PCI-PS2 adalter for mouse/keyboard and HDMI

Dear friends,

QubesOS wants me to use PS2 mouse and keyboard, but my PC has only usb ports. Please tell me if I understand correctly:

  1. I can use PCI-PS2 adapter for mouse and keyboard because PCI controller is automatically attached to Dom0 when the PC is booted up. True or False?

  2. If I never detach the PCI controller from Dom0, there is never any security risk. True or False?

  3. If I can use PCI-PS2 adapter for mouse and keyboard in that manner, does it matter between PCI and PCIexpress?

  4. Does QubesOS natively support HDMI for video; and if it does, can I use the audio jack to handle audios because my HDMI monitor does not have speaker ?

Thank you very much.

IIRC, “real” PS2 ports attach to the Legacy/ISA bus (though on interrupts that aren’t even made available to cards in the ISA card slots).

This bus predates PCI and PCIe and cannot be adapted via them. In modern CPUs, the ISA bus is fully internal to the CPU with only a few exposed connectors to support PS2 connectors (if part of the board design) and perhaps a few other traditional devices on the board.

If the mainboard don’t have those pins wired up, I’m pretty sure anything else that purports to give you PS2 connectors will be a USB-based converter in disguise.

B

I am using the audio jack with an HDMI monitor without speakers. It works. Note that there is no GPU acceleration for the videos.

I guess it depends on whether you trust that it’s not already compromised.

To brendanhoar,

Thank you for your reply.

I see this in the specs for an PCI-PS2 adapter: “Interface: 2 x PS/2, Built-in power supply and USB expansion”, or PCI-E to 2x PS2 Expansion Card * *Inner 1x USB 9-pin expansion interface.".

So that means that the PCI-PS2 adapter is actually PS2-USB adapter in disguise?

Thank you.

Yes

To brendanhoar,

Thank you !