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KVM 4 way switch and Mandrake 10


kde-head
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Over the weekend I upgraded my 9.1 box from 10.0 community and then to 10.0 official.

However, this has resulted in my mouse not working (it's a bog standard PS/2) if i use my 4 way Belkin Omniview KVM switch.

Luckily , I've got a spare mouse, and Mdk 10 works if i plug it in directly into the PS/2 port.

 

Googling around I found a lot of references to the 2.6 kernel handling mice differently - my 9.1 , 2.4 kernel, install used the KVM switch without any problems.

 

 

I suspect there is something up with the 2.6 kernel and kvm switches - installed 9.1 Suse on a third box (also plugged into the kvm switch) and the mouse just goes erratic if i switch from the Mandrake box back to the Suse one.

 

Any hints , tips on how to get the mouse to work via a KVM switch on 10.0?

 

Is it a genuine bug ? If so, where would be the best place to report it to Mandrake?

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It's a problem with your KVM switch. It's not specific to 2.6, but it is worse (perhaps oddly) than 2.4 ever was.

 

A solution that I have heard of, but never tried is that if you use an external power source for the switch (i.e. not just powering it off one of the PCs) then that can fix the issue.

 

Let me know if you get a chance to try this and if it works. As I say, I never actually got round to trying this fix and I'd be really interested to know one way or the other.

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my switch does indeed use an external power source.

 

my mdk 10 box is dual-boot (win 98) - and the switch works just fine when i boot into winblows 98, so it's not a cabling/hardware fault.

 

its all v.strange - it all worked just fine on the 2.4 kernel, 9.1 mandrake release.

 

i did read somewhere that powering off the switch and powering it up again might be a solution - it would "force" mdk 10 to recognise the mouse. although that was just a suggestion, and i'm not sure if it's a solution.

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came across a possible solution.

 

put

 

psmouse.proto=bare

 

into the "append" section of the linux kernel entry in lilo.conf that you boot into normally.

 

apparently , you'll loose your mouse wheel and advanced features, but you'll have basic mouse functionality.

 

your mileage may vary...

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a reboot should indeed cause the mouse to be picked up - but it's a fairly rubbish fix since it would be quite an arse to have to reboot every machine you wanted to switch to.

 

Just to clarify - when you say you use an external power source, do you mean something like an a/c adapter?

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more mouse bugs reported here...

 

 

http://bugs.mandrakelinux.com/query.php?bug=870

http://bugs.mandrakelinux.com/query.php?bug=551

http://bugs.mandrakelinux.com/query.php?bug=546

 

looks like it's a ps/2 driver issue rather than being KVM switch specific.

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came across a possible solution.

 

put

 

psmouse.proto=bare

 

into the "append" section of the linux kernel entry in lilo.conf that you boot into normally.

 

apparently , you'll loose your mouse wheel and advanced features, but you'll have basic mouse functionality.

 

your mileage may vary...

 

Did you ever try this one yourself? Did you notice any improvement?

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