Oops, fixing a typo, below On Sunday, February 02, 2020 04:18:39 PM rhkra...@gmail.com wrote: > Thanks to all who replied! > > Everybody had good points. I ended up putting the unit on the non-battery > side of the UPS (just because I was out of outlets on the battery side and > didn't want to take the time / space to add a powerstrip or such (space is > tight behind / under my desk)). I usually feel that the surge suppression > there is better than on some inexpensive powerstrips. > > In the course of plugging in a power supply for a laptop (which was the > reason to switch from a 2-port KVM to a 4-port KVM), I accidentally > tripped the power to the KVM switch with no ill effects, that is, the > computer did not lose its communication to the monitor, keyboard, and > mouse, and, after I repowered the KVM, I could switch between the > computers as before the power loss, so I'm not worried about not being on > the UPS. > > I did learn some things (one mentioned above), another is: > > * the KVM has inputs for either a PS/2 keyboard and mouse, or a USB > keyboard and mouse. My mouse is USB and my keyboard is PS/2. I found that > if I plugged the keyboard into the PS/2 port and the mouse into a USB > port, that would not work for the most finicky computer. I added a USB to > PS/2 converter plug to the mouse, plugged them both into USB ports on the > KVM, and now things worked.
Should have been "plugged them both into the PS/2 ports" > > * the output from the KVM (to the computer) has one USB cable and one > PS/2 cable. After I did the above, I was able to plug the PS/2 cable into > the keyboard port on the computer, and the USB cable into a USB plug, and > the mouse and keyboard both worked. (I thought I might have to add > another USB to PS/2 converter plug so that I could plug both cables into > the PS/2 ports on the computer. > > * The other (desktop) computer I consider less finicky. (Because, when > I tried to set it up with the inexpensive 4-port all USB KVM that I bought > on ebay, it worked with no trouble, the finicky computer would not, even > when I used things like a cable splitter and USB to PS/2 converter plugs) > to plug into either both PS/2 "jacks" or two USB ports on the computer (or > the various possible combinations of one each)) > > Anyway, this less finicky computer has only one PS/2 ports, colored half > pink and half gray, and apparently can work for either a PS/2 mouse or a > PS/2 keyboard (or maybe even both with some kind of "combiner cable"). > > I ended up plugging the PS/2 cable from the KVM into the PS/2 port on > the computer and the USB cable into a USB port, and both the mouse and > keyboard work. I didn't try any other approaches, I mean, I didn't try to > see if only one of the KVM output cables connected to the computer would > be sufficient. > > I am just a little worried that maybe the mouse and keyboard signals are > going into both the PS/2 port and a USB port, and that maybe someday I'll > encounter some kind of problem because of that, but, for now I'm happy that > everything (on these two computers) seems to be working ok through the KVM. > > I do have another OT problem related to the laptop and the existing > installation of Windows on it. I'll describe that problem later (in a new > thread) to see if anyone can help. > > Thanks again to the list and those who replied! > > On Thursday, January 30, 2020 08:36:32 AM Roger Price wrote: > > Speaking from experience, another reason to put the KVM switch on the UPS > > is protection from power surges. I live in a lightning prone area, and I > > have lost expensive gear because ancilliary stuff such as a KVM switch > > with a wired connection to PCs was not protected.