Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs Forum

I wanted to buy a PS/2-receptacle-to-USB-plug adapter cable, just in case, on my then-new laptop, my keyboard or pointer should fail. I had PS/2 hardware lying around and buying an adapter was slightly cheaper than buying USB hardware. (Or maybe much cheaper: The new USB keyboards and optical mice I saw were Win- and Mac-specific and I'd need an Internet connection just to install, so I assume Microsoft would check my OS before installing. Maybe USB keyboards and mice not needing drivers are costly.)

Belkin sells (or did) a PS/2-receptacle-to-USB-plug adapter cable, but it's only for use with Windows or the Mac OS. I was startled. The store said I could use it with Linux but I didn't believe it. I bought a brand-X cable that didn't require any particular OS.

I hope there's no trend to requiring Win/Mac for more kinds of hardware. I don't want to need a Win-compatible bolt to close a case.

I think they were just being conservative on the system requirements. If no drivers are required for a component than it is not OS dependent. Scott.