35
CHAPTER 3: Installation
4.1.2 M
OUSE AND
K
EYBOARD
When you power up your ServSwitch Ultra system, make sure that your CPUs,
mouse (mice), and keyboard(s) are properly cabled to the Switch (or to the
appropriate master or submaster unit). When you boot up your CPUs, the
master(s) and/or submasters to which they are connected should already be ON.
(You should be able to freely disconnect and reconnect a mouse or keyboard from
a ServSwitch Ultra while the Switch is ON, but if you experience problems when
you do this, issue the Reset command
[CTRL] R
—see
Section 4.3.7
.)
Though the ServSwitch Ultra 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. 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 Windows 95/98/2000 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. Standard Apple
keyboards have 105 keys. And standard (Type 5 or higher) 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 4-1 on page page 37), but
many of the Sun keys simply cannot be mapped to IBM or Apple keyboards.
Similarly, standard Apple mice have one button; standard PC mice have two or
three buttons; and standard Sun mice have three buttons. At this time there is no
way for a one- or two-button mouse attached to the ServSwitch Ultra to emulate a
mouse with more buttons.
For these reasons, we recommend that you use Sun Type 5 or higher keyboards
and Sun mice for mixed-platform applications that include Sun CPUs. For
applications that include IBM and Apple CPUs but no Sun CPUs, we recommend
that you use IBM keyboards and mice, because the IBM keyboard can emulate all
of the Apple keyboard functions, but the one-button Apple mouse simply can’t
effectively operate IBM applications that lean heavily on the center or right mouse
button. In particular, use Windows type IBM keyboards if
any
of your CPUs/
applications require the Windows keys, and use three-button IBM mice if
any
of
your CPUs/applications require the center mouse button.
Other concerns:
• The ServSwitch Ultra supports a variety of IBM PC type mice; for more details,
see
Section 5.2.2
.