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CHAPTER 4: Operation: Hardware and Keyboard Commands
change from a PC Mouse to a Microsoft serial mouse. (If you send the ServSwitch a
Set Keyboard/Mouse command that attempts to change the shared-mouse type,
but the shared mouse is Sun or Apple type or the Switch can autosense that the
mouse is otherwise not of the type you’ve indicated, the Switch will ignore the
command.)
4.3.7.C Keyboard Modes
Keyboard “modes” are electrical signaling protocols that determine how a powered
IBM compatible CPU and keyboard interact. A CPU and keyboard must use the
same mode in order to work with each other. Of the three standard IBM keyboard
modes currently in use, mode number 2 is the one used by the vast majority of
CPUs. It is also the default state of all 101-, 102-, 104-, and 105-key keyboards.
Mode 1 is used primarily by certain PS/2 CPUs. Mode 3 is used by RS/6000
®
CPUs,
some other UNIX
®
based computers, and certain specialized servers.
The ServSwitch supports all three of these modes: As it receives signals from the
keyboard, it sends them to the currently selected CPU by emulating a keyboard of
the appropriate mode for that CPU; as it receives signals for the keyboard from the
currently selected or scanned CPU, it sends them to the keyboard by emulating a
CPU of the appropriate mode.
Most CPUs that use keyboard mode 1 or 3 send a “mode command” to the
keyboard at power-up, to put the keyboard in the proper mode. ServSwitches (even
submaster units) can use these commands to automatically detect each such CPU’s
keyboard mode when you turn on the CPU after it has been cabled to the Switch.
However, unless you issue a Keep Settings command, the ServSwitches will forget
the modes they have detected when they are turned OFF, then default to each
port’s most recently saved setting when they’re turned ON again.
The ServSwitch can’t detect the CPU’s keyboard mode if your CPU doesn’t send
“mode commands” (most CPUs that use mode 2 fall into this category) or the CPU
is already ON when you connect it to the Switch (it shouldn’t be). In these
situations, the ServSwitch tries to use the keyboard-mode setting stored in its
nonvolatile memory for that port. The factory default is mode 2 for all ports. Send
a Set Keyboard/Mouse command to change the keyboard mode for a port if:
• the CPU that is or will be on that port is a Sun or Mac or uses mode 1 or 3;
• it uses mode 2, but the default setting of the port you want to connect it to has
been changed; or
• you don’t know which mode the CPU uses or the port is set for, but the
keyboard’s behavior makes you suspect that the port’s setting is wrong.