"T.C. Hollingsworth" <tchollingsworth(a)gmail.com> writes:
On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 9:18 AM, lee <lee(a)yun.yagibdah.de>
wrote:
> what would be the device for a Kensington Slimblade which is connected
> to a PS/2 port with an USB-->PS/2 adapter? The device doesn`t seem to
> appear anywhere when connected like that.
It should appear like any other PS/2 mouse. If it does not appear,
your mouse does not support the PS/2 protocol.
Most USB-to-PS/2 adapters are passive converters, and require the
device itself to speak the PS/2 protocol. Many keyboards and mice
were (and some still are) designed to speak both the PS/2 and USB HID
protocols so they can be used with such passive converters. Most new
ones (e.g. this decade) only speak USB.
If you really must use the PS/2 port, they do make _active_ adapters
that work with any sort of device.
Oh, ok, that`s probably the problem I have! I need a different adapter
...
I knew there are "active" adapters but I didn`t find out what that
actually means and thought it might have to do with supplying power to
the device.
I don`t /have/ to use PS/2, but I /want/ to use PS/2. USB devices must
be polled, which makes them slow. Using USB for this has only
disadvantages, with the only exception that the devices can be
hotplugged.
> And what are virtual keyboards for, and why do I supposedly have
two
> power buttons?
The XTEST devices allow for the X server to be tested/used without
real hardware:
http://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/libXtst/xtestlib.html
(While the interface may have been built for testing purposes, I
wouldn't be surprised if it is used for other reasons these days, like
virtual desktop software.)
Some software like vnc seems to require it ... I`ll have to see what
happens what I disable all the testing extensions; there doesn`t seem to
be an easy way to disable only XTEST.
Power buttons are implemented as "keyboards" because X has
no better
way to let your desktop environment know you've pressed it, seeing as
how it dates back to the days where most computers had actual switches
that really cut power immediately.
As for why you have two, some motherboards have two plugs for them, or
a special little internal power buttons on the motherboards
themselves, or are just poorly engineered and say they have two when
they really have one. :-)
Ah, yes, my board has a power button on it. I never use that and forgot
about it ...
Thank you for all your explanations, that was really helpful! :)
--
Fedora release 20 (Heisenbug)