Black Box ServSwitch manual Cpus

MATRIX SERVSWITCH™

3.2 Guidelines for Using the Matrix ServSwitch with Your Equipment

3.2.1 CPUS

If you will be attaching IBM PC type computers, use only IBM PC/AT, PS/2, RS/6000®, or 100% compatible machines, or recent SGI® machines. The Matrix ServSwitch does not support IBM PC/XT™ or compatible machines. It also does not support machines that output CGA or EGA video. (Because the basic hardware design used by Apple and Sun has remained largely backward-compatible, the multiplatform Matrix Switches support most Sun machines and—with adapters— Apple machines.)

3.2.2MOUSE AND KEYBOARD

When you power up your Matrix ServSwitch system, make sure that your CPUs, mice, and keyboards are properly cabled to the system. When you boot up your CPUs, the Matrix ServSwitches to which they are connected should already be ON. (You should be able to freely disconnect and reconnect the mouse or keyboard from a Matrix ServSwitch while the Switch is ON, but if you experience problems when you do this, issue the Reset command [CTRL] R—see Section 6.11.)

Though the Matrix ServSwitch can convert any supported keyboard or mouse protocol to any other, this is not enough to overcome all of the vast differences between input devices. If all of your CPUs are of the same type, we recommend that you use the corresponding type of keyboard and mouse. (However, the Switch doesn’t support Apple keyboards or mice, even though you can use adapters to attach Mac CPUs.) If your CPUs are of different types, certain limitations tend to favor the use of certain keyboard and mouse types:

Standard PC keyboards have 101 or 102 keys; PC keyboards designed specifically for modern versions of Microsoft® Windows® have 104 or 105 keys. At this time there is no way for a 101-/102-key keyboard to emulate the functions of the Windows Start ( ) and Windows Application ( ) keys on a 104-/105-key keyboard. And Type 5 Sun keyboards have 118 keys as well as keyclick and beep features. We have mapped several of the Apple and Sun keys to the PC keyboards (see Table 3-1 at the end of this section), but many of the Sun keys simply cannot be mapped to IBM keyboards. Similarly, standard PC mice have two or three buttons. At this time there is no way for a two-button mouse attached to the ServSwitch to emulate a mouse with three buttons.

For these reasons, we recommend that you use Sun Type 5 (not Type 6) keyboards and Sun mice with multiplatform Switches for mixed-platform applications that include Sun CPUs. Use IBM keyboards and mice for PC-only Switches, or with multiplatform Switches to which no Sun CPUs are attached. In

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