Annoyed at computer ports

"facw" (facw) 01/08/2018 at 19:05 • Filed to: Computers, PS2, OH JOY ANOTHER RANT POST ABOUT SOMETHING NOBODY REALLY CARES ABOUT

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Been looking at building a new computer, and am astounded that in 2018, someone would put not just one, but two PS/2 ports? I recognize that there are a few specialized applications that benefit from a PS/2 keyboard port, but does it really need to be included on every single motherboard? The above motherboard is what I’m most likely to buy, but the amount of questionable choices in impressive (even if most of them are quite standard).

In addition to the PS/2 ports, I’d rather not have so many obsolete video ports taking up space (better here than on Ryzen boards though, since Ryzen can’t even drive a display, yet almost every board includes the same combo of VGA, DVI, and HDMI).

I’m also weirded out by the two shades of blue on the USB (some systems use this to distinguish between different flavors of USB 3, but these are all 3.1 Gen 1, and except the one lonely USB 2 port.

The board itself is a Micro ATX form factor, which makes you wonder why (again, in 2018) they’d devote precious and limited space to headers for parallel and serial ports (again, I know people still use serial ports for some things, but that is so rare, it’s weird for it to be pretty much every motherboard). I’d love to have that space go to a couple more USB headers (even USB 2) instead.

Anyway, I’m annoyed, and wanted to share. While I’m at it, cases kind of suck when it comes to ports as well. Very few seem to have USB type-C ports, and many still lack USB 3.1, or for some think people still want USB 2 ports on the front of the machine. I’d be looking at a Fractal Design Define Mini C which hits you with two USB 3.0 ports, when what you’d really like is two 3.1 type A’s, and two 3.1 type C’s.

Nibby > facw 01/08/2018 at 19:49

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PS/2 MASTER RACE

StudyStudyStudy > facw 01/08/2018 at 19:51

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...I think I built this same setup 2 weeks ago. Same case and I believe same board. I didn’t even notice the ports that came with the board since I run everything off the graphics card.

On second thought I think my board might have a hybrid ps2 port so this might be a different one, but it is an asrock micro atx.

facw > Nibby 01/08/2018 at 19:51

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Take your Model M and go plug it into a Pentium 1 where it belongs!

Nibby > facw 01/08/2018 at 19:52

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NO!

facw > StudyStudyStudy 01/08/2018 at 19:58

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This is ASRock’s Z370 Micro ATX board, which is the only one they make: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157793

They do of course make others for other chips, including ones for 7th-gen Intel, and for Ryzen that have the single split PS/2 port (that’s much more common in general, but ASRock seems to like the dedicated ports, as if anyone is going to be using a PS/2 mouse (maybe there’s someone who really loves their 20 year old trackball?)

facw > Nibby 01/08/2018 at 19:59

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Well, I guess that’s fine too, given that every motherboard has a port for you.

Nibby > facw 01/08/2018 at 20:04

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yay

404 - User No Longer Available > Nibby 01/08/2018 at 20:11

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My Cherry MX Brown actually supports PS/2 signalling but I can’t find a USB to PS/2 Adapter that doesn’t break after a few months...

StudyStudyStudy > facw 01/08/2018 at 20:21

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Oops looking at the build list, mine is a Z370M-ITX/ac so a mini ATX not a micro.

Yea, I have a PS2 keyboard, but can’t imagine anyone needing an old trackball mouse. Granted I did order a new computer with several DB9 com ports specifically to keep some old out of date equipment happily communicating.

facw > StudyStudyStudy 01/08/2018 at 20:26

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Yeah, I don’t want to go ITX because I’d like to keep 4 RAM slots. Otherwise, I don’t think there’s much to recommend uATX over ITX. Full ATX seems like massive overkill, the last time I had more than one card in my primary system was 2009, and even that was just having a pair of graphics cards, which I could do on uATX, if it made any sense. Would have to go back much farther for me to have a soundcard or something (I do have a sound card, and a tv tuner, as well as a graphics card in my HTPC, but that is uATX, and everything fits fine).

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > facw 01/08/2018 at 20:27

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See, I was really surprised when I found out that the GT 1030 I got for my stepfather’s PC had no VGA ports. Finally! I thought. No more VGA!

But then I forgot about the fact that motherboard manufacturers still include VGA ports, when they could save more by not running the traces for VGA, and instead running them for DVI and including a DVI to VGA adapter like my GTX 960 did.

I can tell you the only reason why PS/2 ports exist is because of people who think that communication latency matters for their mice. PS/2 died a long time ago after USB mice rolled out en masse.

All it would take is for monitor manufacturers to stop manufacturing monitors with VGA inputs full stop and move to DVI or newer standards - DisplayPort, anyone?

Boxer_4 > Nibby 01/08/2018 at 20:29

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Yes! What I’m typing this on right now:

Nibby > Boxer_4 01/08/2018 at 20:34

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I’m typing on a PS/2 Unicomp

facw > winterlegacy, here 'till the end 01/08/2018 at 20:35

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I think VGA may finally be dying. It’s disappearing from laptops despite the problem of old projectors that don’t support digital. And it’s fallen out of favor on video cards as well. It’s mostly just these on-board desktop graphics that seem to like to stick with it. Would be much nicer to just replace it with display port. Just let those few people clinging to an old Trinitron or whatever buy the $12 VGA adapter.

facw > Boxer_4 01/08/2018 at 20:40

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My previous employer bought KeyTronics (though I think ours were USB?) I loathed them, and quickly grabbed some random Dell keyboard (I think made by Logitech). In addition to feeling better, I no longer had to put up with that stupid huge Enter key.

Anyway, different things for different people I guess, though I suspect your keyboard would work just as well as a USB model.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > facw 01/08/2018 at 20:43

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As I said, the problem’s with the monitor manufacturers. VGA is a cheap go-to for them. Many commercially available monitors at Walmart cheap price ranges are VGA only. As such, VGA’s existence is essentially perpetuated by said monitors.

To really kill off VGA once and for all, monitor manufacturers would have to stop making VGA ports on their monitors and move to DVI, HDMI, or DisplayPort. HDMI would probably be the next cheapest option, given DVI never really caught on.

StudyStudyStudy > facw 01/08/2018 at 20:48

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Yea I think I have 16gb of ram and I do a little bit of 3d design and some video editing, and haven’t taxed much of anything. So scaling down was a better trade off. The fractal case is kind of nice. The blue LED for the power is kind of bright though, I have it taped off when I sleep. I do agree some more USB-C ports would be neat, but given that my only device at the moment that uses a USB-C is my gopro I haven’t been too inconvenienced, granted if it is the future I might be eating my words in a couple years.

for Michigan > facw 01/08/2018 at 20:50

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Just bought that board to upgrade my desktop. I also thought the PS/2 ports and the multicolor USB ports were odd. The video ports kinda make sense on an Intel board given integrated graphics.

facw > winterlegacy, here 'till the end 01/08/2018 at 21:03

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I believe Displayport is cheaper than HDMI because there are no royalties associated with it. Granted it’s not expensive, $10k a year plus $0.15 per device ($0.05 if you display the HDMI logo), but at the razor-thin margins some of these manufactures operate, it might make a difference. I think Displayport is also cheaper in the video card as it doesn’t require a dedicated clock like HDMI and DVI do (don’t remember the specifics). Still, HDMI is clearly the most popular, while Displayport is not used much outside of good computer monitors, and DVI’s bulk and lack of audio support have made it pretty undesirable (granted, all my displays are DVI, but they are also all over a decade old).

BaconSandwich is tasty. > facw 01/08/2018 at 21:36

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I’ve been out of the loop for a while. Is PCI-Express x16 still the fastest port for a video card?

facw > BaconSandwich is tasty. 01/08/2018 at 21:54

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Yes and no. PCIe x16 is still the fast interface, but there are multiple versions (backwards compatible) of the PCIe interface. So pretty much all current systems ship with PCIe 3.0, which is faster than earlier versions (theoretically 8 times the bandwidth of 1.0, though real world gains are usually much smaller). 3.0 has been around for a while though. There are newer standards, (up to 5.0), but they haven’t been integrated into anyone’s stuff yet as far as I know.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > facw 01/08/2018 at 22:12

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The only reason I use DVI is because I have to support a VGA monitor. That is it.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > facw 01/08/2018 at 22:12

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Good to know. My current rig is 8 years old now. I’m not sure how much longer it’ll last, so it’s good to be aware of what is out there.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > facw 01/08/2018 at 22:59

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Can these motherboards flash the ROM over the serial header? That would be one reason for it. We still use serial devices at work and haven’t been had any issues with USB to serial dongles in years so I doubt people are really wiring them to DB9 ports.

The port panel is probably some cheap part from a third-party vendor that are common to a ton of microATX boards from different vendors to save cost.

Anyway yes give us more USB ports please motherboard vendors!! 2 USB-C ports should be mandatory by now. Yes we can use hubs, but some things we don’t want on a hub. Also, would it kill these case makes to give us something with more than 4 ports on the front? My current workstation has just 9 USB ports. I’ve added a 4 port hub and my monitor has a 2 port hub so that’s 13 total which is simply not enough in 2018. I’m getting really sick of constantly plugging and unplugging stuff. I could add another hub but that’s another USB cable and power cable making a mess under my desk. I need more ports!

Nibbles > facw 01/08/2018 at 23:18

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PS/2 allows for more simultaneous strokes than USB. Can be the difference between life and death in some games

facw > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 01/09/2018 at 00:27

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No idea what the serial port’s capabilities are on these things.

I agree about the more ports thing. I currently have plugged into my desktop:

Monitor USB hub (I actually have these on both my screens, but only one is plugged in because the ports on the other one face down in portrait mode)

Mini-USB cable (charging/dashcam)

Micro-USB cable (charging)

USB Keyboard (not really required, I was having some issues with my BT keyboard not being detected when Windows booted, but that was fixed with a new adapter)

External Drive

External Drive

External Drive (I could unplug two of these, last one does backups)

Bluetooth adapter

Wireless mouse receiver

Xbox 360 controller

Webcam

Printer

Flash drive

Joystick

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > facw 01/09/2018 at 00:42

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I have a similar port clusterfuck. I recently added another HD inside the PC to do backups. Networked printers help free a port too. Wired KB/mouse isn’t helping but like you my system doesn’t like detecting wireless ones. My biggest issue is CodeMeter keys and external drives. I usually don’t need them all plugged in at once but it’s a pain to sway them around. A few years ago I’d say who needs 10+ USB ports? But now it’s pretty common.

facw > Nibbles 01/09/2018 at 00:43

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The standard USB HID setup allows up to 6 simultaneous (non-modifier) key strokes. PS/2 can of course do more (though if your game requires that many, I’d say it doing something wrong). Regardless there are USB keyboards that use workarounds to avoid the 6-key limit.

facw > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com 01/09/2018 at 00:48

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I’ve been a heavy user of ports for a long time. In fact, the oldest component in my computer is a 4-port USB 2 bracket that came with a motherboard I bought in early 2004:

Nibbles > facw 01/09/2018 at 07:45

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Workaround or not, he was wondering why PS/2 so I gave reason