Comment Belkin KVMs are crap (Score 1) 85
I've got a Cybex at home and bought a lot of their gear for a previous employer. It worked wonderfully, and the 2 port KVM at home has no problem switching between my main linux system and my occasional-use windows game box, both using the scroll wheel. My only complaint is that I wish it were a 4 port so I could get the firewall and web server on there as well
At my most recent job, and here where I'm consulting now, they have Belkin KVMs. Crap. I've never had this much trouble ever with a KVM. The more expensive systems are even worse. We had probably 20 of the 8 port switches, and some 2x8 switches. If they go berserk, and they often did, there is no reset. You have to power the KVM off. And since they draw power from the remote system, you have to unplug all 16 ps/2 cords. Buried in a rack, this is a mess. But at least the 4 port KVM can be made to work semi-reliably. I've got two 4 port Belkin KVMs in use only with Linux systems now, and the mouse wheel works.
I will give Belkin credit on one point. SCROLL-LOCK, SCROLL-LOCK makes much more sense as an attention sequence to control the switch from the keyboard than CTRL-CTRL for the Cybex. Yes, you can change the Cybex attention key but it is lost if the KVM loses power.
Note that the "normal" ps/2 mouse protocol transmits three bytes of information. The "intellimouse" imps/2 mouse protocol is enabled when the computer communicates with the mouse to configure this. Once enabled, the mouse sends four byte packets of information.
Make sure all computers are configured to recognize and use the wheel. If you don't, you'll have to force the system to resync with the mouse when switching between systems.
Don't move the mouse when switching between systems. If you send part of the packet to one system and the rest to another, both will likely get confused.
If the mouse and system get out of sync, resync by pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 and then ALT-F7 to drop out and then back in to X.
At my most recent job, and here where I'm consulting now, they have Belkin KVMs. Crap. I've never had this much trouble ever with a KVM. The more expensive systems are even worse. We had probably 20 of the 8 port switches, and some 2x8 switches. If they go berserk, and they often did, there is no reset. You have to power the KVM off. And since they draw power from the remote system, you have to unplug all 16 ps/2 cords. Buried in a rack, this is a mess. But at least the 4 port KVM can be made to work semi-reliably. I've got two 4 port Belkin KVMs in use only with Linux systems now, and the mouse wheel works.
I will give Belkin credit on one point. SCROLL-LOCK, SCROLL-LOCK makes much more sense as an attention sequence to control the switch from the keyboard than CTRL-CTRL for the Cybex. Yes, you can change the Cybex attention key but it is lost if the KVM loses power.
Note that the "normal" ps/2 mouse protocol transmits three bytes of information. The "intellimouse" imps/2 mouse protocol is enabled when the computer communicates with the mouse to configure this. Once enabled, the mouse sends four byte packets of information.
Make sure all computers are configured to recognize and use the wheel. If you don't, you'll have to force the system to resync with the mouse when switching between systems.
Don't move the mouse when switching between systems. If you send part of the packet to one system and the rest to another, both will likely get confused.
If the mouse and system get out of sync, resync by pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 and then ALT-F7 to drop out and then back in to X.
