[Ham-Computers] Can a mouse & kbd share a port?

[Mike Anderson]

Greetings!

On Sun, 2002-05-05 at 13:24, FoggyAsEver MacUser wrote:
> I managed to get my hands on a laptop PC a while ago
> from a swap.  It barely runs Windows, but it's good
> enough for the ham shack.  So far, it seems very low
> on radiated spurious junk, which is what I'd hoped for
> from a laptop.
> 
> But - with my old, crusty fingers, I would like to use
> an external mouse and keyboard.
> 
> The back of the laptop has a DIN connector with an
> icon of a mouse and keyboard.  I can plug either into
> the machine, and it successfully uses it.  Can I use
> both somehow in the same port?  Is there some sort of
> Y-adapter that would allow this?  I thought this was
> essentially a regular serial port dedicated to
> mouse/kbd usage, so you really couldn't share both,
> unless you added a SW patch?
>

These ports are typically wired to support both the 
mouse and keyboard simultaneously.  IF you go
to Best Buy/CompUSA/Micro Center, etc. you'll find
an adapter that plugs into the laptop port and 
splits both the mouse and keyboard ports out 
separately.

Good luck,

Mike
WB4PHJ