FC1 and Belkin OmniView 4-port switch (Bob Hartung)

[amsm at iprimus.com.au]

Hi,

A few months back, I tried a Belkin 4-port "SOHO" KVM switch in my then setup
of RH 7.3 firewall/gateway machine, RH9 workstation (mostly running X) and
Win2K box.

I found that whenever I switched out to the RH7 or Win2k machines, on return
to the RH9 machine, the mouse was uncontrollable.  Apparently it's a known
issue with Belkin switches and X.  I tried the various suggestions I found
on the net for making sure all machines used the same protocols etc, but
nothing helped.

I could retain some control if I did a mouse reset each time, but that defeats
the purpose.

I ditched it and used a Comsol, which works brilliantly.  Well....I brought
the belkin in to work and swapped the Comsol out...it was only ever used
for text-consoles anyway, so why not ?  ;-)

I didn't have the hassles with the video quality or anything, is was just
a demented mouse problem.

I wouldn't touch Belkin gear again with a 10-foot pole.


jdow wrote:

>From: "Karl Hakmiller" <karlh at concentric.net>
>
>
>
>>I came across a Belkin switch (OmniView) at CompUSA that permits running
>>
>>
>up to four computers using a single monitor, keyboard, mouse and
>speaker-set. It sounds like a great space saver - I have an XP Home and
an
>FC1 machine taking up most of the table space in my study - and it would
be
>great to get rid of one of the monitors and such.
>
>
>>But, I'm wondering if any listers have used this switch with a linux
>>
>>
>machine before I buy it. I don't mind set-up problems if they can be
>overcome with a little patience and work but I've been burned a couple of
>times lately with hardware having installation software which is only
>written for Windows machines.
>
>I have an 8 port Onmiview. It's video quality is so low and support
>from Belkin so wretched I tend to urge people to avoid Belkin like
>poison.
>
>A brand new unit oscillated on the video for certain brightness transitions.
>I arranged a replacement from Belkin. I received a VERY used unit that was
>in worse shape than the one I had. I subsequently took the original one
>apart, found something that rectified most of the problem, and am still
>limping along with it. The video still has unsatisfactory levels of video
>ringing. I will not be purchasing Belkin again for a VERY long time.
>
>{^_^} Joanne Dow said that.