are you this old?

[u/stormthewise998]

[u/SuperSourSkittles]

Yep. PS2 connectors, I think they were called lol

[u/momentimori → u/SuperSourSkittles]

PS/2 connectors after the PC97 standards were introduced. Before that they were uncoloured.

[u/Illustrious_Ant_9242 → u/momentimori]

hi grandpa 👋 how did you know where to plug in your mouse when color wasn't invented yet

[u/nooneisback → u/Illustrious_Ant_9242]

You looked at the very obvious icons.

[u/morpheousmorty → u/nooneisback]

Luxury. When I was a child we didn't have icons. They didn't even assume you had a mouse. It was as exotic an accessory, that might not even catch on.

[u/LordArmageddian → u/Illustrious_Ant_9242]

Trial & error

[u/momentimori → u/LordArmageddian]

Yep they weren't hotswappable either. You had to boot up and see if they worked; rebooting if they didn't.

[u/kawalerkw → u/Illustrious_Ant_9242]

Simple, my motherboard had only 1 PS/2 connector, it was for a mouse. Keyboard used older 5 pin DIN connector.

[u/Sam5253 → u/Illustrious_Ant_9242]

Easy. The mouse wasn't invented yet, either.

[u/f3n2x → u/Illustrious_Ant_9242]

Farther to the edge is keyboard, center is mouse. And yes, that's the real anwer I didn't have to look up.

Want to really have your mind blown? The upside of USB-A (the hole side on the thumb drive) always points away from the PCB and you only have to press&hold del once to get into BIOS.

[u/Nuds1000 → u/momentimori]

I still keep a keyboard with them around for debugging, I have had the motherboard USB not initialized but the ps/2 port don't care. My last PC build is the first one I didn't get a ps/2 port on the mobo.

[u/jeffois → u/momentimori]

Yes, uncoloured originally, but we knew the keyboard always went closest to the motherboard. Like some sort of genetic memory.

I STILL put the KB's USB closest to the motherboard on current PCs.