95
CHAPTER 6: Keyboard Commands
6.16 End Scan: [Ctrl] X
You can use this command (press and release left [Ctrl], then press and release the
letter [X] key) to stop a scan in progress. You will be connected to the computer
whose video you were viewing when the scan ended; you will have the level of
access to that computer that your user profile’s connection mode allows (see
Sections 4.6
and
5.4
). Alternatively, you can end a scan by entering a Select
Computer command (see
Section 6.4
).
You can also use [Ctrl] X to pass a keyboard command through to an attached
ServSwitch family KVM switch. See
Section 6.17
.
6.17 Pass This Command Through: [Ctrl] X or [Ctrl] [Tab]
Although doing so sometimes causes port-numbering difficulties, it is possible to
connect certain other types of ServSwitch family KVM switches to the ServSwitch
Affinity’s CPU ports or user ports. Some of these other switches use a set of
keyboard commands that are very similar to the Affinity’s, but the switch that’s
closer to the user will normally absorb commands sent to it without passing them
through. For example, if you select a ServSwitch Ultra attached to CPU port 12 on
a ServSwitch Affinity, and you want to switch to CPU port 3 on the Ultra, you can’t
just type in left-[Ctrl] 3 [Enter], because the
Affinity
will switch to
its
CPU 3 port.
This is where the Affinity’s pass-through command—shared by most of the
compatible ServSwitch family KVM switches—comes in. Using the same example,
you can select CPU port 3 on the ServSwitch Ultra by typing in [Ctrl] X 3 [Enter]
or [Ctrl] [Tab] 3 [Enter] within the space of two seconds. Here’s how it works: The
Affinity receives the [Ctrl] character and passes it through to the attached switch,
which will wait for two seconds to receive a valid command character (and, in the
meantime, passes the [Ctrl] character through to the next device in line). The
Affinity then receives the X or [Tab] character, recognizes it as a valid command
character that completes a (nonfunctional) command, and absorbs it. The Affinity
regards the number 3 and the [Enter] character that follow as data characters and
passes them through. The ServSwitch Ultra, however, sees the 3 and [Enter] as
completing the [Ctrl] 3 [Enter] port-selection command, absorbs those characters,
and switches to its CPU 3.
In general, the format of this command is a single left-[Ctrl] character, as many
X’s or [Tab] characters as there are layers of switches to “skip,” and the character(s)
that would normally follow [Ctrl] to form a complete command. More examples:
[Ctrl] X S causes one KVM switch attached to another to start scanning; [Ctrl] X X
stops that scan; [Ctrl] [Tab] + causes an attached KVM switch to switch to its next
CPU port; and [Ctrl] X X [F12] brings up the menu of an attached KVM switch’s
attached KVM switch.