any "reverse" usb hub/splitter?

[anotherpaul]

Does a reverse usb hub exist? i.e. 1 signal in, 2 places out.

Or an usb splitter.

The purpose is to have the trackball connected to a pc & mac mini so
that the trackball need not be disconnected/connected as need arises.

Found that the wireless don't do the job as the mac seem to trap
all the connections (logitech) & become useless for the pc; no idea
what is happening.

My only guess is that both pc & mac are in "power saving mode" even
tho a "shutdown" is made. PC running win7 sp1 which don't do a real
power off shutdown as evidenced by the led light on an external usb
hub; believe that the mac is behaving the same way.

 

[anotherpaul]

Does a reverse usb hub exist? i.e. 1 signal in, 2 places out.

Or an usb splitter.

The purpose is to have the trackball connected to a pc & mac mini so
that the trackball need not be disconnected/connected as need arises.

Found that the wireless don't do the job as the mac seem to trap
all the connections (logitech) & become useless for the pc; no idea
what is happening.

My only guess is that both pc & mac are in "power saving mode" even
tho a "shutdown" is made. PC running win7 sp1 which don't do a real
power off shutdown as evidenced by the led light on an external usb
hub; believe that the mac is behaving the same way.

Sorry! I was too narrow-minded in choices; believe that I can use
a 2-port kvm box & just not connect the monitor to it. I already
have a hdmi switch for use with the monitor.

I just need to verify all the usb ports on the kvm is of the type-A.

 

[Paul]

Sorry! I was too narrow-minded in choices; believe that I can use
a 2-port kvm box & just not connect the monitor to it. I already
have a hdmi switch for use with the monitor.

I just need to verify all the usb ports on the kvm is of the type-A.

To answer your first question, they make USB device switches
for device sharing, which save on wear and tear on a USB connector.
That connects a peripheral, to one of N computers, but only one computer
can use the device at a time.

http://www.siig.com/it-products/usb/device-sharing.html

But if you read the description on some of those, it says
"not for keyboard and mouse". It doesn't state whether there
is an actual hardware limitation, or it is because of the
"hot key" software they include. The switch on the top, should
allow switching anything.

I hadn't really thought about it before, but in many ways,
those things are almost like a portion of a KVM.

Paul

 

[anotherpaul]

To answer your first question, they make USB device switches
for device sharing, which save on wear and tear on a USB connector.
That connects a peripheral, to one of N computers, but only one computer
can use the device at a time.

http://www.siig.com/it-products/usb/device-sharing.html

But if you read the description on some of those, it says
"not for keyboard and mouse". It doesn't state whether there
is an actual hardware limitation, or it is because of the
"hot key" software they include. The switch on the top, should
allow switching anything.

I hadn't really thought about it before, but in many ways,
those things are almost like a portion of a KVM.

Paul

I got the cheapest kvm ($19.95 for IOGear) at Frys; may want to check
if I have any plastic endcaps that will fit the vga, unlikely; just
have to put up with a couple of extra cables dangling.

Checked the website & don't see any pics with all of the usb ports but
the text does say 1 type-A & 2 type-B ports. The type-B is that square
type that requires a "standard" usb cable. The keyboard & mouse
usually have an usb cable already connected & so won't work for any
switches that have the type-B ports for keyboard & mouse; unless
one wants to buy an extra adapter to change the type-A to type-B.

For regular devices, the type-B ports would be satisfactory.

Now to check for overrides of that crappy win7 64-bit enforcement
of device drivers......Nosing around the Max mini in command line
(terminal mode) & see alot of stuff familiar as in linux