My understanding is because of enthusiast and competitive gamers and the market they bring to the computer industry. The PS/2 port offers the least delay/latency and most flexibility when it comes to n-key rollover support. This is why on some of the most advanced and costly "gamer" motherboards you'll still see a PS/2 port included.
Something Random
- Thread starter ddrueding
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ddrueding
Fixture
Just checked and none of my recent machines have PS/2 ports, but I use them a lot in POS (cash register) systems as many credit card readers still use them.
Lots of higher end MECHANICAL keyboards are still available in PS/2 format. And since they are high-end, quality, and expensive they are usually carried over between builds. And unless you are sitting on your couch or laying on your bed your keyboard should be wired.
Once you go mechanical, you never go back.
This. Even the ... "this USB port works without drivers at boot-up" don't always work, but PS/2 ports are always seen by the BIOS.
Again this. Really no need for a keyboard to be USB AFAICT.
I stopped using PS/2 years ago due to limited support in digital KVM switches. Are there any KVM switches that have both PS/2, USB, and Display Port or HDMI?
Newtun
Storage is nice, especially if it doesn't rotate
OTOH, I've had a Zonet 4-way KVM switch that has worked great for years. Yes, it's ancient history - PS2/VGA, but it has supported the various PCs (and laptop docking stations) over time just fine. I got a good PS2/USB converter, Belkin F5U119VE1, that works well with my newest PC on the KVM. Still love my PS2 IBM KB-3923 and ALPS Glidepoint trackpad.
sedrosken
Florida Man
Hm. Cool.
I'm really looking at an HP Stream 7 tablet -- the touch stuff is kinda meh to me but it's cheap and really portable. And it runs full Windows. And it has a quad-core (!) Atom. Keyboard cover and bluetooth mouse is cheap too. Altogether, I'm looking at ~$127 for the whole thing, KB/M included and all new after shipping. The worst parts are the battery life (~5 hours, still better than every last laptop I have ever had) and only having 1GB RAM. I actually have a little more money to my name than it costs, and I've been hurting for a laptop since I sold off the Satellite. I'm not really going to ask too much out of it and apparently linux is relatively easy to install on it.
I'm going to be taking a trip to see some relatives this summer and this seems like the perfect solution. All I plan on using it for is light tasks like web browsing and the like, and using it as basically a budget ultraportable x86 machine. I really don't think I can find anything better in my price range that will still have a warranty.
Thoughts?
I'm really looking at an HP Stream 7 tablet -- the touch stuff is kinda meh to me but it's cheap and really portable. And it runs full Windows. And it has a quad-core (!) Atom. Keyboard cover and bluetooth mouse is cheap too. Altogether, I'm looking at ~$127 for the whole thing, KB/M included and all new after shipping. The worst parts are the battery life (~5 hours, still better than every last laptop I have ever had) and only having 1GB RAM. I actually have a little more money to my name than it costs, and I've been hurting for a laptop since I sold off the Satellite. I'm not really going to ask too much out of it and apparently linux is relatively easy to install on it.
I'm going to be taking a trip to see some relatives this summer and this seems like the perfect solution. All I plan on using it for is light tasks like web browsing and the like, and using it as basically a budget ultraportable x86 machine. I really don't think I can find anything better in my price range that will still have a warranty.
Thoughts?
sedrosken
Florida Man
Actually, I may forgo the Stream 7 and it's assorted things and go with a WinBook T802. Double the RAM, still cheaper than a ChromeBook (but not by much) from MicroCenter itself, full USB 2 compatibility, microSD support, and a micro-HDMI port from what I've found. The price from Amazon is out of my range, but from MicroCenter this is just what I needed. It's not coming with a case or mouse, but with the full USB 2 port I can use just about anything. First thing I buy for it other than the unit itself is probably going to be the keyboard cover, though. The battery life is better too, I presume, and the touchscreen, while only 5-point, is still very good quality and is bigger than that on the Stream 7.
It also has bluetooth and the like. Seems like a good deal for the money, and the reviews are pretty much all positive. If I can get my parents to order it from MicroCenter for me I may even be able to get the keyboard cover at the same time. None of us have a MicroCenter account and that's why I tend to try to find stuff on Amazon rather than a specialty store.
If I can get this going right, I'm probably going to sell off my XT926 as well -- I'm not going to need it if I get this tablet, I don't think. I might even be able to get Genymotion running on this and end up running those Android apps I'd be missing anyway. The full-size USB 2.0 port makes it even easier than the Stream 7 to run linux if I so choose, but with this being a tablet I might actually be better served by sticking with Windows 8.1.
It's much more expensive than the Stream 7, but I think it will be worth it.
It also has bluetooth and the like. Seems like a good deal for the money, and the reviews are pretty much all positive. If I can get my parents to order it from MicroCenter for me I may even be able to get the keyboard cover at the same time. None of us have a MicroCenter account and that's why I tend to try to find stuff on Amazon rather than a specialty store.
If I can get this going right, I'm probably going to sell off my XT926 as well -- I'm not going to need it if I get this tablet, I don't think. I might even be able to get Genymotion running on this and end up running those Android apps I'd be missing anyway. The full-size USB 2.0 port makes it even easier than the Stream 7 to run linux if I so choose, but with this being a tablet I might actually be better served by sticking with Windows 8.1.
It's much more expensive than the Stream 7, but I think it will be worth it.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I hate to say it but anything that doesn't have 4GB RAM is probably going to be too constrained to run a desktop browser in the near future. None of the major options are terribly respectful of low RAM configurations right now and I don't see that getting any better. If you're thinking of a device you might actually keep, hold on a little longer and see if you can get a 4GB Broadwell that's at least adequate for the foreseeable future.
sedrosken
Florida Man
If I was going with something I planned on keeping longer than a year or two, I would. But as it stands now I don't really see myself really keeping ANYTHING I have right now for all that much longer. The Core 2 Quad, lovely as it is now, is starting to show its age -- nothing urgent, but I am going to be getting a new machine sometime in the next couple years.
Also, you might want to tell that to the people in the IT department here on campus -- many of the desktops are still Optiplex 745s with Core 2 Duos and 2GB RAM apiece.
And even if 2GB is becoming too little for desktop browsers, I can't imagine it being too far out of the question to get Android-x86 running on these -- with 2GB RAM and quad-core Atoms, those little things would probably fly, even two or three years from now. Remember that we're still getting entry level phones with 1GB RAM -- just as we have for the past few years.
Like I said, I'm just going to use this as an extra-portable craptop for a while, to keep my relatively simple mobile needs sated while the C2Q does the REAL work.
Also, you might want to tell that to the people in the IT department here on campus -- many of the desktops are still Optiplex 745s with Core 2 Duos and 2GB RAM apiece.
And even if 2GB is becoming too little for desktop browsers, I can't imagine it being too far out of the question to get Android-x86 running on these -- with 2GB RAM and quad-core Atoms, those little things would probably fly, even two or three years from now. Remember that we're still getting entry level phones with 1GB RAM -- just as we have for the past few years.
Like I said, I'm just going to use this as an extra-portable craptop for a while, to keep my relatively simple mobile needs sated while the C2Q does the REAL work.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I'd probably go with one of the Chromebooks and install Linux on it.
sedrosken
Florida Man
I actually think the quad-core Atom in those tablets outperform the dual-core Bay Trail Celerons in most of the Chromebooks. Rarely do you see a Chromebook with user-replaceable RAM. I'd probably be in the same boat either way, except I would have no touch screen and it would be bulkier. Touch isn't a great big deal for me, but price is -- and the tablet is actually even cheaper than the $149 Haier Chromebook (provided I get the tablet from Microcenter), and that doesn't even have an x86-compatible CPU.
I may find that I regret this decision at some point, but I think I'm going to go for it.
On a different subject, KDE 5.2 is miles upon miles more stable than the 5.0 beta. I have had zero crashes with 5.2, where with the 5.0 beta I had more than three in the same amount of time. The OpenGL UI acceleration is slick and speedy, and legacy options let it use older versions of OpenGL, which should enable older, weaker graphics solutions (maybe even going so far back as the integrated 945 chipset) to adequately drive the KDE desktop. KDE 5.2 is easily faster than KDE 4 on the same hardware.
I don't like how no Breeze themes exist for GTK applications, though. That ruins the integration with the default theme that KDE 4 accomplished so easily. Also, installing it on Arch didn't include Dolphin or Kate or really any other KDE application, though I did get to install them separately. I don't know what that's about -- back in the 4.x days it would install pretty much everything related to it.
I may find that I regret this decision at some point, but I think I'm going to go for it.
On a different subject, KDE 5.2 is miles upon miles more stable than the 5.0 beta. I have had zero crashes with 5.2, where with the 5.0 beta I had more than three in the same amount of time. The OpenGL UI acceleration is slick and speedy, and legacy options let it use older versions of OpenGL, which should enable older, weaker graphics solutions (maybe even going so far back as the integrated 945 chipset) to adequately drive the KDE desktop. KDE 5.2 is easily faster than KDE 4 on the same hardware.
I don't like how no Breeze themes exist for GTK applications, though. That ruins the integration with the default theme that KDE 4 accomplished so easily. Also, installing it on Arch didn't include Dolphin or Kate or really any other KDE application, though I did get to install them separately. I don't know what that's about -- back in the 4.x days it would install pretty much everything related to it.
ddrueding
Fixture
Once upon a time a client decided to thank (a quite young) me by having a subscription to Playboy sent to my 1099 address. What they didn't know is that I was couch surfing in San Francisco and had put my parents address down. Never heard a thing. You're welcome, dad. 
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I once spent about $40 on adult magazine subscriptions sent to an office because they refused to pay for my services. I never got paid but the jerk who stiffed me also didn't get to keep his job.
Stereodude
Not really a
Have you been mean to people again?
Stereodude
Not really a
Now that's funny. :thumbright:
Can I assume you were a youth at the time? Did he receive compensation for wrongful termination?
I don't know anybody. I assumed that it was a mistake, but it keeps coming every month or two.
ddrueding
Fixture
No risk. Spec is backwards compatible.
fb
Storage is cool
[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AfVXPSNXTAk[/video]
I really want one.
I really want one.
fb
Storage is cool
They call it "Ripsaw", it would be great when going ice fishing, amongst other things.
ddrueding
Fixture
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
Every modern tank has suspension.
I don't know, but nothing seems to be sold in stores anymore so we have to order everything on the ****ing internet like catalogs 100 years ago.
Stupid Laserships.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Amazon has replaced stolen items for me in the past. It only took a 5 minute phone call.
ddrueding
Fixture
This is in plain sight in the living room, and something similar has been equally visible for 7 years. My wife is very understanding.
sedrosken
Florida Man
That looks amazing. I'd love to have one of those open air cases for my own, but alas, I have small animals and a little sister who likes to touch EVERYTHING. Anything I put out there is guaranteed to be fried in the space of a few days.
By the way, is there anyone out here who ever actually uses all of these insane amounts of RAM they have? I can never seem to use more than half of my 6GB at any given moment. Don't get me wrong, what's left is given over to caching in Linux, so it isn't entirely unused, but Windows seems to be allergic to using more than half my system RAM. How would I go about fixing that? I don't want it to start swapping until about 75% of my RAM is used.
By the way, is there anyone out here who ever actually uses all of these insane amounts of RAM they have? I can never seem to use more than half of my 6GB at any given moment. Don't get me wrong, what's left is given over to caching in Linux, so it isn't entirely unused, but Windows seems to be allergic to using more than half my system RAM. How would I go about fixing that? I don't want it to start swapping until about 75% of my RAM is used.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
If you run VMs you can consume an insane amount of RAM. I've nearly maxed out my 16GB running 2 or 3 VMs at the same time. Other than that, it's rare I go much over 4 or 5GB. I happily lived with 3GB in my old Athlon XP3200 machine until 2 years ago. Given that I had XP installed, I couldn't use much more than that anyway even if that MB didn't max out at 3GB. Incidentally, my present MB can max out at 64GB but I'm not seeing any scenario where I would come even close to using that much RAM.
I make use of RAM through VMs and through zfs for caching in L1ARC. My NAS regularly has 30-32GB of RAM in use (out of 32GB). My desktop doesn't get close to maxing out its memory on most days but there are time when I'm working on specific tasks that I can use larger amounts of memory.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I regularly have browsers using more than 3GB, but most of my other needs are wrapped up in VMs that I want running for one reason or other. One of my most frequently used VMs needs 16GB because modern Exchange and Sharepoint both run like ass unless they're given that much.
Have you ever tried the Tab Suspender extension for Chrome? I know you leave a ton of tabs open in your browser and when I heard of this extension I immediately thought of you. I've not tried it yet so I can't make any claims to how good it may be.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I really only use Chrome for stuff that gets broken by ABP/Noscript/Ghostery (e.g. Yahoo's new TV service) that I'm too lazy to fix. My opinion of Chrome is low enough that if IE's version of ABP had feature parity, I'd actually prefer IE.
ddrueding
Fixture
VMs is a big thing for RAM, but it also allows me to be really sloppy with my photography workflow and Solidworks will chew through all of it during crazy renders or FD sims.
Cable routing man, cable routing. Clean that mess up. LOL.
Actually now-a-days something like that could be considered "modern art" and it's functional so that's a plus. But please tidy up the cables and take a wider-angled shot, wanna see the whole setup.
Why?
ddrueding
Fixture
One of the parts of the house which we haven't completed yet is the cabinetry. Kitchen doors/drawers along with large floor-to-ceiling units in the living and dining rooms just haven't been completed yet. This rack will be in the cabinet when it is built. Nearly finished with the 3rd major revision of the design, which might be good enough. Also nearly done securing access to a CNC machine capable of milling 4x8 sheets of plywood; most of the design uses keys and dovetails to accurately align and secure the bits. This removes my ability to screw it up.