PS2 Mouse and USB Ports

knn2001 · 08-12-2008, 02:48 PM

After days of frustration I have found that simply using a PS2 to USB 'converter' or 'adapter' (the two are different) is not necessarily the solution for using a PS2 mouse with a computer that has only USB ports for mouse and keyboard connection.

Turns out that some PS2 mice work and some don't even if you use a converter that claims to have universal compatibility.

First, a PS2 to USB 'adapter' is a passive wire/connector changing device that simply connects the PS2 pins (data, clock, VCC, etc.) to the appropriate pins on the USB side. So, unless you have a 'PS2' mouse that intelligently detects which kind of port it is being connected to on the computer and changes its interface accordingly, an adapter simply doesn't work.

A 'converter' is supposed to be smarter and literally convert the PS2 signal (not just the electrical level but the 'byte' level also) into a USB data stream. Even so it appears that only some PS2 mice work with converters.

Can someone shed additinal light on this issue? It wil save thousands of users hours of time trying to re-use their PS2 mouse and keyboard with their newer computers.

This may not be a big deal for some who will simply replace their PS2 devices with USB devices. But for some that have multiple vintages of computers and a KVM to deal with, this can be an utter frustration.

08-12-2008, 02:48 PM	#1 (permalink)
knn2001 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Vista	PS2 Mouse and USB Ports After days of frustration I have found that simply using a PS2 to USB 'converter' or 'adapter' (the two are different) is not necessarily the solution for using a PS2 mouse with a computer that has only USB ports for mouse and keyboard connection. Turns out that some PS2 mice work and some don't even if you use a converter that claims to have universal compatibility. First, a PS2 to USB 'adapter' is a passive wire/connector changing device that simply connects the PS2 pins (data, clock, VCC, etc.) to the appropriate pins on the USB side. So, unless you have a 'PS2' mouse that intelligently detects which kind of port it is being connected to on the computer and changes its interface accordingly, an adapter simply doesn't work. A 'converter' is supposed to be smarter and literally convert the PS2 signal (not just the electrical level but the 'byte' level also) into a USB data stream. Even so it appears that only some PS2 mice work with converters. Can someone shed additinal light on this issue? It wil save thousands of users hours of time trying to re-use their PS2 mouse and keyboard with their newer computers. This may not be a big deal for some who will simply replace their PS2 devices with USB devices. But for some that have multiple vintages of computers and a KVM to deal with, this can be an utter frustration.