I have go a Ultra 60, a Blade100 and some Intel boxes at home. Tired of connecting and disconnecting the monitors and keep my desk full of mouses and keyboards. Any one know which type of KVM switch is suitable capable for these boxes and does not cost much? Thanks for your suggestion!
There are no inexpensive KVMs for this task.
The Ultra 60 requires a emulator/adaptor box to attach a PS/2 or USB keyboard/mouse. These boxes cost more than US $100.
Use a normal KVM to share the monitor and the keyboard/mouse for the Intel systems. Use the addtional ports to share <u>only</u> the monitor for the Sun systems, but keep the local keyboards/mice.
Michael
Thanks for the reply and recommendations.
So that means: for my Sun Blade 100 I can share mouse/keyboard with those Intel boxes and for Ultra60 I can share Monitor only. Or I only need 2 sets of keyboards/mice and only 1 monitor on my table. Is it correct? If yes do you have some idea on which brand is better? Thanks again.
Put a keyboard and a monitor onto each system.
Three computers == three keyboards and three mice.
Connect your monitor to something like <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8 2E16817107120" target="_blank"><u><b>THIS</b></u></a> and then run high quality monitor cables to each computer.
Two to three meter length, maximum.
Each time you need to see what another computer is doing,
you turn off the monitor, flip the switch on the adapter box,
then turn on your monitor again.
If the web link I provided ever becomes invalid, you can find such manual switchboxes most anywhere.
I just chose an online computer retailer, and searched for 'monitor switch'.
The particular link, above, is an example from NewEgg.Com
The item is very, very inexpensive but would be a proper choice for a home/hobbyist
type of use, not for heavy business work-day use.
Buy two. They <i>do</i> eventually wear out.
That is what I did.
Thanks for the good suggestion Bill. This is really a good idea, Sun monitors are really bulky. And more over I can buy a cheap KVM to share mice and keyboard between Intel boxes. But, as Maal said Ultra 60 is not easily support I still want to know if there is some option to support the Blade 100 in the KVM as well. Thanks again.
Hello,
<i>... Ultra 60 not easily support I still want to know if there is some option to support the Blade 100 in the KVM as well.</i>
The Ultra 60 and other systems with the single Mini-DIN connector for the keyboard with the mouse attached require a converter to be able to attach a PS/2-keyboard and -mouse. The keyboards are available for different countries with different layouts (mappings). There are DIP-switches at the keyboard, the settings are read by the system to detect the mapping of the keyboard. There are additional function keys (Help, Stop, ..., Compose, Power On/Off, ...).
A PS/2 keyboard lacks these switches and the additonal function keys. These features must be emulated by the adapter/emulator.
You can attach a PC USB keyboard (and mouse) to Suns with USB keyboard port, but these keyboards still lack the addtional function keys and the capability to "tell" the system the national mapping. If the system can't detect the locale, a standard mapping (US) is used.
The keyboard mapping can be forced when the operating system has been loaded. Review the posting by J.Keil on the Sun OS Forum about using a non-self-identifying keyboard.
<a href="http://supportforum.sun.com/sunos/index.php?t=msg &goto=9754" target="_blank"><b>Finnish KB on Fujitsu-Siemens Sparc </b></a>
I hope this helps other people when they use the search function ...
Michael
