14 Aug
2006
14 Aug
'06
7:30 p.m.
Hi, Don,
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 13-Aug-06 at 11:26 Don wrote:
So, there is nothing *active* in the cables? E.g.,
the
"mainframe" has all of the "adapters" inside (on the
appropriate cards). Does this pose problems if you
plug the wrong cable into a card (i.e. if cable D shell
pins X & Y expect to be tied to a USB mouse and suddenly
find EIA232 signal levels on those pins)?
As far as I know, from a cursory examination, there is nothing active about the cables.
They're just wire.
As for plugging the "wrong" cable into a card, I'm not sure if that would
pose a problem. I think Doc mentioned that each card is a 'universal' interface
which is jumper or DIP-switch settable for the machine type it's dealing with.
So I can't (readily) use a Sun keyboard -- unless I
add
an external adapter...?
I'm pretty sure not, though I could be wrong. Look at the bright side: The IBM
'Clicker' keyboards are still pretty nice.
<frown> Amusing to think someone will spend
$125+/node
just to live WITHOUT a keyboard! :-(
Oh, you'd be surprised! Look at big companies with big pockets, like my former
employer (Boeing). They would happily spend five figures on switching equipment to put
Lord only knows how many systems in the data center into one or two KVM combos.
Keep the peace(es).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies -- http://www.bluefeathertech.com
kyrrin (at) bluefeathertech do/t c=o=m
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped with surreal
ports?"