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APPENDIX: Cable and Connector Guidelines
Appendix:
Cable and Connector Guidelines
IMPORTANT NOTE
The maximum cable lengths supported vary widely between devices and
cables. It might be possible to use cables that are longer than those
specified below with certain PCs and peripherals, but this cannot be
guaranteed. If you experience problems, try using shorter cables.
A.1 Cabling: Keyboard, Monitor, and Mouse to ServSwitch Duo
All of the shared devices plug directly into the relevant ports at the rear of the
ServSwitch Duo. If you use a PC/AT style keyboard you will need a PC/AT (5-pin
DIN female) to PS/2 (6-pin mini-DIN male) adapter. (These are readily available
from Black Box.) User Extension Cables can be used to increase the distance from
ServSwitch Duo up to 30 ft. (9.1 m; see Section 3.3); many keyboards and mice will
operate at distances up to 65 ft. (20 m), but do not count on this.
A.2 Cabling: ServSwitch Duo to PCs
Video: HD15 male to HD15 male, wired as a standard VGA PC-to-monitor cable.
There are two types commonly available. The better type, which will carry video
very well, are constructed with coaxial cable cores. The not-so-good type—cheaper
cable more suited for data communication—is often used, but can degrade video
quality, especially over longer distances. Avoid using “data cables” longer than
6 ft./2 meters unless video quality is not important in your application. Good
coaxial video cables may be run at distances up to 165 ft. (50 m) with little loss of
video quality, but the longest we recommend going—unless you use the ServSwitch
Duo Extender (KV6EXT; see its manual for details)—is 100 ft. (30.5 m) over the
video strand of our CPU Extension Cables (see Section 3.3).
Keyboard and PS/2 mice: 6 pin mini-DIN male to 6 pin mini-DIN male with all
lines connected straight through (1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc.). If the PC has a 5-pin DIN
PC/AT style keyboard connector, you will need a PS/2 to PC/AT keyboard
adapter, 6-pin mini-DIN female to 5-pin DIN male. (One of these is included for
each four CPU ports on your Switch; if you need more, they are readily available
from Black Box.) Keyboard and mouse cables, such as the keyboard and mouse
strands of our CPU Extension Cables (see Section 3.3), should be no longer than
100 ft. (30.5 m).
