Q68 support thread

[Chr$]

Hi Chr$,

Do you use use a PS/2 Splitter with the mouse?

Yes, but can't remember if it was from you or elsewhere.

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi Chr$,

The PS/2 Splitter I supply is a Belkin splitter with my colour coding, like this:

Belkin PS2 Splitter.jpg (2.97 KiB) Viewed 3720 times

[Peter]

I tried it today after the Q68 had been off all night. Same thing. But that's ok, a working ball mouse is much better than none at all.

Just let me add, this has nothing to do with your mouse being optical. I have five mice that are optical and work fine with the Q68. If you need a specific link to a shop, please feel free to PM me.

[Pr0f]

I have another question on mice (and keyboards) :

When cabled in directly to the Q68 - keyboard and mouse work - happy days
When cabled in through a Belkin omniview pro 3 KVM - it doesn't - I get the boot up screen with the PC clock and nothing further. However - if I unplug the mouse to the Q68 before turning it all on, it boots off the SD Card and I get the yellow programmable LED lit - but the keyboard is unresponsive. I also tried with another mouse wired directly in to the Q68 and keyboard coming from the KVM unit - mouse button scrolls Screen 0 at the bottom, but again no keyboard.

I am still testing the KVM - as it has some odd behaviours - but I had this question:

What specific queries does the Q68 send over the PS/2 Mouse and keyboard lines? I am wondering if it's possible to 'fake a keyboard / mouse' when the KVM is not actively switched to that port, by giving what the Q68 needs to see - and then just passing through PS/2 traffic from the KVM's keyboard and mouse outputs.

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

The Q68 has a combined PS2 Keyboard and mouse connector, where the mouse and keyboard connections are individually, see for details, or:

Pin Description
1 Keyboard Data
2 Mouse Data
3 Ground
4 +5V
5 Keyboard Clock
6 Mouse Clock

If you are just getting the PC Clock and no other display, this means the Mouse and keyboard are connected to the wrong pins on the Q68 PS/2 Connector.

I will have a look at the Belkin omniview pro 3 KVM, for more details.

I have looked at the Belkin omniview pro 3 KVM user manual, the PS/2 ports look like a console to the KVM Switch, so should work, silly question, but have you tried swapping the Mouse and keyboard cables?

[tofro]

I have another question on mice (and keyboards) :

When cabled in directly to the Q68 - keyboard and mouse work - happy days
When cabled in through a Belkin omniview pro 3 KVM - it doesn't - I get the boot up screen with the PC clock and nothing further. However - if I unplug the mouse to the Q68 before turning it all on, it boots off the SD Card and I get the yellow programmable LED lit - but the keyboard is unresponsive. I also tried with another mouse wired directly in to the Q68 and keyboard coming from the KVM unit - mouse button scrolls Screen 0 at the bottom, but again no keyboard.

I am still testing the KVM - as it has some odd behaviours - but I had this question:

What specific queries does the Q68 send over the PS/2 Mouse and keyboard lines? I am wondering if it's possible to 'fake a keyboard / mouse' when the KVM is not actively switched to that port, by giving what the Q68 needs to see - and then just passing through PS/2 traffic from the KVM's keyboard and mouse outputs.

Very probably, the problems you see with your KVM are not based on the protocol, but rather the amount of current being drawn on the PS/2. I have some PS/2 keyboards that prevent the Q68 from booting, register un-pressed keys, or inflict some other odd behavior as well, and they are typicallly the ones that pull "a bit more juice".

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi

Is this the KVM Switch in question:

On Ebay for £25, I could get this to see if I can sort out the problem.

[Pr0f]

I have tried swapping cables - like I say - with the KVM keyboard plugged into the Belkin splitter that Derek provided with the Q68, and a seperate mouse pugged into the green stickered port on the splitter - the Q68 boots but there is no response from the keyboard - with the KVM mouse plug connected - it doesn't boot.

I have a couple of these KVMs and a new one on order - as I suspect the PS/2 console connections have issues on the 2 previous KVM switches - I managed to get one to work partially with the USB keyboard/mouse on the KVM - which still does allow PS/2 connections to the host servers attached to the KVM. I've downloaded the datasheets for most of the chips in this KVM - and there's some quite complex structure to it - each host port has a chip that can provide USB or PS/2 interfaces - so should be able to look like a keyboard and mouse of the appropriate type - it's not just a 'matrix' switch.

the ports electricals are all powered from the KVM end - so current drain on the Q68's PS/2 ports would be minimal. I am using a 1.5M lead set with it.

What would be useful to know is what query does the Q68 send out on the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports to detect devices - it must be sending something as it can identify if a scroll wheel is present on the mouse.

My guess would be that what ever is sent is just being ignored by the KVM and so it doesn't send any response - I will probably have to get the scope on this one... I was hoping Peter might be able to tell me what command byes were sent out.

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

If you have a spare switch, maybe you could send me one for testing.

You could always look at the SMSQ/E source code in the /smsq/q68/driver/ section where the file mouse.asm is defined, it is interrupt driven.

[Pr0f]

Hi Derek - happy to send you one - but I need to validate they are working as expected. The Issue I face is that both of the 8 port switches behave differently and don't appear to always recognize the devices on the console connections - so until I can verify that issue, I might just be sending you a broken KVM switch.

My plan is to test the new unit - a 16 way switch which is new and boxed still - and verify how it behaves with my selection of mice and keyboards - and if it works as documented - at least I know my input devices are good for the switch (I know they work with the Q68, but that's not the same thing here). Then I can continue testing the Q68 and the KVM combo. I can also test both of the 8 port switches I have and see if one of them works with the same keyboard / mouse combo - I suspect at least one of these devices is fritzed as it doesn't find the onboard PIC for firmware upgrade