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SERVSWITCH™ WIZARD MP
Appendix: Cable Guidelines
IMPORTANT NOTE
The maximum supported cable lengths vary widely between devices and
cables. It might be possible to use cables that are longer than those
specified in this Appendix with certain computers and peripherals, but
this can’t be guaranteed. If you have problems, try using shorter cables.
A.1 Cabling from the User Equipment to the ServSwitch Wizard MP
All of the shared devices plug directly into the relevant control-port connectors at
the rear of the ServSwitch Wizard MP. If you use a PC/AT style keyboard you’ll
need a PC/AT (5-pin DIN female) to PS/2 (6-pin mini-DIN male) adapter. (These
are available from Black Box as product code FA211.)
If you’re
not
using the optional power supply, these peripherals’ cables should be
no longer than 6 ft. (2 m). If you
are
using the power supply, you can use audio-
extension cables and KVM-extension cables such as our Premium KVM User Cables
(product code EHN409) to increase the distance from the Wizard MP to your
peripherals to as much as 32 ft. (10 m). Many keyboards and mice will operate at
distances up to 65 ft. (20 m), but don’t count on this.
A.2 Cabling from the ServSwitch Wizard MP to the CPUs
All CPUs are connected to the ServSwitch Wizard MP through one-to-many Wizard
MP Cables (see Figure 3-3 in
Section 3.3.3
), which plug into the CPU ports on the
Wizard MP’s rear panel. If you are
not
using the Wizard MP’s optional power
supply, you should not extend these Cables beyond the length of the longer
(16-ft./5-m) models. If you
are
using the power supply, you might be able to run
good video-, keyboard-, mouse-, and audio-extension cables to extend the distance
between the Wizard MP Cables’ CPU-side connectors and the CPUs. (Do
not
try to
place DB25 extension cables between the Wizard MP and the Wizard MP Cables’
DB25 connectors—video quality would suffer badly.) With the power supply, total
end-to-end distance between the Wizard MP and the CPU can be as much as 16 ft.
(5 m) if you’re using a USB model of the Wizard MP Cable, or 65 ft. (20 m) if
you’re using a non-USB model of the Wizard MP Cable.
If you want to connect a PC CPU that has a 5-pin DIN PC/AT style keyboard
connector to the Wizard MP, you will need a PS/2 to PC/AT keyboard adapter,
6-pin mini-DIN female to 5-pin DIN male (product code FA212). To connect a PC
CPU with a DB9 male RS-232 serial mouse port, you’ll need a special adapter with
the pinning shown in Figure A-1 on the next page (product code FA314).
