attempting use of KVM switch a disaster1

[jw]

George,

Take a look at these two links:

http://trentrichardson.com/?p=14
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=280683&page=2

While no one at those links indicated they were using a KVM switch, they 
did discover some nuances with the 940BW.

I've had a pile (maybe a heap) of issues with my SyncMaster 204B {1}.  
Samsung apparently doesn't like to use the standard timings for 
horizontal and vertical refresh rates.  This requires some special 
settings to get things to play nicely.  There is a chance that your 
monitor works well connected directly to your machine, but connecting it 
to the KVM might draw out these nuances.

Of course, be sure to save your xorg.conf file before making any changes.


{1} I was having issues with snow and blanking.  Even the no-blank 
settings for the monitor wern't working at one point.  I -just- upgraded 
to Gutsy (64bit) last night, and have high hopes.

__
JW

___________________________________

Message: 10
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 03:38:17 -0400
From: George E Noon <george.noon at comcast.net>
Subject: attempting use of KVM switch a disaster1
To: ubuntu-us-ma at lists.ubuntu.com
Message-ID: <4722EAE9.9080801 at comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

    Thanks to those who suggested that the use of a Router, along with 
my cable modem, would make my using my WinXP & Ubuntu Computers less 
bothersome (as opposed to having to repeatedly change the Ethernet cable 
from one to the other and back again, ..... That works great.
    But so far, my purchase and attempted use of Iogear MiniView Micro 
USB Plus, 2-Port KVM with built-in KVM cables and Audio support -- has 
been quite disappointing, and so far pretty much of a failure.
    I was very careful to  read all the documentation twice (there 
wasn't that much, at that -- and it requires no software support), and 
was very thorough to be sure all connections were made correctly. I am 
still not entirely understanding how both the keyboard and mouse are to 
function when, though there are two separate USB ports for them on the 
'user end' of the KVM, on the 'computer end', there is only one USB plug 
(to carry both these input signals) - there is also, [for each of the 
two computers supported], a sound jack for plugging into nte 'front 
speaker' port of each, and of course, the video connector for each.
    When I tried to use the Ubuntu machine with the KZM attached, it 
acted as though it had suddenly been connected to an unsupportable 
monitor -- wanted to reduce my resolution from the 1024X768 I've been 
using quite successfully to 800X600 - and when I clicked that rather 
than quitting, it went to a black terminal screen telling me way too 
much very technical detail - basically saying it couldn't continue..
    When I'd disconnected the KVM and restarted Ubuntu, I was again 
confronted with the black terminal - but this time telling me that I 
must run fsck manually and that apt was no longer installed: that I'd 
have to run apt-get install apt to re-install it.
    Well, I'm back to swapping video, sound, mouse and keyboard 
connections --- drat!!

      Still can not perform 7.04 to 7.10 upgrade via Update Manager: 
still get that fetch bzip error every time.
    I fear my monitor [Samsung SyncMaster 940BW may no longer be 
supported in Gutsy, for when I attempted to use the CD I purchased from 
the LinuxStore.ca, I could find no entry for it....
    Oh,well...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~George