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On Friday 13 Nov 2015 15:54:02 Walter Dnes wrote: |
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> I have 3 machines kicking around. One is a Dell Inspiron 530 from |
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> June 2008 that simply refuses to die. The others are more recent. |
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> On my desk (actually a re-purposed kitchen table) I only have room for 1 |
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> 24 inch monitor, 1 big Unicomp "IBM-like clickety-clack" USB keyboard |
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> |
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http://www.pckeyboard.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_code=UNI041 |
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> A and 1 trackball. |
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> |
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> I got an IOGear 4-port USB KVM. It has a remote clicker to switch |
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> between the 4 ports; no icky escape/control sequences. Because it's |
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> hardware-controlled, there are no drivers required. It works great |
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> with one exception, which is a linux kernel problem, not a switch |
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> problem. The problem I've found occurs when booting a machine that is |
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> not currently selected by the KVM switch. I found the BIOS settings to |
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> eliminate the... |
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> |
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> Keyboard failure |
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> Select F1 to continue; F2 to enter SETUP |
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> |
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> ...message. The linux kernel problem is that it doesn't detect the |
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> display when that particular machine is not selected at bootup |
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> (duhhhh), and assumes 1024x768 console and graphics video. If the |
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> machine is selected by the switch at bootup, things work properly. |
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> |
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> But don't panic. Even if I boot into 1024x768 text mode, and default |
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> to 1024x768 graphics, running "xrandr -s 1920x1080" gets me 1920x1080 |
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> X Window display. The available modes for your display may be |
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> different. Just run "xrandr" for a list of available modes. |
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I don't think there's a problem at all. I have a 2-port USB KVM too, but I |
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don't have any difficulty with the keyboard. Of course I get the 80x24 |
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screen if the monitor isn't connected to the PC at boot time. I just make |
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sure I do have that PC selected when I boot it - or if I can't, such as |
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after a power cut while I'm out, I just reboot it when I can. |
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There's a kernel config option somewhere, I think, about choosing whether to |
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read the EDID from the screen or to use a preset value, but I haven't |
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bothered with it for the few occasions I might need it. |
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Can your PC BIOS start in headless mode? That would sidestep the missing- |
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keyboard problem. |
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-- |
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Rgds |
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Peter |
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