Yesterday I posted How About a KVM
Switch for USB Macs and PS/2 Windows PCs?, bemoaning my inability
to find a low-cost keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) switch that would work
with both a USB Mac and a PC that required PS/2 input.
Thanks to several readers, I am able to report that such items do
exist, and they're not terribly expensive. On top of that, I have a
couple of even less costly options some readers have suggested.
The iView KVM
There seems to be precisely one solution to this problem, the
2 Port iView Mini
KVM Switch with PS/2, USB, audio, and integrated cables, which
appears to be available only from Triangle Cables. It's not exactly
what I was looking for, but it's good enough.
The iView Mini KVM has VGA, audio, PS/2 keyboard, and PS/2 mouse
plugs on one side; VGA, audio, and USB on the other; and VGA, audio,
PS/2 keyboard, and PS/2 mouse inputs in the middle (the switch). That
means you can't use a USB mouse and keyboard without USB-to-PS/2
adapters.
I don't think that's going
to be a problem for the bulk of the target audience, which already has
a computer with PS/2 ports and therefore must have a PS/2 mouse and
keyboard. This should work like a charm with my Logitech wireless
mouse/keyboard combo, since it supports PS/2 as well as USB.
Thanks to Dan Harmon of Chicago for passing along information on
this device, which he uses. It sells for US$59.
The Petite CS-521 KVM
Another solution is the
Petite
CS-521, which supports PS2 keyboard and mouse input switched
between one PS/2 machine and one USB computer. The biggest drawback
with this one is that it claims to have 4" cables, but maybe that's a
typo for a 4' cable.
The Petite CS-521 KVM is available from ATEN for US$49.95. Thanks to
Timothy Gogh for bringing this to my attention.
Other Options
More expensive than either of these, Eric suggests the Belkin OmniView™ SOHO Series KVM Switch with
Audio, PS/2, USB, and VGA. The
lowest price I've seen on this KVM is US$80.
Several readers suggest using a PS/2 KVM with a
2-female-PS/2-to-one-USB adapter. H Wayne Anderson reports picking up a
GE adapter at Big Lots for $4. This may be the most economical
solution. It's definitely the one I'll be pursuing first.
Gary Shelton notes that it should be possible to change the BIOS in
my Dell: "In your Dell's BIOS, there should be a setting that will
allow the computer to boot without a PS/2 keyboard and mouse attached.
It's location is dependent upon the age of the machine and the
manufacturer of the BIOS, but on most older machines it's an option on
the first screen, listed under something such as 'Halt on Error' -
there should be a setting there to tell the computer to ignore keyboard
errors, which will allow the computer to boot without a keyboard. I
discovered this many years ago when using PCs with UNIXy operating
systems like FreeBSD, where I could reasonably expect the computer to
run 'headless'."
I tried it, found the keyboard error reporting setting on the second
setup page (hold F2 at startup), and told it not to report errors. Then
I plugged the wireless base into the USB port, rebooted, and the Dell
did boot into Windows. And then Windows complained that there was no
PS/2 mouse....
Thanks to everyone who wrote. It's nice to have this kind of support
- and to discover that something I couldn't find does exist.
