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There are several PS/2 mice with an 800/1000 DPI optical sensor, three buttons, and a scroll-wheel. Several modern motherboards have a PS/2 port, such as the MSI Pro B650M-P, ASUS Prime H610M-A, ASRock B450M Steel Legend, GIGABYTE B560M DS3H V2 and ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E.

Do I need extra driver to use PS/2 port computer mouse? Where can I find them? Any reference of interface specification of PS/2?

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    Which operating system do you want to use with your mice? Commented Nov 16 at 11:41
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    You want to connect some PS/2 mice to modern computers with PS/2 ports. Simply connect them. Do we have to assume you are using Windows or some other OS, and which version of any OS? How is this a retrocomputing question?
    – Justme
    Commented Nov 16 at 12:26
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    What’s the long product list for? Commented Nov 16 at 12:34
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    @Justme I happen to think this is not a particularly great question for other reasons, but how is PS/2 not a retrocomputing topic? Commented Nov 16 at 12:37
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    There's definitely an on-topic question hidden here somewhere (as evidenced by Sneftel's answer), but I'm not sure what the point of this question is. PS/2's a standard protocol, so I removed the list of mice – though it might be useful to add some back, like the contemporary F8E850-OPT 5-button mouse. Do we need the list of motherboards?
    – wizzwizz4
    Commented Nov 16 at 19:07

1 Answer 1

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The PS/2 interface is built deeply into the motherboard chipset, and specifies all “normal” communication between peripheral and host. If the computer can run an OS, that OS can use PS/2 mice without additional third-party drivers.

Some PS/2 mice and keyboards have vendor-specific extensions to the PS/2 command set which will require extra drivers; things like controlling sensitivity, programming macros, using vendor-specific buttons, or mouse inputs beyond three buttons and two axes. None of these will be required if you’re just using the thing as a basic 2/3-button mouse. However, they will be required to use a scroll wheel or any buttons beyond the third.

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    For retro operating systems this isn’t necessarily true — DOS in particular needs device drivers for mice. Commented Nov 16 at 14:56
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    It wasn’t included with retail MS-DOS; each mouse came with a driver disk containing the appropriate driver (including Microsoft mice). Commented Nov 16 at 16:15
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    The programming interface wasn’t vendor-specific (otherwise it wouldn’t have been much use), but (a) mouse.com generally wasn’t included even in later versions of MS-DOS, and (b) it didn’t support all PS/2 mice. Most PCs shipped with the appropriate mouse driver, so the distinction might seem pedantic, but a base installation of MS-DOS didn’t always include it (including 6.22). Commented Nov 16 at 19:07
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    @Sneftel Nice try but that's not an original DOS bootdisk, so it does not apply. It's made by some hobbyist. It did not even come with CD-ROM drivers and yet they are there. With file dates from 1999 even. Please refer to an actual, original DOS install disk.
    – Justme
    Commented Nov 16 at 19:40
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    @Justme The combative tone is unwelcome.
    – Sneftel
    Commented Nov 16 at 20:43

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