PS/2 ports...

Pick a PS/2 answer and an Abit answer please...

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QwertyJuan

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I was reading a view on the main page about an Abit board... and in the specs it had... LO AND BEHOLD....... PS/2 ports... wasn't this the company that tried to phase these out 3 years ago?? LOL

So who uses these 'obsolete' ports??

And what do you think of Abit for bringing them back??

QJ
 
well keyboard manufacturers still make them with ps/2 connectors.... my new logitech keyboard has ps/2... they just dont want it to die i guess
 
I wish PS/2 would die.
It's a shitty connector that has problems hotswapping(You CAN do it, but you can also end up frying the port)

I would rather have more USB Ports.
 
Im with this guy.. :D

Ruffy said:
I wish PS/2 would die.
It's a shitty connector that has problems hotswapping(You CAN do it, but you can also end up frying the port)

I would rather have more USB Ports.
Click to expand...
 
So anybody know why Abit brought them back, when they were basically taking them away a few years ago??

QJ
 
Good for when you're benchmarking....otherwise, a shitty legacy port. :)
 
All of my keyboards are USB, coz I love the hot-swappable...hotness, but every other build has to have PS/2 ports as I often package them with cheap Microsoft keyboards. I imagine PS/2 ports are still used because PS/2 keyboards are still built. Industry requires a push, and a push requires cash, and we all know where that leads...
 
Whenever I think of USB it's all 'Windows incompatibility' this, 'driver issue' that, doesn't go at full speed, laggy, lame.

PS2 keyboard - plug it in the PS2 port - fucking works.
PS2 Mouse - plug it in the PS2 port - fucking works.


Still have a game port using joystick as well (never want a USB one).

The only USB device I have is a blue tooth dongle that I have to plug in and out every once in a while because windows just seems to have lost it (both the device and it's sanity).
 
PS/2 is a dedicated, low-level, point-to-point bus. USB is a high-level, shared bus. Now which one could possibly be more reliable and less prone to headache-inducing issues? :rolleyes:

How often do you have to hotswap a mouse/keyboard anyway? :p
 
Oh Abit had something against PS/2 ports? Funny because on my Abit NF-7 it had was less USB ports than any motherboard I've used in the last 3 years. Not saying it was a bad board or anything. I just thought it was kind of strange.
 
I use usb, but only because both my mouse and keyboard usb-ps/2 adapters wont work. Any ideas?
 
PS/2 i even used the USB to PS/2 adapter on my logitech mouse, is there a difference between PS/2 and USB. Not like i need a high speed port to transfer the data from my mouse, and into my computer. Idea a firewire and ethernet mouse, maybe not ethernet but firewire mouse. Sounds promising.
 
Abit isn't bringing anything back...it just never went away. What's the big deal anyhow? Is it bad to have both? It's not like they said...you can have either ps/2 OR usb....they put both on the boards. I really don't care either way....even though I use all USB.
 
For a little bit Abit was toying with the "no legacy ports" thing on a few of their mobos.. They did not sell many boards because of it, and rather swiftley put the ps/2 ports back on their mobo's.. Most people, it seems prefer to have them as an option, even if they don't use them.. I would, personaly, rather have 2-4 additional USB ports than the ps/2 ports, but I doubt ps/2 is going anywhere soon...
 
PS/2 for keyboard and usb for everything else. I want my keyboard to work no matter how messed up windows is. That and keyboard don't need anything faster. I can tell the difference between the mouse being plugged into PS/2 and USB. USB is more accurate for precise movements because of its higher sample rate. This makes me remember how I used to "overclock" the sampling rate of my PS/2 ports to make my mouse more accurate.
 
brom42 said:
PS/2 for keyboard and usb for everything else. I want my keyboard to work no matter how messed up windows is. That and keyboard don't need anything faster. I can tell the difference between the mouse being plugged into PS/2 and USB. USB is more accurate for precise movements because of its higher sample rate. This makes me remember how I used to "overclock" the sampling rate of my PS/2 ports to make my mouse more accurate.
Click to expand...

incorrect, usb runs at 125mhz iirc, ps2 at 200 iirc.
 
Meh, whichever.

I prefer usb to ps/2, but whatever i have works. I've found that the *nix kernel seems to cooperate more with ps/2 than with usb.. as i've sometimes had problems getting usb keyboards to work (not loading the right drivers at boot time. gotta love coldplug.)

but hey, usb is where it's at now. ps/2 is definitely old and "ghey".
 
serbiaNem said:
incorrect, usb runs at 125mhz iirc, ps2 at 200 iirc.
Click to expand...

Yes, sorta.

Win98 defaults the PS/2 port to 40Hz and XP sets the rate to 80Hz, but you can overclock the PS/2 port using programs such as ps2rate to jump it up to 200Hz. That can cause problems with windows not liking the mouse, but it rarely happens. The usb mouse will always run at 125Hz and will happily do it without any issues.

So USB is faster out of the box; PS/2 is slower; but can be made faster.


**edit**

Here is a link to ps2rate
 
Ps/2 for both mouse and keyboard, no reaosn to change as the bandwidth there is still plenty, and there is a lot less headaches with PS/2 than USB. Its just simple and it works efficently, it will probablly stay that way, since it makes sense.
 
Elledan said:
PS/2 is a dedicated, low-level, point-to-point bus. USB is a high-level, shared bus. Now which one could possibly be more reliable and less prone to headache-inducing issues? :rolleyes:

How often do you have to hotswap a mouse/keyboard anyway? :p
Click to expand...
QFT.....I'm pretty tickled to plug in my FlashDrive or my Nikon camera and have the computer recognize them, but for KB's and meece, I still like the "old fashoned" PS/2 ports. Hard to throw cold water on something that always works flawlessly.....

Cheers - B.B.S.
 
I refuse to use USB for my keyboard. On a fresh system instal, gl getting a USB keyboard to work in BIOS...
 
If you're using KVM switches, USB sucks. PS2 works far better - it switches instantly, the keyboard never gets "lost", and the mouse never skips.

As for BIOS configuration, it's hit or miss with USB keyboards. Sometimes they just won't work. PS2 always works.

In the past, I've had problems with USB ports suddenly, and permanently, dying. I've never had a dead PS2 port.
 
Joe Fristoe said:
Abit isn't bringing anything back...it just never went away. What's the big deal anyhow? Is it bad to have both? It's not like they said...you can have either ps/2 OR usb....they put both on the boards. I really don't care either way....even though I use all USB.
Click to expand...

That is where you are wrong... they tried to get rid of all legacy ports a few years back on their high end boards. Now they are including them again.

QJ
 
I still use PS/2 exclusively because it's a better suited interface for keyboards and mice period. Higher possible refresh rate, dedicated bus, ALWAYS works no matter what unless the port or device is dead. USB has CPU overhead associated with it as well, not really noticable on new machines, but back in the early USB days you could watch the CPU load go up just thrashing a text document.

The only thing USB has going for it is the hot swap capability, but I don't recall many times ever needing the feature for a kb or mouse.
 
Joe Fristoe said:
Abit isn't bringing anything back...it just never went away. What's the big deal anyhow? Is it bad to have both? It's not like they said...you can have either ps/2 OR usb....they put both on the boards. I really don't care either way....even though I use all USB.
Click to expand...

QwertyJuan said:
That is where you are wrong... they tried to get rid of all legacy ports a few years back on their high end boards. Now they are including them again.

QJ
Click to expand...

how is he wrong when yall are saying the same thing?
 
My work machine is USB because there are no USB ports.

My main system is USB because I like to hotswap the keyboard as it's my only MS Natural keyboard outside of the one I have at work and I don't have the money to buy several more. Plus the PS/2 ports only work intermittanly on it. It annoys me since I can't use my old Logitech trackball on it as it's only PS/2.

The other systems I have here are a mixture of PS/2 and USB depending on what I had lying around at the time.

I generally prefer USB overall. It has been a long time since I've run into a problem with a USB keyboard not working in the BIOS and I've used USB keyboards on some pretty old systems without a problem.

Oh, I have one other system that I don't use PS/2 or USB on since it has neither. AT style keyboard connector and serial port for the mouse. It's an old Pentium system. :D

 
sitheris said:
USB only here.

PS/2 is old and ghey. Nuff said.
Click to expand...

Except when it works... Sure USB works... occasionally.

Why are we reinventing the wheel? PS/2 works great, and doesnt require a lot of overhead... good compatibility with various OS', etc.
 
Is ABit still in business?

Bones said:
If you're using KVM switches, USB sucks. PS2 works far better - it switches instantly, the keyboard never gets "lost", and the mouse never skips.
Click to expand...

I certainly can't match that experience. PS/2 KVMs are flakey. I often lose the keyboard, and switching is hardly instant.

Elledan said:
AT-style and PS/2 is the same thing: http://www.computer-engineering.org/ps2protocol
Click to expand...

Electrically, maybe. But an AT connector is physically different than a PS/2 connector.
 
mikeblas said:
Electrically, maybe. But an AT connector is physically different than a PS/2 connector.
Click to expand...
There's no such thing as an 'PS/2-connector' :)

The AT-style connector is also known as a '5-pin DIN-connector', whereas what people call a PS/2 connector is in fact a 6-pin mini-DIN connector. 'PS/2' refers to the protocol.

Other than that you're correct.
 
spine said:
Whenever I think of USB it's all 'Windows incompatibility' this, 'driver issue' that, doesn't go at full speed, laggy, lame.

PS2 keyboard - plug it in the PS2 port - fucking works.
PS2 Mouse - plug it in the PS2 port - fucking works.


Still have a game port using joystick as well (never want a USB one).

The only USB device I have is a blue tooth dongle that I have to plug in and out every once in a while because windows just seems to have lost it (both the device and it's sanity).
Click to expand...


My thoughts exactly. PS/2 will always work, even if you have to reboot to make it do so. It is so old that it is very stable. Linx, windows, BIOSs, nothing has a problem iwth it. Although most mobos support USB keyboard/mouse (which seems to emulate guess what... PS/2!), it is nice to have instant compatability.

On a funny note, I know someone that uses a keyboard so old it needs an adapter to become PS/2 LOL
 
the awnser to any question starting with "why dont thay..." is almost always Money :p
 
The reason that has been mentioned above many times is the same reason why I only go for PS/2 Devices (Or USB that can be converted to PS/2). My Keyboard is PS/2, and my Mouse is USB through a PS/2 Adapter. I'd probably go for USB if I didn't work on older computers and use a KVM.
 
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