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CHAPTER 4: Installation
4.3 Connecting Your Devices
As you connect your equipment, make sure that your ServSwitch USB and (if
possible) all the devices you want to attach to it are turned off and unplugged.
4.3.1 M
ONITOR
The shared monitor in your system must work when directly attached to any of
your computers, which includes being able to display all of the types of video that
they can output.
If this monitor’s video cable has an HD15 male connector, you can plug it right
into the ServSwitch USB’s monitor port; this is the HD15 female connector labeled
with the picture of a monitor in the teal-colored “USER AND PERIPHERAL
CONNECTIONS” area on the rear panel of the Switch. If the monitor is truly
compatible with all of your CPUs but has some other kind of connector, you will
need a video adapter or converter of some kind; call Black Box for technical support.
4.3.2 USB P
ERIPHERALS
Use standard USB cables such as our product code USB01 to attach your USB
keyboard, mouse, scanner, printer, speaker, microphone, camera, hub, or other
peripherals to the ServSwitch USB’s user-side USB ports. (These are the three
Type A female USB connectors labeled with a triple branching icon in the teal-
colored “USER AND PERIPHERAL CONNECTIONS” area on the rear panel of
the Switch.) A few things you need to keep in mind as you attach these peripherals:
• Important: Normally, you would not be able to press the Power key on Mac
USB keyboards to boot CPUs attached to the keyboards through USB switches
or hubs, because they don’t support the special Mac power circuit. The
ServSwitch USB does support this circuit, but only on the rightmost of its three
USB peripheral ports. So if you want to be able to boot an attached Mac
computer from your Mac USB keyboard, you must plug the keyboard into that
rightmost port.
• Normally, cable must not be run farther than 5 m (16.4 ft.) from the Switch to
your USB peripherals. However, if you are using USB hubs, the total cable
distance from the Switch through your hub(s) to the peripherals can be longer
as long as the peripherals are not more than 5 m (16.4 ft.) from the hub they
are attached to.
• Because the Switch provides the USB-standard 500 mA on its USB ports, you
can attach one layer of nonpowered hubs to the Switch. Just remember not to
cascade any nonpowered hubs from other nonpowered hubs; your USB bus
will fail if you do.