KVM Switch and Intellimouse

[SpeedCheese]

Has anyone successfully managed to get an Intellimouse Explorer working with
a KVM switch so that ALL the buttons work (horizontal scroll, side buttons
etc). I have tried two different Belkin KVM switches and the right and left
buttons and the vertical wheel work but the others don't.

TIA.

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

The switchboxes I have had have generally just emulated the capabilities of
the mouse I attached. In one case I had a 5 button mouse attached, but if I
booted the system while not being switched to it then the KVM box just
emulated a 3 button mouse by default. If I wanted all 5 buttons I had to
switch to that system and reboot. You should contact Belkin to see if their
boxes support all the features of your mouse.

Joshua Smith
DirectInput and OpenGL Test Labs
Microsoft

 

[SpeedCheese]

Joshua - thanks for your reply. It is a rather old Belkin KVM that I'm using
so maybe that's the problem (all the rest of my kit is new).

Do you think I would see the same problem if I purchased a USB-only KVM
(such as Belkin produce) where I'm not using PS2>USB. The only thing that
puts me off these is that they combine the keyboard and mouse signals into a
single HID-compliant device. I'm pretty sure this would kill any
intellipoint functionality once and for all.

 

[Guest]

Hi Speedcheese, Do you have the mouse drivers for that mouse on both coputers? I've been there and solved the problem by simply installing the drivers on the second machine. Hope that helps. Good day

 

[StephenB]

This is the exact behavior I experience with the Omniview SE KVM from Belkin. If
I boot with the PC selected, all functionality works. Well, I should say this
was the way it worked for my setup until the Optical Elite Desktop came into the
picture. One of the computers attached to the PC will usually not recognize the
mouse at all on boot if that PC is actively selected by the KVM. If I then
reboot, it sometimes recognizes the mouse and provides all of the functionality.
If I boot with the PC not actively selected by the KVM the mouse is recognized
as a wheel mouse and the additional functionality of the side button and tilt
wheel do not work. The Intellipoint software, however, reports the correct
hardware on this PC no matter what - although it is often useless information as
it does not affect the operation of the mouse at all. The other 2 computers
behave as described in that all functions work if the PC is selected on the KVM
during boot and startup of WindowsXP. My setup is strictly PS2, by the way. I
have recently obtained the latest Belkin Pro KVM that handles USB and will swap
it in one of these days to see if it works better over USB.
-steve

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

I think I myself would contact Belkins Tech support and tell them what you
are trying to do and see what they say. They might tell you of another
product that does support your mouse. I think the biggest issue with a lot
of KVM boxes is that they don't just pass data straight through. There is
some level of interference there where the KVM box pretends to be a mouse.
You might try to find a really old switch box that doesn't have any
electronics, just switches inside, just for the mouse. The draw back is you
would have two things to switch each time you switched systems and you would
have to boot the system with it being the active system. The benefit is that
by putting the mouse only on a non-intelligent switch it should just pass
everything through without trying to emulate the wrong thing. I haven't had
a lot of experience trying to get around this though so there is very likely
some better ideas out there.


Joshua Smith
DirectInput and OpenGL Test Labs
Microsoft
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[SpeedCheese]

A postscript to this problem. Today I took delivery of a Belkin PS2/USB
combination KVM switch and all functions on the Intellimouse work fine. Must
just have been the old switch was incompatible.

Thanks for all comments and assistance though.

 

[Joshua Smith [MSFT]]

Glad to hear that. Enjoy your new box.


Joshua Smith
DirectInput and OpenGL Test Labs
Microsoft