• WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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    19 days ago

    does that mean though that if I connect a PS/2 keyboard or mouse to my relatively modern computer (a “gamer” motherboard made ~6 years ago) 's PS/2 port, that it’ll still trigger such an interrupt?

    • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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      19 days ago

      The other commenter is on the right track but the chip controls both USB and PS/2 as well as others;

      In the 90s and 2000s, for x86 machines, slower I/O was handled by a chip called the Southbridge which worked in conjunction with a chip called the Northbridge that handled faster I/O like IDE and PCI. Later these were integrated into a single chip and, as of recent processor generations, into the processor itself.

      AFAIK ghosting and key rollover are issues when using PS/2 but it can offer some milliseconds off latency when used in high cpu games.

      • DeRp_DaWg@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        AFAIK ghosting and key rollover are issues when using PS/2

        I think it’s more of an issue for USB keyboards than PS/2 keyboards.

        • herrvogel@lemmy.world
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          19 days ago

          They are wholly independent from the protocol or interface. Ghosting is an electrical issue that is a result of keyboards being a bunch of switches arranged in a matrix. It makes the keyboard’s controller register an extra keypress in certain conditions. Nothing to do with how the thing communicates with the host computer.

          Key rollover issues can be related to ghosting. The limit for it is once again the keyboard’s design at the circuit level, not its communication protocol.

          Really they’re both related to how cheaply built the keyboard is. That’s the only thing.

    • falcunculus@jlai.lu
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      18 days ago

      My guess would be yes, the whole point of including a legacy port like this would be compatibility. Laptops used (still use?) PS/2 long after desktops moved to USB keyboards because the lack of polling meant improved battery life, so it’d make sense for the hardware support to still be there.