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PS/2 was pretty terrible. It required a special port which couldn't be used for anything else, taking up extra space and making plugging your device in less con
by makomk 9y ago
PS/2 was pretty terrible. It required a special port which couldn't be used for anything else, taking up extra space and making plugging your device in less convenient. It didn't officially support hotplug. The standard PS/2 mouse protocol only supported 3 buttons and two axes - there was a nasty hack on top of that to add a scroll wheel and another two buttons, anything beyond that is completely proprietary. It's so convenient by comparison to be able to plug a keyboard or mouse into whichever USB port is easiest and have it just work without special drivers.
- falcolas 9y agoPS/2 supports n-key rollover for keyboards; something you need custom and proprietary drivers to do with USB. They also don't have to deal with shared bus interrupts, which can cause imprecise keyboard and mouse movements. I use USB too, but PS/2 has its pluses.
- flukus 9y agoThanks, the scroll wheel is a good reason, but I don't find the others compelling. > It required a special port which couldn't be used for anything else, taking up extra space and making plugging your device in less convenient. I don't find that a negative, the mouse is always connected and I've never once thought "I wish I could unplug the mouse so I can plug in the printer and charge my phone". > It's so convenient by comparison to be able to plug a keyboard or mouse into whichever USB port is easiest and have it just work without special drivers. For most people with a standard mouse and keyboard this was never an issue (except for the scroll wheel one you mentioned). For non-standard ones, it still has to install a driver doesn't it? I thought windows just installed it transparently.