# Do PS/2 mice work on FreeBSD?



## Swapjim (Oct 27, 2015)

I have this old PS/2 mouse (has ball, no mouse wheel - circa 2000) that I feel sorry to throw away, and want to see if I can put it in good use.

I connected the mouse to the computer that runs FreeBSD, made the necessary changes to configs, and it didn't work. I booted from a Linux live CD and the mouse worked. I connected a USB mouse in FreeBSD and the USB mouse worked.

So I'm a bit confused. Do PS/2 mice work on FreeBSD?

I'm running 10.2-RELEASE with the latest updates and the stock kernel.


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## wblock@ (Oct 27, 2015)

Maybe.  It's been so long since I've tried one that I don't know the requirements.  Might require running moused(8).


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## SirDice (Oct 27, 2015)

PS/2 mice definitely require moused(8). It's also possible (here's where my memory starts to fade) it needs to be connected when the machine is powered on. I can remember some logic that disables the PS/2 ports if there's nothing connected. So it doesn't interfere with the PS/2 emulation of USB mice and keyboards.


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## Swapjim (Oct 27, 2015)

Haha! PS/2 mice are history? In the back of my head I still keep the idea that for keyboards and mice, PS/2 ports are a better idea than USB ports because it's a dedicated port. Am I that ancient in philosophy? 

I'm considering buying a mechanical keyboard and it was a no-brainer that it would be PS/2. Do I need to reconsider? (Will try a PS/2 keyboard in the FreeBSD machine and find that out myself).

A quick web search shows me that there are still PS/2 mice being sold (in Amazon for example) but none of the fancy models. Maybe they still have got stock left?

The mouse was connected when the machine booted. Here is what's in my rc.conf:

```
hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
moused_enable="YES"
allscreens_flags="-m on"
```

At this point, making the PS/2 mouse work is just academic interest!


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 27, 2015)

Most (all?) new computers don't even have a PS2 port anymore but, the last notebook I had with a PS2 port, I used a PS2 mouse without issue. The same was true of my workstation until just two years ago.


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## phoenix (Oct 27, 2015)

PS/2 mice most definitely work on FreeBSD versions up to 10.0 (the latest I have to test with).  All of our KVMs at work are PS/2 (they support USB, but the cables are ridiculously expensive, and the KVMs are flakey when you mix PS/2 and USB).  And all our FreeBSD systems work when connected to the KVMs.  PS/2 mouse and keyboard.

You have to add `moused_enable="YES"` to /etc/rc.conf and you need to start it (`# service moused start`).

After that, you should get a mouse cursor once you move the mouse around (it's hidden until you move the mouse).


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## Oko (Oct 27, 2015)

phoenix said:


> PS/2 mice most definitely work on FreeBSD versions up to 10.0 (the latest I have to test with).  All of our KVMs at work are PS/2 (they support USB, but the cables are ridiculously expensive, and the KVMs are flakey when you mix PS/2 and USB).  And all our FreeBSD systems work when connected to the KVMs.  PS/2 mouse and keyboard.


+1


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## tingo (Oct 28, 2015)

SirDice said:


> It's also possible (here's where my memory starts to fade) it needs to be connected when the machine is powered on.


In general yes. PS/2 isn't hotplug, so devices needs to be connected when the machine is powered on. Plugging in after the machine is powered on might work on some devices, but YMMV.


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## Swapjim (Oct 29, 2015)

I have the mouse plugged in when I boot the machine.

Here are the relative lines I have in /etc/rc.conf:


```
hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"
moused_enable="YES"
allscreens_flags="-m on"
```

I move around the PS/2 mouse and pointer doesn't move. The USB mouse (they are both connected) can move the pointer.

When I type `service moused start` I get:


```
Starting default mousedmoused: unable to open /dev/psm0: No such file or directory
.
```


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## tingo (Oct 29, 2015)

Do a verbose boot and look in dmesg output (`# dmesg | less`) for output related to PS/2 and psm0. Perhaps it fails in some way.


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## allabtzz (Oct 29, 2015)

I have never had any luck mixing PS/2 mouse with USB keyboard, just a thought.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Oct 30, 2015)

Swapjim said:


> I'm considering buying a mechanical keyboard and it was a no-brainer that it would be PS/2. Do I need to reconsider?



I've been a model M stalwart for the best part of 30 years and have lots of them. Up until a year or two ago it was easy to find motherboards with PS2 inputs but now it's a real limitation on your choices. Yes, you can use an adapter (do some research on those first) but a model M (the standard PS2 keyboard) draws a lot of power and I'm not sure newer electronics like it.

Last year I decided to splurge $250 on a new tenkeyless with Cherry greens. The real difference that one needs to consider is N-Key rollover. I didn't see any point in going with PS2 because I simply never need to push down more than 6 keys at once. If you do, then go with PS2. If 6 is enough for you then USB will be easier to deal with going forward. IOW, you may want (if not need) to reconsider.

PS: Roller mice are cool nowadays. I've got a serial one sitting right beside me, but I rarely load a driver except the once a year I need to test something.


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 30, 2015)

I push 10 keys down or more with every compiler error with my fist.


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## SirDice (Oct 30, 2015)

drhowarddrfine said:


> I push 10 keys down or more with every compiler error with my first.


I tend to do that with my head


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 30, 2015)

SirDice Oh, no. What are you, crazy? Never use your head! What are you using FreeBSD v5.0?!! Amateur.


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## SirDice (Oct 30, 2015)

FreeBSD 5.0? Bah! Humbug! All that modernistic stuff.







But anyway, I think modern "mixed" boards, i.e. the ones that still have at least one PS/2 connector, may have some interference with the BIOS. If there is such a setting see if you can turn off "PS/2 emulation" or "Legacy USB mouse". Maybe there are some other settings too. Definitely see if psm(4) is detected. If that's not there moused(8) can't do much.


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## Swapjim (Nov 18, 2015)

Hello all!

The solution was to actually connect a PS2 keyboard. If I want a PS2 mouse than a PS2 keyboard must be present.



OJ said:


> I didn't see any point in going with PS2 because I simply never need to push down more than 6 keys at once. If you do, then go with PS2. If 6 is enough for you then USB will be easier to deal with going forward. IOW, you may want (if not need) to reconsider.



I don't think I have ever pressed 6 buttons at once! But that is a useful info when I'll be buying my next keyboard. Which will probably be a Cherry MX one ;-)



SirDice said:


> FreeBSD 5.0? Bah! Humbug! All that modernistic stuff.



NOOB!











Although, to be fair, I never managed to install it! It's just a pack of CDs from InfoMagic that a friend sold me around 98 and I have never used. I started with Unix-like OSes well into the 2000s. Maybe I'll fire up a VM at some point and try to install it, just to see what Linux users had available back them.

So...

My academic interest subsided so I think I'll stop here, for now. But if you want to keep going, by all means go ahead!


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