Black Box KV5300 Series manual Cable Requirements, Equipment Requirements

SERVSWITCH™ AND SERVSWITCH ULTRA™

2.5 Cable Requirements

Many switches of this type have what seems like ten million connectors on their rear panels: one for each CPU’s video cable, one for each keyboard cable, and a third for each mouse cable. The potential for tangling or mismatching cables is high.

By contrast, you can connect the ServSwitch to your CPUs with one “CPU Adapter Cable” for each CPU. This single cable reaches the CPU’s video-output, keyboard, and mouse ports.

Likewise, to connect “submaster” (slave) Serv type switches, you need one “ServSwitch to ServSwitch Expansion Cable” for each subsidiary unit.

Lastly, you can connect the ServSwitch to the shared monitor, keyboard and mouse with a single “MKM Adapter Cable.”

The exact variety or varieties of these cables that you’ll need will depend on the equipment you are connecting for your application. Refer to Appendix B for the available types of these cables and the corresponding product codes. Also refer to Chapter 1 or the first Caution notice on page 23 for information about maximum cabling distances.

NOTES

IBM PC, Mac, and multiplatform models:

SVGA (over longer distances), XGA, and high-resolution Mac video place special demands on cabling that the regular MKM Adapter Cables and CPU Adapter Cables typically cannot meet. For these applications, you should use coaxial cables that can carry video signals not only farther but also at higher resolutions. See Appendix B and the first Caution notice on page 23. You’ll also need a Mac Adapter for ServSwitch for each Mac CPU outputting high-res (greater than 640 x 480) video; see the Note on page 23.

To share an IBM 9515, 9517, or 9518 monitor on an IBM type or multiplatform Switch, you will need special cabling. Call Black Box for technical support; we can give you a quote on these types of cable.

2.6 Equipment Requirements

If the CPUs you will be controlling through your ServSwitch are not all of the same type—especially if your Switch is a multiplatform model and the CPUs represent completely different hardware platforms (IBM, Mac, etc.)—you will have to be careful to choose a common monitor, keyboard, and mouse that adequately support all of the CPUs. For full details, see Section 4.1.

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