What is a PS/2 Port?
The PS/2 standard, introduced by IBM in 1987, stands for Personal System/2. A PS/2 port is an electronic receptacle or plug found on computers. It accepts a PS/2 cable with a mini-DIN connector, and is most often used to plug in a keyboard or mouse. The PS/2 port is female while the mini-DIN cable is male. The connector is small with a diameter of about 1/3 inch (9.5mm). It features a metal sleeve that is notched to ensure proper alignment when inserting it into the PS/2 port. This protects the circular pins inside the DIN connector from becoming bent. The PS/2 port was initially a large DIN plug used for a keyboard, while the mouse was commonly plugged into a serial port. However, as modems also used serial ports, configuration conflicts between mouse and modem became a common problem as each tried to share the same IRQ or memory address. To fix the problem, one could purchase a “bus mouse,” or a card that could be installed in the computer and featured a rear PS/2 port for the mouse.
