Hi guys,

At home I have a KVM switch to share my monitor/mouse/keyboard/speakers with 2 windows PCs and my Linux box (CentOS 4.4). I'm using a 4-port Onmiview KVM switch. It works great on my windows machines.

When I installed my Linux box everything worked great, but I noticed that once I switch over to one of my PCs and then switch back, the mouse is all messed up. If I try moving the mouse it jumps around all over the place and starts clicking randomly even though I didn't press any button on the mouse.


Probably if I reboot the box on the Linux KVM channel and leave it alone it will work ok (havne't tried this yet, but just a guess since it worked fine after installation), but I need to switch between all my computers so this wouldn't be a viable solution.


Anyone have any ideas/solutions I can try?



Thanks
Nat

Had similiar type issues before. My issue was the keyboard. I setup the multi function keys tool for windows and starting have keyboard issues when switching back. I remove that driver and tools and set the the hardware to a standard keyboard and never a problem since.

Maybe the same will apply to the mouse. If using the driver disc that came with it. Remove and set to a basic mouse.

Brian

In Windows, it is best to use generic or standard keyboard and mouse drivers, but this still may not work well. Usually turning off "fast initializing" works well at a cost of the cursor not showing after a certain amount of time. In Linux using Xorg 7 or higher, you will have to list the buttons of the mouse using ButtonMapping instead providing the amount of buttons. I found Linux be a lot more reliable and flexible when using KVM switches.

A lot of people do not know that there are different protocols for mouse. There is no way of telling the KVM switch to use the proper protocol, so your hands are tied when the KVM switch chooses the wrong protocol or gets confused. I recommend using PS/2 KVM switches instead of using USB KVM switches. You will have try several mice and keyboards until you find the combination that works the best.

I have an IOGEAR 4-port PS/2 KVM switch that works with Microsoft Natural keyboard, Logitech MX300 mouse, and Hitachi CM771 monitor.

Interestingly, I installed open SUSE 10.2 a while back, and only had a mild issue with the KVM.

When switching to the linux box, it would still do the "crazy mouse clicking everywhere" thing, but only for a few seconds and then went back to normal (my trick to avoid too much mess is to minimize all windows on the linux box before switching away so I switch back in most cases the mouse is only clicking around on the desktop area)


This is interesting because on CentOS, it NEVER goes back to normal. I would have to reboot and not use the KVM switch to switch to another machine.


So I'm wondering what the difference may be in OpenSUSE vs CentOS in this regard?

From Brian's reply (thanks Brian) it sounds like I may be able to fix this by setting the keyboard/mouse to standard in CentOS. An I understanding this correctly?


OpenSUSE is great but I'm trying to become very familiar with flavors used mostly in corporate environments in the US, which is why I'd like to re-install CentOS as it's almost identical to RHEL.


I would just hate to spend time installing CentOS and then find myself having the same problem and unable to fix it, so just looking for some more feedback from anyone who has experienced this issue with their KVM before diving in with a re-install.


Thanks
Nathalie

Again use different keyboard and mouse with different KVM switches. I recommend stick with PS/2 instead of USB. Always compile PS/2 mouse as a module. If it is set as built-in, it will always jump around. The real problem is packet loss. It can be minimize putting ferrite or bobbin cores at the end of the cables about 6 inches (15 centimeters) from the connector, but only works with none shielded cables.

I use Gentoo as my distribution because pre-compiled programs are not always reliable, not secure, and contain useless features. Also configuring Gentoo can be done through CLI which is the right way.

Gentoo can easily be used in a corporate environment because it mainly goes for stability and reliability which is the opposite what people think about Gentoo.

OpenSUSE is proprietary while CentOS is Redhat like. Both comes with X Window System installed and mainly uses GUI to configure. Running GUI on a server is not smart. GUI takes a lot of resources, it is messy (instable), and insecure when some settings are enabled.