List members,
I am experiencing compatibility problems with a Belkin OmniView PRO
8-Port KVM switch and Fedora Core 3. Any help you could provide
resolving these problems without purchasing a new KVM would be greatly
appreciated. From reading this list and the related Bugzilla bugs, I
find that improbable, so I'd also be grateful for any recommendations
for a new KVM switch. I apologize for this being a bit of a repost, but
I must justify the new purchase to my management. Any suggestions will
be run past Dell technical support as well. Once I have implemented the
solution, I will post it back to the list. KVM problems seem to be
somewhat common, so I hope it is a significant contribution to the
community.
Some of the problems I am experiencing under Fedora Core 3 follow:
- Without switching between computers, the monitor flickers and the
keyboard and/or mouse connection is dropped.
- Without switching between computers, the monitor stops updating the
display. This deadlocks any programs attempting to print to the display
until the situation is resolved.
- After switching to a computer, the keyboard and/or mouse connection is
dropped or extremely erratic (ie. Keystrokes being interpreted as
function keys. Keystrokes being generated when the keyboard is not in
use. The mouse pointer moving all over the screen, opening and closing
windows.)
There is also a SUSE machine attached to the KVM that experiences
similar problems. The Windows machines seem to be fine.
One of the FC3 machines is connected to the KVM via a PS/2-to-USB Y-adapter.
I attempted to resolve these problems as described in prior posts to
this list, but I didn't have any success. The steps I took follow:
- Disabling console mouse services by preventing gpm from starting at boot.
- Disabling DPMS (Energy Star) features by editing xorg.conf.
- Disabling PS/2 mouse protocol extensions by editing xorg.conf and
setting the psmouse.proto kernel parameter to bare (psmouse.proto=bare).
- Disabling APM functionality in the BIOS and by setting the apm kernel
parameter to off (apm=off).
- Disabling the screen saver's awareness of power management via KDE's
Control Center.
- Disabling display power management via KDE's Control Center.
There was only one ACPI event configured on the FC3 machines, mapping
the power button to the "/sbin/shutdown -h now" command, so I left that
alone.
After performing these steps, I rebooted. Within five minutes, the
monitor flickered and the keyboard became unresponsive. I was at a text
console at the time and kernel messages similar to the following began
to appear periodically:
- psmouse.c: bad data from KBC - timeout
- psmouse.c: Mouse at isa0060/serio1/input0 lost synchronization,
throwing 2 bytes away.
- atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x7f on
isa0060/serio0).
- atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes 7f <keycode>' to make it known.
If these problems cannot be resolved through software or other means, we
are considering purchasing the following KVM switches. As mentioned
previously, any feedback regarding these or other KVMs would be appreciated:
- APC AP5201
- http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=AP5201
- Belkin F1DA108T
-
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=122885
- IOGEAR GCS1758 or ATEN CS-1758 (these appear to be the same hardware)
- http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GCS1758
-
http://www.aten.com/products/productItem.php?pcid=20050103163647001&psid=20050107104913001&pid=20050224093143008
My personal preference is the APC because a) it's not a Belkin and b)
the IOGEAR and ATEN KVMs require a USB keyboard and mouse but our
existing rackmount keyboard/mouse combos have PS/2 interfaces. Below
you will find a detailed hardware/OS description of our current (broken)
KVM setup. If you need any more information, please request it.
Thank you very much,
Matthew Roth
InterMedia Marketing Solutions
Software Engineer and Systems Developer
============================================================
KVM Switch: Belkin OmniView PRO 8-Port (F1D108-OSD)
-
http://www.belkin.com/support/download.asp?download=F1D108-OSD&lang=1&mode=
- Interfaces: K: PS/2
V: HDDB15 female
M: PS/2
Keyboard/Mouse: Compaq Internal Keyboard with Trackball (185152-001)
-
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/options/rackacces/cpqrakopt1.html
- Interfaces: K: PS/2
M: PS/2
Video: Compaq V710 17" Monitor (187896-001)
- http://www.ridgetechnologies.com/hardware/hardware/monitors.htm
- Interfaces: V: HDDB15 male
Computer on Port 1: Dell PowerEdge 6850
-
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_6850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
- Interfaces: K: USB *
V: HDDB15 female
M: USB *
* Both are connected to a single USB port via a PS/2-to-USB Y-adapter.
- OS: Fedora Core 3 (Kernel: 2.6.12-1.1376_FC3smp x86_64)
Computer on Port 2: Dell PowerEdge 1850
-
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_1850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
- Interfaces: K: PS/2
V: HDDB15 female
M: PS/2
- OS: Fedora Core 3 (Kernel: 2.6.12-1.1376_FC3smp x86_64)
Computer on Port 3: Dell PowerEdge 1850
-
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_1850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
- Interfaces: K: PS/2
V: HDDB15 female
M: PS/2
- OS: Fedora Core 3 (Kernel: 2.6.12-1.1376_FC3smp x86_64)
Computer on Port 4: Dell PowerEdge 2850
-
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_2850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
- Interfaces: K: PS/2
V: HDDB15 female
M: PS/2
- OS: SUSE 9.1 (Kernel: 2.6.4-52-smp x86_64)
Computer on Port 5: Dell PowerEdge 850
-
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
- Interfaces: K: PS/2
V: HDDB15 female
M: PS/2
- OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Computer on Port 6: None
Computer on Port 7: None
Computer on Port 8: Compaq ProLiant ML750 - Rack Model
- http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/10633_na/10633_na.html
- Interfaces: K: PS/2
V: HDDB15 female
M: PS/2
- OS: Microsoft Windows Advanced Server 2000
