2. Introduction
The ServSwitch™ USB and ServSwitch™ USB Plus are high-performance peripheral-sharing devices that support computers with VGA video outputs and Universal Serial Bus (USB) peripheral ports. You can switch between two fully USB- enabled IBM® PC compatible or Apple® Macintosh® G3™ or G4™ CPUs using our
2-port Switch models (our product codes KV812A and KV822A) or four such CPUs using our 4-port models (KV814A and KV824A).
You can plug in a VGA-type monitor and as many as three USB peripherals (or more, if you add USB hubs) for these CPUs to share. Refer to Section 4.1 to find out what types of monitors and USB peripherals are supported, as well as what cables can be used and what distances can be covered.
The ServSwitch USB Plus models (KV822A and KV824A), in addition to all of the capabilities of the regular ServSwitch USB models (KV812A and KV814A), have 6-pin mini-DIN connectors to which you can hook up an optional PS/2 keyboard and mouse. (With these, you can control the Switch with keyboard commands and mouse-click functions.) The USB Plus models also have a DB15 “option port” into which you can plug a Remote-Control Module (KV6REM, specify length of the cable component) for channel switching up to 50 ft. (15.2 m) away.
2.1 Features and Benefits
Here are some of the useful features of all of the ServSwitch USB models, as well as some of the ways those features benefit you:
•Control two to four USB-enabled CPUs, and switch their access to three or more USB peripherals, with one keyboard, monitor, and mouse.
•Units are self-powered (that is, have their own power supply), so they’re sure to provide enough power on their ports. They also have USB hub functions built-in.
•Supports VGA and related standards at resolutions up to 1600 x 1280, as well as VESA DDC1 and DDC2 video signaling.
•USB peripherals can be almost any kind of devices: keyboards, mice, joysticks, microphones, speakers, etc.
•You can switch CPU channels with the front-panel pushbutton and view the Switch’s status on the front-panel display.
•Autoscan ports for easy monitoring of CPU activity.
