USB or PS2 Mouse?

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jimbo

Is there any advantage for a USB connection over the standard PS/2
connection for a mouse? Mine has the USB connection and an adapter
that converts it to PS/2.

Thanks, jimbo
 
JAD said:
more than enough USB ports? then use the USB.
Click to expand...

I use the wonderful Evoluent Vertical Mouse, and the programmable
buttons aren't all useable except in USB mode.

Normally, for a basic mouse, I prefer to use the ps/2 port, because that
port has no other function, and I don't like to waste it. Plus, ps/2
is more universally compatible. Some distros of Linux don't like USB
devices, and you need ps/2 KB and mouse just to get through setup.

Plus, I like to free up a USB port if I can.
 
well its just because....the only reason I would have any thought about what
to use is if I only have few USB ports OR only 2.0 ports and the mouse would
just waste that high speed interface. Other than that I see no reason to use
the PS2. (really no difference, except it seems that there is a wider
variety of features for USB mice. A good amount come with the adapter).
 
jimbo said:
Is there any advantage for a USB connection over the standard PS/2
connection for a mouse? Mine has the USB connection and an adapter
that converts it to PS/2.
Click to expand...

Plug it into a USB port. If that does it work, if you have errors
that might be caused by that, put the adapter on it and plug it into
a PS/2 part.

There probably are no other concerns.
 
jimbo said:
Is there any advantage for a USB connection over the standard PS/2
connection for a mouse? Mine has the USB connection and an adapter that
converts it to PS/2.

Thanks, jimbo
Click to expand...

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I was fooling around with a Debian
3.0 r5 installation and the USB mouse wouldn't work. I had a devil of
a time getting Debian installed. I couldn't get X Window to work. Then
on one try, X Window did work but the mouse didn't. Then I could never
get X Window to work again. So I changed to the PS/2 mouse and made a
change to the video driver and to which kernel to install and finally
got a working installation of Debian.

Then I started to wonder about what I might be giving up on other OSs
by using the PS/2 port.

Thanks again, jimbo
 
jimbo said:
Thanks for the thoughtful replies. I was fooling around with a Debian
3.0 r5 installation and the USB mouse wouldn't work.
Click to expand...

Did you have usb support enabled in the BIOS?
I had a devil of a
time getting Debian installed. I couldn't get X Window to work. Then on
one try, X Window did work but the mouse didn't. Then I could never get
X Window to work again. So I changed to the PS/2 mouse and made a change
to the video driver and to which kernel to install and finally got a
working installation of Debian.

Then I started to wonder about what I might be giving up on other OSs by
using the PS/2 port.

Thanks again, jimbo
Click to expand...


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Is there any advantage for a USB connection over the standard PS/2
connection for a mouse? Mine has the USB connection and an adapter
that converts it to PS/2.

Thanks, jimbo
Click to expand...

For older O/S users like win95/98 a USB mouse won't usually work in
dos or Safemode unless the mother board supports legacy dos mode and
the correct drivers are installed and is usually hit-and-miss.This is
a disadvantage when trouble shooting.

USB mice by default have a better refresh rate usually above 100Hz
and up to 200Hz so may be a bit smoother and don't require a specific
IRQ although this is less of an issue these days with the advent of
APIC
http://www.buildorbuy.org/irqmap.html
on the newer O/S.

HTH :)
 
Is there any advantage for a USB connection over the standard PS/2
connection for a mouse? Mine has the USB connection and an adapter
that converts it to PS/2.

Thanks, jimbo
Click to expand...

I've always found the mouse more responsive when connected to USB
compared to PS/2.
 
jimbo said:
Is there any advantage for a USB connection over the standard PS/2
connection for a mouse? Mine has the USB connection and an adapter that
converts it to PS/2.
Click to expand...

I've found that a mouse is more responsive when plugged into the PS/2
port. The PS/2 port can be clocked up to 200Hz for silky smooth sampling.

Perhaps a recent USB mouse has some improvements to make this a
non-issue, but this was surely the case with my MX500 and GA-7DXR+
motherboard.
 
I've found that a mouse is more responsive when plugged into the PS/2
port. The PS/2 port can be clocked up to 200Hz for silky smooth sampling.
Click to expand...

OK, using third party software you can do that but by default the
sampling rate of a USB mouse is 125 and a PS/2 port is something like
40. But I just read here that cpu usage is higher for USB mouse
compared to PS/2 so if you want to save cpu cycles maybe PS/2 is
better. I read that here.
http://www.devhardware.com/forums/archive/t-31622/USB-or-PS2
 
Fisher said:
OK, using third party software you can do that but by default the
sampling rate of a USB mouse is 125 and a PS/2 port is something like
40. But I just read here that cpu usage is higher for USB mouse
compared to PS/2 so if you want to save cpu cycles maybe PS/2 is
better. I read that here.
http://www.devhardware.com/forums/archive/t-31622/USB-or-PS2
Click to expand...


Not 3rd party software, but the Logitech drivers that come with the
mouse in my case. Lower CPU usage and higher sample rate with PS2...
sounds like a winner to me. :)
 
Is there any advantage for a USB connection over the standard PS/2
connection for a mouse? Mine has the USB connection and an adapter
that converts it to PS/2.

Thanks, jimbo
Click to expand...

There is NO advantage at all - though most mice these days have USB connectors
standard, with PS2 connectors 2ndary.

There *IS* one advantage to keeping the PS2 connector in place - and that is
that the USB port stays 100% open for things that need it.

Ubergamers may claim that the PS/2s lower sampling rate can cause a player to
lose a nanosecond here or there when their "lives" are at stake. If you *are*
that hyper, by all means, devote an entire USB 2 block controller with a PCI-EX
pipe of its own to a super-slock micro-mini-shift-sensitive control board, ditto
keyboard, gamepad and joystick.

I'd prefer to have a life, and personally use only Unicomp keyboards (made from
the same molds and parts used to make IBM's classic ergometric keuboards of the
first machines called "PS/2" - designed after the Selectric typewriter, and a
logitec Thumb Trackball, which is currently one of seven devices in my USB2
controller, just because it's easier to wire it that way! (for flight sims I
even have an old Logitech joystick wired to the same 7-way port under a layer of
dust, I thin -thud, found it-k
 
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