Using a USB device on a laptop with no USB port...?

I've got a failry old Toshiba laptop that I gave to my girlfriend. Fairly low spec by current standards, but still quite useable.

Anyway - it doesn't have a USB port, although device manager lists both a USB root hub and a USB controller as being installed.

I've got a digi-cam that I want to connect to the laptop to transfer pics - I've got a USB-PS/2 adaptor but I couldn't make it work.

I've installed the correct USB drivers for the camera.

So the question is this:

Is it actually possible to run a USB device off a PS/2 (mouse) port? I know that PS/2 isn't hot-swappable and so the laptop won't be able to immediately detect it - but even after using the Add New Hardware wizard (with camera attached and powered on) the OS couldn't see it. I'm guessing maybe it's not possible (?)

OS is Win2k sp3.
Camera is a Sony Cybershot, with USB drivers supplied by Sony.

Is it ever going to work, or do I need to buy her a new laptop? :sad:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gutted

I've got a failry old Toshiba laptop that I gave to my girlfriend. Fairly low spec by current standards, but still quite useable.

Anyway - it doesn't have a USB port, although device manager lists both a USB root hub and a USB controller as being installed.

I've got a digi-cam that I want to connect to the laptop to transfer pics - I've got a USB-PS/2 adaptor but I couldn't make it work.

I've installed the correct USB drivers for the camera.

So the question is this:

Is it actually possible to run a USB device off a PS/2 (mouse) port? I know that PS/2 isn't hot-swappable and so the laptop won't be able to immediately detect it - but even after using the Add New Hardware wizard (with camera attached and powered on) the OS couldn't see it. I'm guessing maybe it's not possible (?)

OS is Win2k sp3.
Camera is a Sony Cybershot, with USB drivers supplied by Sony.

Is it ever going to work, or do I need to buy her a new laptop? :sad:

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Why not see if you can get a PCMCIA USB Card for the laptop? I dunno about the PS/2 port, I would have thought you would need a virtual device driver for it to work properly.

http://www.mrusb.co.uk/catalog/produ...19ad2bd70cbb05

That's pretty cool - I thought they would be more expensive than that...

Definitely worth looking into - thanks duder!

Might get one for my laptop, too, since I don't think I have USB 2.0 on this thing...

Cheers!
Dan.

you're welcome

John