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New Product: KeyWiz-QD™ - GroovyGameGear
shorthair:
I've never had trouble with USB devices...I take that back...in some cases, some ports don't seem to like something like an external hard drive...but they always recognise the device in some way. PS/2's, though, I thought it was standard that they just wouldn't recognise if you plugged them in after boot. That's always been my experience. No troubles, either.
RandyT:
--- Quote from: shorthair on May 25, 2007, 03:21:43 pm ---PS/2's, though, I thought it was standard that they just wouldn't recognise if you plugged them in after boot. That's always been my experience. No troubles, either.
--- End quote ---
Plugging in after boot, and hot-swapping are two different issues. If you plug in after boot, especially with post 98SE OS's, there's a good chance that the system will not have loaded any drivers to support the devices. However, if a standard 101-key keyboard driver was loaded as a result of the keyboard being plugged in at boot time, then swapping another standard keyboard device after boot will have a much higher likelihood of success.
I have to say here, however, that this subject really doesn't apply to the product that is the topic of this thread. This unit swaps controls via the DB-25 connections, not the PS/2 port. There is no pass-through on this unit as it was designed to work alongside of a system with a USB keyboard attached, or in the case of a dedicated cabinet, by remote management. USB keyboards are very cheap nowadays and a better solution than bogging down and adding expense to your input controller with a pass-through.
But if you want to hot swap it, and your system is PII class or better, then give it a shot. If it works on your system, then great. If not, then leave it attached, build your panel around the DB-25 connectors and use a USB keyboard.
RandyT
Zebidee:
I once fried an ipac hot-swapping from PS2, and my brother once fried his mainboard doing it with a keyboard.
You can do it a thousand times with no problem. It that 1001-th time that is the killer.
RandyT:
--- Quote from: Zebidee on May 26, 2007, 09:29:14 am ---I once fried an ipac hot-swapping from PS2.....
--- End quote ---
Are you sure it died from the swap and not a static discharge to one of the pins in the connector when you picked it up? That's a much more likely cause in that scenario. The lines going to the chip are the exact same ones used in USB mode, and it's only a different part of the firmware that gets executed.
--- Quote ---You can do it a thousand times with no problem. It that 1001-th time that is the killer.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, kind of like driving to work, walking down a public street at night, or playing contact sports. :)
FWIW, I have popped a keyboard fuse in my past as well. But it was a P1 class Cyrix system, a big steel IBM clicky keyboard, it was a long time ago, and it pretty much did it on the second time I tried it. I also fixed it in about 15 minutes using the method described above.
This discussion is nearing being tantamount to people not going swimming in a pond, because their grandfather did when he was 4 and contracted polio from it. The early implementations were specced at providing up to 100ma through the port, so you can bet that the fuse they used was just a fraction over that (no hot-plug, so no significant overrating to account for current surges on the 5v line) The last PS/2 port fuse I looked at, which was on my "bottom of the barrel", 6+ year old emachines motherboard, was a self-resetting type rated at 3amps! That's 30 times more current than the port was originally specified to handle, and it doesn't fry. It acts like a thermal switch that opens when it gets hot and closes automatically when it cools off. The only real challenge is knowing just when they started building them better, so some caution may still be in order on old motherboards.
And just for fun, I have to share a moment of my own stupidity. I have a system in front of me that I develop on that has some cheap, side panel USB ports. I had the plug turned around the wrong way (I was working blind from the other side of the machine) and I attempted to put it in the socket. It didn't go, but it allowed enough of it to go in to short the connections. I now have two dead USB connections on that machine. Theoretically, that probably shouldn't have happened, but individual implementations will vary and therefore always allow for the occasional anomaly.
RandyT
Zebidee:
--- Quote from: RandyT on May 26, 2007, 12:06:06 pm ---
--- Quote from: Zebidee on May 26, 2007, 09:29:14 am ---I once fried an ipac hot-swapping from PS2.....
--- End quote ---
Are you sure it died from the swap and not a static discharge to one of the pins in the connector when you picked it up?
--- End quote ---
Well, only [insert deity of your choice] knows for sure. :dunno But I am careful with my equipment, so you shouldn't be quick to jump to that conclusion. I noticed that my IPAC was dead right after I had hot-swapped it from PS2. I had hotswapped the same IPAC on USB a zillion times before (well, maybe not that many, but a lot). So go figure.
Regarding your discussion about mainboards, it was about 10 years ago that my bro blew his hotswapping a PS2 keyboard. So it was an older type.
I don't like to talk in certainties, but I thnk the prudent person should turn off the PC before plugging in a PS2 again. I mean, you can theorise about it if you like but I look at it like this: If if barks, has fur, and enjoys playing fetch with balls then it is fair to assume that it is a dog.
But it could still turn out to be a seal ....
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