Solved USB hubs?

D

dieselriot

I currently have only one working USB port on my laptop, which I use for both mouse and keyboard (they're on a PS/2 > USB converter), so I'm planning to buy a cheap USB hub. Does anyone here have experience with them? Do they work fine on FreeBSD? Can I them connect my two device PS/2 > USB converter (pictured below) to the USB hub?

cv.jpeg

Also, does anyone know the difference between USB hubs that come with a power source that you plug into mains and hubs that get their power only from the USB port?
 
Yes those USB to PS/2 adapters work fine.
The difference between powered and non-powered hubs is that the USB 2.0 port only allows 500ma and some peripheries draw more.
So for this use case you would use a powered hub.
For instance some Arm boards can be powered by USB2 but they can draw too much for a PC USB port.
USB3.0 allows for higher power draw.
FreeBSD usbconfig command will show you the milliamp draw of the devices.
 
Looking at usbconfig, the adaptor, or, according to FreeBSD, the "barcode scanner" (vendor just slapped a random id?) draws 400mA, which is a bit more current than I would expect for a mouse and keyboard. But no worries, since I found a cheap and sturdy looking 10-port powered USB hub.

Just to clarify; I asked if the adaptor would work when connected to the hub instead of a main port, because I heard some hubs have limited support for peripherals. Or am I mistaken about this and hubs work exactly like main ports?
 
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