On Sat, 11 Aug 2001, Terry Lambert wrote:
> Finally, most keyboard/mouse/monitor switches don't work with
> FreeBSD; for example, the Belkin console extender that uses the
> ethernet cable doesn't work at all (it's the best one out there),
I'm using a Cybex KVM-over-CAT5 extender with a cheap 4-port Belkin
OmniCube KVM switch on one end (my desk) and a much more expensive
8-port dual-user Belkin (OmniView?) KVM switch on the other end (the
server closet) attached to three FreeBSD servers and one NT box. I
only use keyboard and video for the FreeBSD boxes, but that much has
always worked perfectly.
Occasionally I'll have mouse sync problems when I switch between
FreeBSD and NT when the NT box has had difference mice (wheel vs.
non-wheel MS mice, apparently) used on it via the dual-user KVM
switch. NT seems to handle that case fairly well by resetting the
PS/2 port and/or the mouse (not sure which) and redetecting the mouse
type. FreeBSD doesn't like when NT has done that to the mouse,
though, and spews sync errors when I switch back. Usually I can kill
moused and restart it to fix the problem.
> and the local wiring (non-ethernet version) of the Belkin OmniView
> switches work if the FreeBSD mouse/keyboard is selected at boot
> time, so that the aggressive probe/attach can satisfy itself.
That is the KVM switch's fault, not FreeBSD's. On all but the most
expensive KVM switches which offer true "keyboard and mouse emulation"
on all ports, even NT (or actually the BIOS, I assume) can fail to
enable keyboard and mouse support in that case. The dual-user Belkin
OmniView seems to handle this correctly. I can't recall any problem
booting FreeBSD on it even when its console isn't active.
> Belkin went out of its way to support FreeBSD specifically,
> actually: their firmware version 1.9 fixes the local wiring
> switches, so that they can pass FreeBSD's aggressive probe, even
> if the FreeBSD mouse/keyboard is _not_ selected.
Hmm... I'll have to check, maybe thats why mine works. :-)
-- Chris Dillon - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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