How do I get my Kinesis Ergo PS2 keyboard to work with a KVM switch?

December 3, 2007 7:54 AM

How do I get my Kinesis Ergo PS2 keyboard to work with a KVM switch and USB adapter?

I have 1) A kinesis ergo keyboard, 2) a G4 mac mini and 3) an aging winXP system. Ideally, I'd like to connect the three of them together, and I had a great setup with a PS2 KVM prior to getting the mini.

However, slipping a ps2->usb adapter into the chain seems to cause problems. For that matter, the keyboard only functions properly for the mini when plugged directly into the mini's own USB port. keyboard->adapter->powered hub->mini does not work. It must be keyboard->adapter->mini. Otherwise the keyboard input consists of an endless stream of space characters.

What I'm hoping for is 1) a recommendation of a good ps2->usb adapter 2) a recommendation of a good KVM 3) Advice that I should just find a cheap old-fashioned VGA switch and swap the keyboard when I need to play.

Remote desktop is not really an option for what I want to do. And eventually this problem will go away when I finally make the Intel upgrade so I'm not interested in spending a large quantity of money.

posted by KirkJobSluder to computers & internet (3 comments total)

1) Belkin made some USB-PS/2 adapters awhile back, when the CRT iMacs were still king.

2) Iogear Miniview KVMs work especially well with Macs.

3) One caveat to KVMs is their reliance on generic USB drivers to ensure ideal connectivity with assorted systems. With your Kinesis Ergo, you shouldn't have any troubles, but as I learned the hard way, more elaborate boards tend to lose their higher features. Should you have no issue with desk space, using two separate keyboards with a VGA switch (or even an entry-level KVM) can satisfy you in the short run; upgrading to a DVI monitor at some (inevitable, yet) later point will become necessary.
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:15 AM on December 3, 2007

Do not use the green passive ps/2-usb adapters, they don't work for things like this. You want an active adapter. This should work with your current KVM.
posted by rhizome at 10:15 AM on December 3, 2007

Just an update. Rhizome's answer fixed one part of the problem but not the other. The keyboard will work from a USB hub, but not using the KVM. The KVM I currently have is an IOGear Miniview.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 2:57 PM on December 7, 2007