> I've seen the 'have to be on the machine while booting' behavior
> using a Belkin Omniview Pro switch, which oddly, wasn't a problem
> with their OmniCube switch, at least not with my machines. Windows
> had as much, or more problems with not having the console on the
> booting machine as fbsd though. Again, this is only my (one) data
> point.
Make that two data points, I don't think you're alone in this
observation.
> I finally got fed up with the Belkin, because *windows* keep losing
> it's mouse (or instead of just losing it, it would start sending
> what appeared to be random button-press events for tracking events...)
> and broke down and bought a Raritan KVM.
You mean you got tired of the "Ctl+esc, Up arrow, Enter, Enter"
key sequence to get the mouse back? I wonder why.... ;~) None the
less, having to have the console active for the system while the BIOS &&
OS probe the keyboard is a pain when managing a large number of systems.
We eventually made a policy that required the use of a laptop + serial
cable anyone when you went to one of the data centers to do some
administration of the systems (downtime for a keyboard wasn't an
option). -sc
--
Sean Chittenden
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