I need to ask this question as it is bugging me. I've searched the net to find no answers so here goes...

What is the advantage, if any of using a USB Keyboard?

I know of disadvantages, like not being able to use them in Win2K safe mode etc..

any comments welcome.

USB keyboards allow you to use more than 1 keyboard at the same time. On my laptop, if I plug in a PS/2 keyboard, I lose the main keyboard. With USB, I can use either the built in keyboard or the external.

FWIW, USB keyboards work here in safe mode on both 98SE and XP boxes.......

I've also heard that PS2 keyboards can cause bottlenecks as it uses the ISA bus everytime a key is pressed whereas a USB Keyboard will use the USB bus, is this the case, and is it much of an advantage?

Not a huge advantage, but it can help some if you don't have a ton of items on your USB bus. Also, if you have hotkeys on your keyboard, I'm guessing communication is a little bit easier and faster over USB. I use the Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro, and it has hotkeys and a USB hub built in. I plug my mouse into there to reduce clutter. I have the keyboard connected to the PS2 port also, though, because of safe mode and the occasional DOS boot for utils. I wouldn't recommend buying a USB ONLY keyboard. Hope this gives you some insight!

I just got a MS Internet USB Pro, and reading through the IntelliType 2.1 help file I found a few advantages of USB:

If you use USB only it says this will free up cpu time and other resources that would be used by the older legacy ps2 port.

Also it says most of the hotkeys wont be as responsive or have auto-repeat if you don't use a USB connection.

There's probably more but I only had a quick look through the info section. :smile:

Well I have a Keyboard with a USB socket and then a USB to PS/2 adaptor, so it's one or the other.

In the BIOS, there's the options for "USB Keyboard support", what exactly does this support does anybody know. I imagine it enables some kind of compatability in certain modes??

i have been using usb keyboards for years now the bonuses i see is the plug and play everything seems smoother also btw i have the logitech cordless freedom optical and trackman wheel and have had no problems at all

the bios setting you will find turns on legacy support this is there so that the keyboard will work in dos mode or so you can select what os you want to load if you run duel boot i have this turned on in my bios if i didnt i found it hard to do or select anything once i got past the bios boot

i hope this helps you out

Turning on USB support in the BIOS lets you unplug the PS2 connection and just use the USB connection.

my usb in my bios says usb support via : bios/os i have to choose bios so i get dos support

my motherboard is an abit be6-II rev1.2

Dont use PS2 converter in ABIT mobo. It would cause keyboard port spoilt. Too many RMAs already.