Comment Re:That's one heck of a "long goodbye" (Score 4, Informative) 356
The problem isn't the OS, it's the port: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_connector (see the "hotplugging" section).
You *must* power down the machine before plugging in a PS/2 device, or risk blowing up the port controller/fuse. I have killed at least one motherboard this way (PS/2 devices no longer work on it).