Re: KVM -> jumping mouse... still no solution?

[Peter Williams <pwil3058@bigpond.net.au>]

Anthony DiSante wrote:
> Rajendra P Mishra wrote:
> 
>>> I first got a KVM switch around the time of kernel 2.2.something, and 
>>> when using it to switch to a Linux system, the mouse "freaks out."  
>>> It's fine if you don't move it, but if you move it N/E/NE it's really 
>>> slow and jerky, and if you move it S/W/SW even a hair, it slams down 
>>> to the SW corner of the screen and acts like you hit all the mouse's 
>>> buttons 50 times simultaneously.
>>>
>>> When switching to an MS Windows system (any version from 98 on up; 
>>> haven't tried anything earlier) the mouse works fine, it just pauses 
>>> for maybe a second at first, during which I assume it's doing some 
>>> kind of PS/2 reset.
>>>
>>> It used to be that switching out of X-windows with Ctrl-Alt-F[1-6] 
>>> and then back to VT7 would reset the mouse, but that hasn't worked in 
>>> about a year for me.  I was also able to run a little script to send 
>>> a few specific chars to the mouse device that seemed to reset it... 
>>> that too no longer works. The only thing that works now is unplugging 
>>> the mouse from the KVM and then back in.
>>>
>>> The other day I came across this (kerneltrap.org/node/view/2199): 
>>> "Use psmouse.proto=bare on the kernel command line, or proto=bare on the
>>> psmouse module command line."  But that makes the mouse's 
>>> scroll-wheel not work.  (And this problem doesn't exist with some of 
>>> the mouse drivers, but it does with IMPS/2, which is the only one 
>>> I've ever been able to get the scroll wheel working with.)
>>>
>>> Is there really no solution to this problem?  If Microsoft can figure 
>>> it out, I'm sure someone in the Linux community can... not that I'm 
>>> volunteering, of course...
> 
>  >
>  > One quick solution I know of is to restart the gpm daemon,
>  > (/etc/init.d/gpm  restart) that resets the mouse settings.
>  > But this is not the correct way, there should be some way
>  > where the driver automatically detects and resets the mouse.
>  >
> 
> That doesn't work for me either.  Hmm... maybe it's because I'm using a 
> Microsoft mouse... only plays nice with Windows systems?

I'm having similar problems to this only with the keyboard not the 
mouse.  It started happening in 2.6.8 and 2.6.9.  I've recently noticed 
that the problems only seem to occur after I've used the KVM switch to 
connect to a Windows XP.  After I switch back to Linux I get spurious 
characters inserted into the input stream and random deletions. 
Rebooting cures the problem.

Now that I've detected the association with using the KVM to connect to 
a Windows box I've started using a terminal server client to connect to 
the Windows box when possible.

Peter
-- 
Peter Williams                                   pwil3058@bigpond.net.au

"Learning, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious."
  -- Ambrose Bierce