can you plug a USB keyboard to a laptop and bypass the cramped laptop keyboard?

[THELAIR]

I basically want to be able to close my laptop screen lid, while it is still turned on and use my external CRT monitor, external mouse (ps2 port) and if possible external keyboard via USB.

So can you use a USB Keyboard, or should you only use a PS2 keyboard, plug it into the single PS2 port, and then use a USB mouse?

Would that be simpler?

thanks

 

[rudder]

you can do either. I use a ps/2 keyboard and usb mouse cause I am too cheap to buy a usb keyboard.

EDIT - oh and some laptops may power down when the screen is closed. I have a HP pavilion and it has a little switch for that. When I am using a vga monitor the screen is off anyway. It would be nice to tuch the laptop somewhere though. Still cheaper than a docking station.

 

[jasonsRX7]

what you're talking about is basically what a port replicator does. port replicators are cheaper than docking stations, and they're more convienient than unplugging everything each time you move the laptop.

 

[yg17]

plug a USB hub into your laptops USB port, and plug a USB mouse and keyboard into that.

 

[hans007]

i used to do that, but my new laptop has a dock. To make a laptop not shut off the screen, just change it in power options in windows, or in the bios.

 

[jschuk]

You can do that, but it will be easier to find a USB mouse and use a PS2 kybd. Also, some older laptops don't have BIOS support for USB keyboards, so you wouldn't be able to use the kybd until you booted into windows. As mentioned above, you can set the laptop to stay on when you close the lid.

 

[Derango]

My laptop turns off the LCD when its closed. This does not have any effect the image on an external CRT plugged into it. However, if I set it to go into standby when the lid was closed, then I would have a problem.

 

[Mday]

yes you can bypass the keyboard with a usb keyboard.

what you have to do is go into your motherboard's bios to make sure legacy usb support is enabled.