keyboard failure that doesn't seem to be hardware

[Tim]

On Wed, 2012-10-10 at 19:10 -0700, Joe Zeff wrote:
> I was wondering about the PS2 keyboard, but my memory told me that you
> had to reboot if it came unplugged.  Guess that must be 
> Windows-specific.

As far as I know, yes, it was a Windows problem that some couldn't
handle a keyboard being unplugged/replugged.  Though, I recall that was
a problem on the old large 5-pin DIN connected keyboards, not the PS/2
keyboards.  Any Windows PC that I've hot-plugged the PS/2 keyboard,
worked.  Perhaps there was a moment or two of thumb twiddling as Windows
did the dopey hardware detection thing, but it'd work.

However, the PS/2 keyboard system wasn't designed for hot-plugging, and
it was possible to wreck the input circuitry, if the particular
manufacturer hadn't taken into account that users may try hot-plugging.

On top of that, the plugs are notoriously fragile.  Pins got bent and
broken very easily, when people didn't plug them in straight.  And the
usual trick of rotating the plug around trying to line the pins up with
the socket holes, instead of actually using your eyes, was very
destructive to the plug.

-- 
[tim at localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686

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