From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 12 19:21:00 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC2EC106564A for ; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:21:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C8B18FC16 for ; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:21:00 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-14-151.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.14.151]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 01F8D1F68F; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:20:58 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id p8CJKwcY001872; Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:20:58 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:20:58 +0200 From: Polytropon To: David Brodbeck Message-Id: <20110912212058.300af40c.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <20076.56940.849206.283586@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <20110912014355.19f3efa6.freebsd@edvax.de> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: FreeBSD Subject: Re: KVM switch with FreeBSD-8.2 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:21:01 -0000 On Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:45:59 -0700, David Brodbeck wrote: > On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 4:43 PM, Polytropon wrote: > > On Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:10:48 -0600 (MDT), Warren Block wrote: > >> On Sun, 11 Sep 2011, Daniel Feenberg wrote: > >> > >> > If you are asking, "Is there a FreeBSD command to cause the KVM switch to > >> > move to the next system?" then the answer is "I don't know and it would amaze > >> > me if there were." > >> > >> There's often a key sequence to advance to the next port or a specific > >> port. > > > > That can _sometimes_ be a problem when the KVM switch > > doesn't properly detect this sequence - or maybe the > > user has already defined that sequence for some action > > in X, so X "catches" the sequence and acts properly. > > X "catching" the sequence won't stop the switch from reacting to it -- > it's done in hardware in the switch. But of course X may do something > undesirable if the switch passes the key combination through. Yes, I thought of something like that _might_ happen, depending on the firmware of the KVM switch. You know, keys that are useful to users may be a first-class candidate for the manufacturer to say: "Oh look, nobody uses *that* key, let's hardcode it as switching key!" :-) > The two most common ones are Ctrl, Alt, Shift (rapidly in sequence) > followed by a port number, or Ctrl twice. The latter can be a little > too easy to trigger accidentally. Fully agree, that's not very well thought... but maybe the product designers primarily orient at the "Windows" main target group that hardly uses the keyboard. :-) > The USB switches generally emulate a generic USB keyboard and mouse, > so drivers aren't a problem. Sometimes they work by simulating a USB > disconnect from the machine they're switching to, though, so you need > good keyboard and mouse hotplug support in the OS. FreeBSD's devd should handle that fine. Also the absense of a keyboard at system startup shouldn't matter. > Generally these switches don't react well to having anything but a > keyboard in the keyboard port and a mouse in the mouse port. If you > have a hub built into your keyboard the hub will be useless when > you're using one of these switches. Uh, that can be a problem when using professional desktop equipment, e. g. a Sun keyboard where you can connect the mouse directly to the keyboard (a feature known from the Apple ADB configurations of the 80's, if I remember correct- ly, but Sun also had this functionality in the pre-USB era; it's also a feature returning in Apple's modern USB products to attach the short-wired mouse to the keyboard's USB hub). I furthermore assume using the keyboard's hub for attaching other USB devices (memory sticks, MP3 players or cameras) to the keyboard's hub is a no-go then. Regarding the possible problem with monitors: As an example, the Nvidia documentation (HTML version located at /usr/local/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/html/) contains this interesting option: Option "ConnectedMonitor" "string" Allows you to override what the NVIDIA kernel module detects is connected to your graphics card. This may be useful, for example, if you use a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch and you are switched away when X is started. In such a situation, the NVIDIA kernel module cannot detect which display devices are connected, and the NVIDIA X driver assumes you have a single CRT. Something similar _may_ be useful in case of too much malfunctioning autodetection magic. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...