Ps/2 Connectors on new Dells?

fletch

In work we just took delivery of 4 new Dell GX280s. To our surprise there was no PS/2 connections to plug in our mice 'n keyboards. They expect you to have USB variants.....is this becoming the standard.....seems ridiculous cause u permanently need a mouse n keyboard connected so whats the point in taking up valuable USB slots...

XT_Dweezil

Got a workmate that just ordered and received a Dell Dimension. Same thing there, no PS/2 port just the USB

tman

thats just plain stupid ffs.
they should start giving away 4 port usb hubs with their pcs if they intend to do out with ps2 alltogether

Stephen

i thought most new PC's (even dells) had at least 6 USB ports anyway?

stuey

that happened to us in work as well and he use NT so no USB!!. I think if u get on to them they said you out an adapter that goes where the pci slots are and plugs into the motherboard

CyberGhost

that's just stoopido, PS/2 is not outdated, it's keeping up with usb mice just fine, why to get rid of it?

this one has it,
http://img.dell.com/images/global/products/dimen/8400_chassis_back_314.jpg

evilhomer

i'm afraid that we had the same thing in work too.
but the fact is PS/2 are outdated and old technology.
an adapter is cheap.
the dell sx280's have 8 usb ports!!!! 6 on the back and 2 on the front!
time to let PS/2 go IMO

Creamy Goodness

well i don't know of any repitable company that has stopped putting PS/2 connecters on their motherboard's, this is a disgree i think.

now i'm all up for usb everything but when you have
usb printer
usb mouse
usb keyboard
usb pen drive
usb bluetooth adapter
usb ext hard drive
usb headsets
usb sound cards

you're gonna need more than eight as time progresses.

astrofool

you will, but you can buy a hub then ? My pc has 12, 4 on the monitor, 8 on pc, and 2 on keyboard (2 used to connect the hubs). More and more boards will come without ps2 ports, just as ide ports are gonna disappear in the next couple years, esp. when cd-rom's change over, as will agp, and the new 24pin power connector will be standard. Serial ports are rarely used now.

Only thing that will likely remain is the floppy drive

RicardoSmith

Bunch of moaning grannies. What on earth do you want PS/2 ports for? Did you not get new mice and keyboards with the new PC's?

Robbo

RicardoSmith wrote:

What on earth do you want PS/2 ports for?

200 Hz sampling for the mouse.

kinkstr

i was doing a FAS course about 12 months ago and we got new dells(cant remember the model) and they had no reset button,
thats dell for ya

Capt'n Midnight

The older Dells had an option in the BIOS for legacy USB so you could use USB keyboard and mouse with NT.

Dr Bolouswki

no agp slots either - what a pile of crap

dell also sell systems with no serial or parrallel ports - buffoons....

hefty_langer

Surely you can daisy-chain your usb mouse to your usb keyboard therefore only taking one one usb port on your pc.
Most modern keyboards come with 2 usb ports on the back so that'll sort your camera/pen drive/bluetooth adaptor (which in practice are rarely gonna ever all be used at the same time.)
You can then leave your printer/extHD/Soundcard plugged in permanently in the 3 other free usb's at the back leaving the two in the front free!
sorted.

RicardoSmith

Cremo wrote:

well i don't know of any repitable company that has stopped putting PS/2 connecters on their motherboard's, this is a disgree i think.
.....

You mean like Abit or Apple? :rolleyes:

Robbo wrote:

200 Hz sampling for the mouse.

You can hack a USB port to be 250-500Hz...Of course being a FPS fanatic you'd know that...

Dr Bolouswki wrote:

no agp slots either - what a pile of crap dell also sell systems with no serial or parrallel ports - buffoons....

Only the corporate cheapo models have no AGP. Anything better than the low end models HAS AGP. Depends how cheap you are I guess. :rolleyes:

These things have 6-8 USB ports. What more do you need?

irldavem

With the way things are going, the rear panel of future computers will be full of usb ports, a couple of firewire ports, a dvi out, atx and 8 channel audio. Nothin else.
Why would you need anything else

stevenmu

AFAIK the PS/2 ports (along with serial and parallel) work over the ISA bus which is seriously out of date and being retired. With PCI-e becoming standard now is a good time to get rid of it. There was then 2 choices, let people use usb keyboards and mice which are already widely and cheaply available or come up with another new standard. Seems like the right choice was made to me.

RicardoSmith

irldavem wrote:

With the way things are going, the rear panel of future computers will be full of usb ports, a couple of firewire ports, a dvi out, atx and 8 channel audio. Nothin else.
Why would you need anything else

Instead of crap multispeaker I'd prefer digital out and decent onboard analog stereo. Anything else is pointless.

skywalker

hefty_langer wrote:

Most modern keyboards come with 2 usb ports on the back

not true of dell machines in fairness.

orig poster: out of interest were there usb keyboard/mouse included with the machine?

irldavem

RicardoSmith wrote:

Instead of crap multispeaker I'd prefer digital out and decent onboard analog stereo. Anything else is pointless.

Whoops. How did I miss that.

A few new motherboards have a SPDIF in and out on the rear panel. Mine takes the place of where the serial port normally is.

fletch

skywalker wrote:

not true of dell machines in fairness.

orig poster: out of interest were there usb keyboard/mouse included with the machine?

Nope....jus got CPUs(+ power cable), no monitors, cables, keyboards etc...
You would imagine they would let you know in advance that there is no PS/2 connections on the computers....now we're going to have waited 4 days since the computers arrived before we can actually use them (awaiting delivery of adaptors)

ChRoMe

Do people here really not know how ps/2 is better than usb for using a connection to your motherboard sheesh :mad:

Edit: Suppose I better tell you way higher sample rate and doesnt use the stupid amount of cpu cycles usb does

RicardoSmith

You might as well rename this thread, Dell are stupid for not mind reading the fact that I'm too lazy to check what the heck I'm buying. :rolleyes:

If you didn't check out the spec beforw buying it... well how dumb is that! If you ordered the bare cpu box then its your fault for no checking you existing peripherals are compatible. If you need PS/2 you'd think you'd have the sense to check that its on the product your ordering. Lots of machines don't have it these days.

Why are you keeping ther PS/2 mice and keyboards anyway. Is it because your too cheap to buy new mice and keyboards for your staff? They cost hardly anything. How cool. A new PC with a grubby 4 yr old keyboard and mouse. Slick.

ChRoMe wrote:

Do people here really not know how ps/2 is better than usb for using a connection to your motherboard sheesh :mad: Edit: Suppose I better tell you way higher sample rate and doesnt use the stupid amount of cpu cycles usb does

PS/2 is only good for gaming. USB is superior for running headless machines and hot swapping peripherals. How is 200 higher than 250 or 500? Whats a stupid amount of cycles exactly?

irldavem

ChRoMe wrote:

Do people here really not know how ps/2 is better than usb for using a connection to your motherboard sheesh :mad:

Edit: Suppose I better tell you way higher sample rate and doesnt use the stupid amount of cpu cycles usb does

Of course we don't know. We're all stupid here and you know everything.

Tell us more oh mighty all knowing one. Quick before we say something stupid again.

kdouglas

RicardoSmith wrote:

How cool. A new PC with a grubby 4 yr old keyboard and mouse. Slick.

We've got a few machines like that in work.

Brand spanking new dells with dual 17" flat panels and incredibly old dell 'quiet key' keyboards which are approx 4-5years old.


Personally i think its just a bit early to start phasing out ps/2 but i guess it's inevitable, same with serial and parallel ports, i've seen several laptops now which have no serial or parallel, but about 6 usb ports, i guess if you specifically need these ports your going to become limited for choice in the next few years.

fletch

RicardoSmith wrote:

You might as well rename this thread, Dell are stupid for not mind reading the fact that I'm too lazy to check what the heck I'm buying. :rolleyes:

If you didn't check out the spec beforw buying it... well how dumb is that! If you ordered the bare cpu box then its your fault for no checking you existing peripherals are compatible. If you need PS/2 you'd think you'd have the sense to check that its on the product your ordering. Lots of machines don't have it these days.

Well I am presuming whoever bought the machines assumed (as I would have done) that there would be PS/2 connections available.
With regard to using old mice n keyboards, they're only about a year old so whats the point in replacing em

RicardoSmith

fletch wrote:

Well I am presuming whoever bought the machines assumed (as I would have done) that there would be PS/2 connections available.
With regard to using old mice n keyboards, they're only about a year old so whats the point in replacing em

Why do you have new keyboard and mice, but no machines for them? You buying those machines bit by bit? Going to buy the monitors next year?

I'm sure someone will release a USB2 mouse that uses a higher sampling rate and lower cpu usage for those hardcore FPS gamers. Probably Razor if they can stay in business this time serving such specific market.

hefty_langer

I suppose you are wondering where the floppy drive is gone too, because you still have a few floppy's lying arouind the office?
Look move on, The PC's are office workstations, You don't need PS/2 mice for gaming, You have those cheap little adaptors to convert PS/2-USB..

fletch

RicardoSmith wrote:

Why do you have new keyboard and mice, but no machines for them? You buying those machines bit by bit? Going to buy the monitors next year?

Who knows....I ain't the purchasing manager....

hefty_langer wrote:

I suppose you are wondering where the floppy drive is gone too, bec....

Well not really cause they have floppy drives...

RicardoSmith

fletch wrote:

Who knows....I ain't the purchasing manager....

Then whats the !&%!£! problem!

fletch

RicardoSmith wrote:

Then whats the !&%!£! problem!

Then whats the problem.....we got new machines on Monday and won't be able to use them til Thursday(hopefully) 'cause there is no PS/2 connectors on the machines....I can't see why they got rid of them 'cause lets face it you always need your mouse n keyboard connected so there is no point in taking up valuable USB slots (I know there is 8 on the new dells we got but still)

RicardoSmith

No you don't always need them connected, you can use a USB hub on another device like a monitor or keyboard. If you use the machine headless, using a remote software, or with wireless mouse and keyboard. Why valuable. You've 8 ports and you can connect up to 127 devices. You still have the old machines? So you can work the same as you've always done.

stevenmu

fletch wrote:

Then whats the problem.....we got new machines on Monday and won't be able to use them til Thursday(hopefully) 'cause there is no PS/2 connectors on the machines....I can't see why they got rid of them 'cause lets face it you always need your mouse n keyboard connected so there is no point in taking up valuable USB slots (I know there is 8 on the new dells we got but still)

With 8 ports I don't think there's much of a chance of them all ever being used at once. If 6 are being used at once, which I think is still pretty unlikely, then there's 2 sitting there free, why not use them as nice standard mouse and keyboard ports, otherwise they're just wasted. I'd hardly describe them as valuable, as if there isn't enough of them.

ChRoMe

A stupid amount is the any amount of cpu power that you are using to run a poxy mouse. As games are one of the most intensive applications you can run on a computer whats good for gaming is good for your machine. And the simple thing that other people talked about in losing 2 usb ports.

What would you do without me?

ChRoMe

fletch

RicardoSmith wrote:

No you don't always need them connected,

I do

Robbo

RicardoSmith wrote:

You can hack a USB port to be 250-500Hz...Of course being a FPS fanatic you'd know that...

Thank you for that choice nugget of computational gold. As for being an "FPS fanatic", you must have me confused with someone else. I haven't played any FPS games in quite some time.

Creamy Goodness

RicardoSmith wrote:

You mean like Abit or Apple? :rolleyes:

well anyone buying either apple or abit is going to research their purchase unlike dell buyers who the majority of whom go,

i need a computer i have x amount of money this is from dell therefore it has to be good.

whereas someone buying apple/abit etc will go,

hmm i wonder is their any reviews online about what i'm thinking of purchasing? then making their decision.

fletch

Cremo wrote:

well anyone buying either apple or abit is going to research their purchase unlike dell buyers who the majority of whom go,

i need a computer i have x amount of money this is from dell therefore it has to be good.

whereas someone buying apple/abit etc will go,

hmm i wonder is their any reviews online about what i'm thinking of purchasing? then making their decision.

God I really do get bored of listening to people slate Dell, the type of people who buy a Dell need a computer & they know sod all about them. They don't want to build their own computer, they just want to take something out of the box, turn it on and it works. And in that regard Dell is perfect

elexes

the keyboards on my 2 main computers are 6 years old 7 in may . personally i dont like anyother keybords ive tried . i bought 5 of these origionally for 15 pounds each . there ps2 and i would hate to have to get rid of them just cause my pc dosnt have ps2 slots .. b4 these i had a at keyboard ... how i miss that one

RicardoSmith

ChRoMe wrote:

A stupid amount is the any amount of cpu power that you are using to run a poxy mouse. As games are one of the most intensive applications you can run on a computer whats good for gaming is good for your machine. And the simple thing that other people talked about in losing 2 usb ports.

What would you do without me?

ChRoMe

What do you think a mouse uses, Magic? Is this a gaming machine we're talking about? No. Then WHY keep dragging it up. :rolleyes:

I dunno have a thread that made some sense? Reduce the amount of techo babble by 25%? You choose.

Robbo wrote:

Thank you for that choice nugget of computational gold. As for being an "FPS fanatic", you must have me confused with someone else. I haven't played any FPS games in quite some time.

Well why bother bringing up the brown nugget of 200hz on the PS/2 port then????? Is this a gaming machine we're talking about? No. :rolleyes:

fletch wrote:

I do

Then don't unplug it ??? Being able to hotplug is great feature. Regardless if you've never needed it thus far. Many do. Great for buisness use, and these machines were bought for work.

Cremo wrote:

well anyone buying either apple or abit is going to research their purchase unlike dell buyers...

Great theory :rolleyes: what about Apple and Abit purchasers who also buy Dells?

elexes wrote:

the keyboards on my 2 main computers are 6 years old 7 in may . personally i dont like anyother keybords ive tried . i bought 5 of these origionally for 15 pounds each . there ps2 and i would hate to have to get rid of them just cause my pc dosnt have ps2 slots .. b4 these i had a at keyboard ... how i miss that one

You don't have to get rid of them you can get adapters. Thats the great thing about USB almost everything can be connected it to it. Hence the "Universal" bit in the name. That why USB ports are more useful than PS/2 ports.

Peteee

Good riddance tbh

Hopefully we can get rid of the big parallell/serial and game ports too.

USB standard for all!

Dr Bolouswki

Hate to drag up the past, but I feel my good name has been sullied...

[PHP]no agp slots either - what a pile of crap

dell also sell systems with no serial or parrallel ports - buffoons....[/PHP]

I was being sarcastic, I'm quite in agreement with you ricardo...

RicardoSmith

Dr Bolouswki wrote:

Hate to drag up the past, but I feel my good name has been sullied...

[PHP]no agp slots either - what a pile of crap

dell also sell systems with no serial or parrallel ports - buffoons....[/PHP]

I was being sarcastic, I'm quite in agreement with you ricardo...

Its hard to know in this thread LOL...

zilog_jones

I also think that this change to USB is good. The ISA bus (which is what PS/2, parallel and serial ports run on) is kinda 25 year old technology now, and it's just making modern motherboards more expensive and inefficient. And as RicardoSmith said there's adapters for pretty much everything to be plugged into USB ports, so what's the problem?

PS/2 ports have been around since the IBM PS/2 series of PCs came out in 1987. It's mank old technology and I don't see why people are so upset by some new PCs not having these ports. I suppose you want your new PCs to have 5.25" floppy drives, ISA slots, and AT keyboard DIN sockets too?

Robbo

RicardoSmith wrote:

Well why bother bringing up the brown nugget of 200hz on the PS/2 port then????? Is this a gaming machine we're talking about? No. :rolleyes:

In response to your initial question?

RicardoSmith

Robbo wrote:

In response to your initial question?

What?

fletch

So the adaptors arrived this morning...everything plugged in as it should be....booted up the machine....presented with a screen saying click any key to accept Dell's EULA....click any key.....nothing.
(USB is software controlled AFAIK) so off I go, nick a USB keyboard for a few mins (thinkin maybe sumfin wrong with the adaptor), plug in USB keyboard, boot her up, click any key, register etc.....Windows loads so I'm all set up.
One problem, when I go back to using my PS/2 keyboard with USB adaptor, Windows will not recognise either the keyboard or mouse......
Anybody know what's wrong?

fletch

Anybody?

po0k

You will always need serial ports.

Always.

RicardoSmith

Maybe theres a bios setting, or the adapter doesn't work....