherboard are peripheral chips (NIC, HDAudio chip, Firewire chip), or regulator chips (VCore, VDimm regulators). It would mean, for each motherboard sold, Intel makes the maximum profit from it. With the recent removal of PCI bus from the motherboard, for a few years there will be motherboards with a PCI Express to PCI bridge. But eventually that will disappear from all boards as well. I think Z77 may be the beginning of chipsets for desktop, without a PCI bus being available natively. The interface solutions then are PCI Express and USB2/3, for virtually everything. Which means every time you need a legacy solution (such as when I needed a serial port for a dialup modem), it's a trip to the computer store and forking out $29.95. Same thing happened when I needed a parallel port to run a hardware programming dongle - another trip to the store, and fork out more money, for a PCI Express to parallel port card. Interfaces are *so* much cheaper, when they're bundled with the motherboard. Paul |
#8
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USB vs. PS/2
On 05/15/2012 07:27 AM, Ant wrote:
On 5/15/2012 1:42 AM PT, philo typed: Never saw the sense of USB keyboards or mice The only time I use them is if there are no ps/2 ports on the machine... or possibly to save a machine with a broken ps/2 port I still prefer old school PS/2 ports, but they getting more rare with newer motherboards these days. I tried to get this EVGA X58 SLI (132-BL-E758; BIOS date 5/11/2010; v6.00 PG; release number IX58SZ64) motherboard, with its one PS/2 keyboard, to work with my old PS/2 mice with two different USB-PS/2 adapters but very unstable (loses connections). I also love them because I can use my old KVMs to share my clicky PC104 keyboard, 19" monitor, etc. to save room. Those KVMs, with USB ports, are expensive. Now, I have two mice on my desks for two different computers. Yeah, I had this mobo with blown ps/2 ports but it was otherwise OK I of course had no way to enter the bios to enable USB keyboard... which was disabled by default...(how stupid) had to toss it -- https://www.createspace.com/3707686 |
#9
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USB vs. PS/2
Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? Money. Cheaper to build a M/B without the parts. |
#10
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USB vs. PS/2
"Dishum" wrote in message
... I've heard of people having problems with a USB keyboard because it's doesn't work until the OS has loaded the driver, being unable to go into BIOS or use the boot option hotkey, or press F1 when a fault occurs in POST. It just occurred to me that I've never used a USB keyboard and I don't have one with me to try out. I've experienced this and it can be very frustrating. However mostly there will be an option in the BIOS to enable the use of a USB keyboard in the BIOS. I forget what the option is called, and it wasn't something obvious .... All the PCs I've used when only come with USB (no PS/2 connectors) worked fine in this respect. So if you are thinking of getting a newish PC/laptop then I wouldn't expect it to be a problem. (YMMV) snip Can anyone please clarify the situation and explain why PS/2 is falling out of favour? Good question. Don't know. I think Intel (since 2001-ish) have relegated PS/2 ports to legacy status, but I don't know the reason. If you look at Paul's reply he's given a good answer to this one. -- Brian Cryer http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian |
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