On May 18, 2005, at 11:41 PM, Gabriel Sechan wrote:
Windows can handle the situation and recover.
Not if the PS/2 keyboard controller chip locks up. In fact, I have *fried* 3 PS/2 keyboard controller chips by hot plugging. Really, the PS/2 spec is not meant for this (although modern chipsets (last 2-3 years) are *much* better about this).
I really don't like USB mice. Three reasons- first its overkill.
No, it's not. Reliable hot plugging requires overhead. It requires attach/detach events. It requires dynamic configuration.
Given that you *want* hot plugging on your mouse/keyboard, these things come along for the ride.
Second, the USB protocol takes extra processor cycles.
I'm not sure I buy that relative to servicing a PS/2 port. Many of the modern Southbridge chips have fairly intelligent handling of the USB HID protocol.
Third, if the USB chip fries on the motherboard, can you say single point of failure?
It's worse for PS/2. That really is a *single* point of failure. Most motherboards won't even boot if the PS/2 controller chip is fried. Thus the legions of jokes about "Keyboard error. Press <F2> to continue.".
However, on modern machines, this is a moot point. Both the PS/2 ports and the USB ports are normally part of the same Southbridge.
You did, however, fail to mention the normal reason why nobody uses USB mice/keyboards. The blasted BIOS often hacks up a hairball when there is no PS/2 keyboard connected; this has gotten better in the last couple years though.
-a
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