PS2 connectors not compatible with "Live" operation

[Ed Zborower]

Have Kubuntu v.7.04 to try Live. Live loaded all the way to the desktop; no activity from the PS2-connected keyboard or trackball. Trackball has adaptor on the end to make it PS2 usable. Removed adaptor and plugged in the native USB connector and rebooted Live CD. Trackball worked fine but keyboard remained lifeless. Suggests that if I had a USB keyboard it would work. Code to recognize PS2-connected devices (?) faulty or accidentally left out?
Ed

[Gabriel Ambuehl (gabriel-ambuehl)]

I do not think this is even possible. In any case, I have never seen any machine on any OS recognize PS/2 devices that were not attached during boot.

[Ed Zborower (ezborower)]

Hi-
My original comment in November 2007 had nothing to do with plugging in a PS2 device after booting.

However, sometime later I purchased a USB/PS2 "Y" connector; that allowed plugging in two PS2 devices (keyboard and trackball) into one USB port. Kubuntu v.7.04 had no trouble recognizing both devices!
Therefore, my original comment still stands; that version of Kubuntu does not recognize PS2 keyboards and pointing devices. I cannot say if it would have had I installed Kubuntu.

Regarding pointing devices, I did load Xandros, versions 3 and 4 which worked O.K. as far as standard pointing devices. However, it has never been able to recognize a serial Alps Glidepoint device. Completely foreign to it! Guess all Linux versions have their peculiar blindspots.
Ed

[Gabriel Ambuehl (gabriel-ambuehl)]

I'm sorry I misinterpreted the report then. I know that PS/2 worked in Feisty-Live when I installed that on my desktop (have since gone to Gutsy though) because I don't have a USB keyboard nearby... Do you know if Kubuntu recognized the PS/2 devices during boot sequence (i.e. before KDM comes up)? If not, this probably is a kernel bug, if so, there's something wrong with X.org...

[Ed Zborower (ezborower)]

Hi Gabriel-
No need to apologize; e-mail and forums are not the clearest way of communicating.

Quote: "Do you know if Kubuntu recognized the PS/2 devices during boot sequence (i.e. before KDM comes up)?"

If I am remembering correctly, when they were plugged in as PS2 devices, I was able to use the keyboard to press "enter" in order to tell the LiveCD to proceed with booting; I think I lost all contact via keyboard after that. The Live CD took me all the way to the Kubuntu desktop but by then all keyboard and trackball contact was gone.
Hope that helps.

You mentione xorg; under Xandros I have been trying to modify xorg.conf so it would correct xandros inability to see a serial Alps Glidepoint device. I made recommended changes to the Input devices section but xandros did not like my meddling and failed to start on the next boot. Had to use the CD restore section to get it back to find it had returned xorg.conf to its original mistakes. Oh, well, cannot have everything.
Ciao!

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Need to check for usb legacy support in bios.