midiwall

Has anyone had any luck finding a KVM switch that will support both a PC and an older (Beige G3 era) Mac?

I run a PC and a Beige G3 side-by-side and hate having to have two sets of keyboards/mice around. I've found some devices, but it looks like they're all for USB based Mac's:

http://www.mycableshop.com/sku/SV110.htm?x=27&y=11
http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=142329
http://www.macconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=142325
http://search.ebay.com/mac-pc-kvm_W0QQfromZR40QQsojsZ1


Thanks!

calg3

Hey, Midiwall. I am in the same boat as you. I use the Belkin SOHO series to switch between my beige G3 and my Athlon rig. I put a USB PCI card in my beige G3 and am using the USB Belkin Soho KVM switch. I could not find an ADB-PS/2 KVM switch anywhere so I went this route. It works fine most of the time, but here are the drawbacks: when there is no USB device connected to the Belkin KVM is makes a very loud beeping sound. I use a Mac Pro USB keyboard so I can utilize the important Mac keys-control, option, Apple. But it does not always type Upper case-Lower case. Sometimes there is a delay so I have to be careful when I am typing. It does not emulate the Windows keys, but I never need it to do that. The big advantage is having one monitor for two computers(duh!) and having an optical mouse for the Beige Mac. I also have a dedicated PS/2 keybard for the PC and a beige ADB keyboard for the Mac in the rare times I need to do that. Not the most ideal solution, but one that works most of the time for me. Sorry if this is long and confusing, just trying to get everything I can think of in here.

midiwall

Dude, that's an AWESOME idea, and I just happen to have a USB card sitting here!

Will the G3 just deal with the USB card or do I have to fiind drivers somewhere?

So I just have to get a USB Mac keyboard, and a USB KVM and I'm set. I never use the Windows key either so that's no loss.

edit: I found a cheapo USB KVM: http://www.welovemacs.com/usbms2ab.html, $20 and it'll be fine for what I need.

wow... I'm stoked! Thank you!


So... what are you pairing up a G3 and a Windows box for? The only people I know doing this are music geeks.

calg3

That depends on what version Mac OS you are running on the Beige G3, if you are running Mac OS 8.6 or later you should be good to go. It will just be recognized, no drivers needed. I originally started out with Macs and we don't have any money in the budget to get a newer Mac and our old Macs just keep happily plugging along. I built the PC myself partly for the experience and partly beacuse of cost. I put it all together for less than $300 because I already had a lot of parts for it-HD, RAM, CD drives, keyboard, mouse, etc. Not a music geek, still have too much music on cassettes. Slowly getting CD's though. Good luck, let me know how it works out! Any ???'s, just fire away!!

calg3

That looks good, too bad it does not come with cables. Let me know if you need any help with the cables. I might have some extra around here somewhere.

midiwall

I upped myself one better.

I hit this auction last night. I don't know if it'll solve the issue of the Command Key under OS 9.1 but for the price, I figured I'd give it a shot. Otherwise, I'd be buying a KVM along with a keyboard and a mouse.

calg3

Cool, I hope that works for you. Be careful that they send you the right one. I noticed in the pictures that he had USB and PS/2 versions. You also want to make sure that the cables are pretty good quality or you might get signal loss that could lead to degradation of the picture quality to the monitor. Are you using a flat panel LCD monitor or a CRT?

midiwall

Update!

I gt the switch today - immediate shipping! - and it works swell, 'cept that OS 9.1 is complaining about not knowing what to do with the USB card in terms of the mouse. I'm searching for drivers...

After it started complaining I (mistakenly) installed USB 1.4.1 which didn't help, so I'm now off to install OS 9.2.2 to see if that fixes things up.


Anyway... props to the switch, it works really well. The problems I'm having have nothing to do with it.

midiwall

OHH!!!

I almost forgot...

I saw similar issues to your character transpose/dropping.

Lemme guess, do you have both keyboards on the Mac at once? From what I saw here, that creates dropped characters on the Mac kbd, but the USB kbd works fine.

Just a thought....

calg3

Mine works the other way around. I always get the dropped/stuck characters on my Mac USB Pro keyboard. If I want to type without dealing with that, I pull out the old Beige ADB Mac keyboard that is always attached. And it never happens while I am on the PC. I have gotten used to it and it has forced me to be more careful when I am typing. For me, that is a good thing!!

calg3

Cool, that sounds great! Yep, make sure you have the appropiate USB extensions enabled. Then you can check and see that the USB PCI card is recognized in Apple System Profiler. The Mac OS 9.2.2 update should show up if you run Software Update, then you should be good to go. What brand of USB PCI Card do you have?

midiwall

I have success!

I had time today to download 9.2.1 and 9.2.2 and between the two of them (and a bit of messing around with extensions...) and... and... AND...! It's all working!

I'm thrilled at being able to control a PC and a Mac from the same keyboard/mouse combo. This makes a lot of things in the "music room" a TON easier!

WAHOOOO!!!



Oh... you asked about the USB card... It's from "Startech" which is barely recognized in the world. It's your basic cheap knockoff that advertises XP support. I bought used for $10 and thought I was gonna use it in another Windows machine but never did, and figured that the Beige would be a better fit when you suggested it. and... it was.

Thanks man!

calg3

Congratulations! Good job. Startech is actually not that bad. I have heard of them and used some of their stuff before. I think their stuff is actually Mac friendly if I remember correctly. I seem to remember seeing them at a Mac Expo or two in the past. Anyway, glad to hear it worked out for you.