* * * * *

                            The Keyboard situation

Okay, about that keyboard [1] …

The setup I have is … not straightforward. I have two computers, a tower
running Linux and a Mac mini. I have a single keyboard and mouse plugged into
a KVM (Keybaord, Video, Mouse) switch (an industrial 8-port unit I aquired
mumblely-mumble years ago), but each computer has its own monitor. I also run
Synergy [2] on both computers to allow sharing of the keyboard and mouse
across both computers. It will also allow you to move the mouse from one
computer to the other (and supports “cut-n-paste” operations between the two
computers). It's a neat program and really, the KVM is there when I need to
shutdown in the event of a power outtage (and when I boot the systems back
up, before I get Synergy running).

The KVM expects PS/2 style connectors, but both computers need a USB
(Universal Serial Bus) converter. This all just works and I rarely have
issues.

Until I do.

This time, it turned out to be the cheap USB converter on the Linux system
that just … I don't know, gave up the ghost or something (thank God! I was
fearful the USB ports might have been blown out). I can work around it with
Synergy, but it's a bit of a pain initially (boot one computer, switch
keyboard/mouse to other computer, boot that one, switch keyboard/mouse back
to get Synergy running). So now that I'm back up and running, I just need to
get a new USB converter and maybe this time it'll last longer than a year.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2021/08/18.1
[2] https://symless.com/synergy

Email author at [email protected]

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