cyclic,
on my old pre-ATX board I had two USB connectors and with a tiny cable and a metal plate holding the USB outside world connector I managed to fit my first USB peripherie to the PC. Found the cable with the slot-type metal plate and connectors at PCWorld....but, this was many moons ago...
If your board is USB ready there is a chance this may work for you as well.
Somehow I recall that I had to switch on USB in the BIOS as well...perhaps you check your BIOS. On the ATX boards USB is a standard feature.