Re: ps/2 mouse problem with KVM switch

[Marko Macek <Marko.Macek@gmx.net>]

Vojtech Pavlik wrote:

> Sadly enough, there is a soft reset command in the PS/2 protocol, and
> the PS/2 interface is designed for hotplug, and because of that Linux
> 2.6 can easily handle hotplugging of both PS/2 keyboards and mice,
> including type detection, etc, BUT the KVM switches don't use that,
> because Windows historically doesn't support unplugging a PS/2 mouse.

If the mouse gets into confusing state, I can "replug" it into the KVM 
switch (while in Windows) and it works fine after that. I have also 
noticed that when Windows is doing "resume" I must not switch away 
before it is if I want my mouse to work (otherwise I will need to replug).

For Linux, I also need to switch from X to console and back when the 
mouse is "confused".

With 2.4 I repeat the the 2 steps described above my mouse works (incl 
wheel) on both machines after that.

> The most ugly part of the KVM switch in this play is that while the KVM
> switch usually implements a virtual mouse for each of the machines, it
> lets them all talk to the real one, and if they have different ideas
> about what mode the mouse should be set to, well, then there goes the
> road to madness.

I guess I need to figure out how to force both machines to initialize 
the mouse in the same way then...

Regards,
Mark