On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:54:20 +1300 Jamie Dobbs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Nick Rout wrote: > > My headless boxes (running linux of course) in the computer cabinet will > > not boot without a keyboard (Press f1 to continue D'ohhh) > > > > No bios option to ignore the lack of keyboard. > > > > As there are now two, soon to be three of them it is a pain to store > > three keyboards in the cupboard, they add to the mess of wires and are > > just a pain, particulalrly when one falls on top of another and sticks a > > key down *sigh* > > > > I saw something once about how to wire some resistors to a ps/2 plug to > > fool the computer into thinking there was a keyboard there. However > > google lets me down. > > > > Clues anyone? > > > Only option I have found that works with Compaq boxes which REQUIRE a > keyboard to boot and this cannot be disabled in the BIOS is to open up > an old keyboard and remove the small circuit board that connects to the > PS2 lead (keeping the PS2 lead intact and removing the wires going to > the keyboard). Plug this into the keyboard port and hide it somewhere > inside the case of the machine running the lead thru an expansion slot > cover. > I have had this setup on a firewall machine for years with no issues, > the only "gotcha" is to ensure that the circuitboard does not earth to > the case buy taping a bit of cardboard or something to it to stop and > shorts to case ground. > You used to be able to buy these... but they were a *lot* more than a keyboard! Like you say, they were required on Compaq servers. The only other alternatives I could suggest are either to use a kvm switch (but they aint cheap either), or to buy a single box and run your favourite virtualization software on it. So it looks like chopping up old keyboards it os, then (: Steve
