ServSwitch User's Manual

MATRIX SERVSWITCH™

3.2 Guidelines for Using the Matrix ServSwitch with Your Equipment

3.2.1 CPU

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.)

3.2.2 M

OUSE AND

EYBOARD

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