In windows the compatibility is perfect. In DOS it all comes down to your BIOS' implementation of USB legacy support

Depends how deep you go...

If you are an extremely demanding gamer, USB can only do 6KRO without special drivers (which are not available for Win98, let alone BIOS legacy support), where PS/2 can offer full NKRO. However your keyboard also needs to do NKRO to have any benefit from this. A lot of vintage keyboards didn't even come close - IBM's Model M only does 2KRO (the Model F however is full NKRO).

Tbh, I've never noticed a practical difference between PS/2 and USB and I'm a bit of a keyboard freak.

You want PS/2 for Windows 98SE. Its USB stack is horrible and if something driver-wise breaks.... well you don't have any input devices in Windows. Windows 2000 and later fixed all that, it handles legacy-free setups much better so you at least have a working keyboard and mouse at boot-up (you don't have to interact with new hardware found dialogs, hard to do with no input devices).

Use the ps/2 ports if you have them.

NJRoadfan wrote on 2020-12-29, 02:07:

You want PS/2 for Windows 98SE. Its USB stack is horrible and if something driver-wise breaks.... well you don't have any input devices in Windows. Windows 2000 and later fixed all that, it handles legacy-free setups much better so you at least have a working keyboard and mouse at boot-up (you don't have to interact with new hardware found dialogs, hard to do with no input devices).

I felt something like this was going to be the answer. Thank you for the detailed response!

I'd keep a PS/2 keyboard, just in case.

Keyboard emulation through BIOS is fine, until the USB stack of Windows 9x takes over. Then, the emulation is gone and Win 9x ask you to select a driver for your USB keyboard and/or requests a key stroke (next/okay/continue)..

Don't forget about PS2 adapters.
This is most important for the mouse as it will give you a lot more optical mouse options. Native PS2 range is pretty limited with even period correct optical ones at the time often been USB with an adapter included
Not really an issue for the keyboard as plenty of decent PS2 choices exist and usually cheaper now everyone's moved over to USB, but it's still an option

Just keep in mind the adapters are passive the device itself will have to support PS2 which means fancy modern gamer mice aren't options but a lot of the more basic mice still are.

chinny22 wrote on 2020-12-29, 09:40:

Native PS2 range is pretty limited with even period correct optical ones at the time often been USB with an adapter included

There are some native PS2 optical mice still available today.

Search Amazon.com for "ps2 mouse" and you'll get several hits, all currently in stock and ready to ship.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-12-29, 10:10:

There are some native PS2 optical mice still available today.

Search Amazon.com for "ps2 mouse" and you'll get several hits, all currently in stock and ready to ship.

Indeed and I'm even using one this very moment as I'm no pro gamer but even I have to admit they are lower end basic more suited to office work
OEM branded mice are another option as the likes of Dell, HP stuck with PS2 longer and the included mouse were either rebranded or on par with MS/Logitech's office mice

I'm curious why optical mice are so important.
I'm still using serial ball mice here and they work like a charm if I use a good mouse pad.

Also, optical mice with LEDs are kinda lame, I think.
A real laser mouse with a laser diode would be interesting..

Edit: I know that laser mice exist, but they are often aimed towards gamers and do look really awkward.
I'd love to see a serious, office mouse with a blue or green laser beam.

Jo22 wrote on 2020-12-29, 19:10:

I'm curious why optical mice are so important.
I'm still using serial ball mice here and they work like a charm if I use a good mouse pad.

Speaking from personal experience during the late '90s, ball mice are:

• dust magnets which need to be cleaned almost daily
• too imprecise for FPS and RTS games
• need a high quality mousepad to work semi-decently
• get even worse with prolonged use due to wear and tear

A cheap 800 dpi PS2 optical mouse beats the crap out of any ball mouse that I've ever owned. Granted, I mostly used Logitech, A4Tech, Genius and Mitsumi mice back in the day. Maybe if I had one of those more expensive Microsoft models, things would have been different.

I bought a new PS/2 optical mouse, and other than it being "too white" rather than the beige I would have prefered, I haven't had any problems with it. I use a PS/2 KVM and it all works fine.

I have some computers that don't have PS2 ports anymore, and cheap USB adapters work ok at least with XP or later. My haswell system has a real PS2 combo port, and it went completely nuts in windows 98 no matter what I tried. Although, I bet It is probably just a passive USB adapter integrated into the motherboard, now that I think about it.

I have a nice MS ball mouse on my P133 system and even though I got it new, it's still is way worse than any optical mouse. If I had an optical serial mouse I would use it for sure over any ball mouse.

the baud rate on a standard (logitech notwithstanding) serial mouse is so garbage you might not even notice it was optical

Jo22 wrote on 2020-12-29, 19:10:

I'm curious why optical mice are so important.
I'm still using serial ball mice here and they work like a charm if I use a good mouse pad.

I first encountered optical mice in the mid 1990s, when they still required a grid-pattern metal mouse mat and had the ergonomics of a brick. Nonetheless, after a very short time I was hooked. No regular roller-cleaning (or suffering the consequences if failing to do so). I bought my first Mouse Systems optical mouse around 1997 and never looked back. Logitech's early, fairly ergonomic optical designs from around 1999/2000 were a huge improvement, as were later sensors that could be used on just about any underground. I still mess around with ball mice every now and then (mainly old serial ones), but nostalgia is VERY short-lived.

The only way I like to see an uncastrated mouse is if it's on its back: trackballs. But there too optical sensors beat rollers hands-down.

Also, optical mice with LEDs are kinda lame, I think. A real laser mouse with a laser diode would be interesting.. […]
Show full quote

Also, optical mice with LEDs are kinda lame, I think.
A real laser mouse with a laser diode would be interesting..

Edit: I know that laser mice exist, but they are often aimed towards gamers and do look really awkward.
I'd love to see a serious, office mouse with a blue or green laser beam.

Serious office mice tend not to have showy beams of any description (LED or laser). Most work with infrared anyway.

I hate ball mice, however since all my ball mice are very old with much mileage, I'm unsure if this is inherent in the technology or just due to age-related deterioration.

I actually have found that a lot of optical mice have sort of a dead zone, they must move a certain amount before they begin to register things being in motion and I notice this when I do pixel art things or some other stuff requiring precise motion from a stop position. This never was noticable with a ball mouse, I imagine that there image sensor output is somewhat noisy in the mice and some level of hysteresis is added to stop jiggling when mouse is sitting still.

I do dislike having to clean the ball and the rollers though in my case it only happens every few weeks before I experience problems rather than days... Many mice also have very lightweight balls and they track poorly. I always swap them out to heaviest ones I can find, luckily it seems the sizes are pretty much same and the balls can be interchanged without trouble.

I prefer gamer laser mouse for reliability and comfort.

The plain LED optical mice I had back then was mis-tracking once in awhile that made pointer shoot off in opposite direction unexpectedly annoys me the most.

Cheers,

pentiumspeed wrote on 2020-12-30, 02:09:

I prefer gamer laser mouse for reliability and comfort.

The plain LED optical mice I had back then was mis-tracking once in awhile that made pointer shoot off in opposite direction unexpectedly annoys me the most.

Cheers,

I remember those days when you would move the mouse too fast and the cursor would do haywire.