12 Aug
2006
12 Aug
'06
5:25 p.m.
Don wrote:
Hi,
In an attempt to cut down on the number of monitors, etc.
here, I dragged out an old KVM (which, unfortunately, seems
to have lost track of his wal wart!).
It doesn't take long to realize that this is a non-solution:
- keyboards are PS2, Sun, USB, ADB, etc.
- mice are PS2, Serial, Sun, USB, ADB, etc.
- video is Sun's 13W3, HD15, DEC's RGB, apple's DB15, etc.
Does anyone make a *truly* universal KVM (i.e. so that
I can mix and match all of these flavors)? And, how
outrageously priced is it?
Cybex Commander series is as close as you'll get. The ones I've
worked with are a backplane with cards that attach to computers or
console or other KVM units. The computer-conected cards are jumperable
to the type of kbd/mouse/display that system expects, and they make
cables for SPARC (with 13W3 display), ADB/DB15, PS/2-HD15,
AT/serial/HD15, etc. I've not seen USB cables, but that doesn't mean
they don't exist. As an added bonus, they do sound if you buy the right
cables, and allow up to 4 user consoles per setup.
The newer ones are a lot smaller, support USB, and don't have the
mix-&-match backplane.
Fairly expensive, but common on eBay and the cables come up
reasonably cheap.
Doc
Or, do I just have to get used to hiding "not in use"
mice, etc. out of the way?