[Gllug] Belkin KVM not working with usb mouse and keyboard ports

[James Hawtin]

On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 06:41:08PM +0100, John G Walker wrote:
> I'm trying to set up a new Dell machine with openSUSE 11.1 and KDE 4.
> For the rest of my PCs I use a Belkin kvm that connects the mouse and
> keyboard into PS/2 ports and it works. However, the new Dell doesn't
> have PS/2 ports and I can't get the machine to detect the mouse and
> keyboard (at all) unless I plug them in directly.

The problem might be that the KVM does not keep the keyboard and mouse alive
while you switch to another computer. This is quite common with cheaper
KVMs. How could you test this, plug your KVM into the DELL and keep the KVM
on the channel the DELL is on while you boot the machine. 

PS2 (female) to USB (male) convertors. There are two types of thes if you
have an adapter that looks like a plug, as below.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1001Cables-Adapter-Female-Keyboard-Mouse/dp/B000HWY2TG/ref=pd_sim_ce_13

These will probably not work as they just change the shape of the plug, and
require the device mouse/keyboard to have a chip in it to switch to a
different mode. However KVM with PS2 outputs generally cannot do this.

What you need is an active adapter that can take a PS2 keyboard and mouse
and turn it into a single USB device. Like below, (Please not I have bought
this one but own one that looks the same), which works well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/USB-2-x-PS2-Convertor/dp/B000IHFOZ6/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1248036130&sr=8-11

The way to see if its an active device is it should be recognised by the
computer even when a keyboard and mouse is not plugged in, and you should be
able to plug a keyboard into it after boot, or switch to it.

Here is the output of a HP one I own. You will notice it gives a name
completely differnt to what make/model your keyboard is.

ohci_hcd 0000:00:06.0: wakeup
usb 4-3: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
usb 4-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Y.G.I By kunichen at ms8.url.com.tw PS/2 Adapter V1.13 as
/class/input/input3
input: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [Y.G.I By kunichen at ms8.url.com.tw PS/2 Adapter
V1.13] on usb-0000:00:06.0-3

James

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