You say both computers are already connected to the same monitor, right? It sounds to me like you don't need the video switch at all. And that's probably a good thing – DVI switches are still crazy expensive, last time I checked, and a switch with both a VGA and a DVI connector would be a pretty rare thing.

You'll either have to both press a button on your monitor and trigger a switch for your mouse and keyboard whenever you want to switch systems, or you'll need to use a DVI-to-VGA adapter on your main system. (VGA-to-DVI adapters probably exist, but I doubt they're cheap.) I guess you might not notice the difference, though the DVI connector does enable certain features like aspect ratio correction.

By the way, are you sure your wireless mouse/keyboard works on your "Time Machine" ?

I'm not sure if I understand...

So you are saying I'd just need to use a separate switch for the keyb/mouse - a switch without monitor support? I'm trying to avoid switching my monitor back and forth (between VGA and DVI), along with the keyboard and mouse every time I want to work on my retro box.

I was thinking I would be able to plug in the Logitech wireless keyb/mouse USB dongle (currently plugged into my main PC) into the KVM itself, which would then let me connect to the Time Machine using PS/2 connections, and to my main machine using USB.

Artex wrote:

So you are saying I'd just need to use a separate switch for the keyb/mouse - a switch without monitor support? I'm trying to avoid switching my monitor back and forth (between VGA and DVI), along with the keyboard and mouse every time I want to work on my retro box.

Isn't switching your monitor back and forth just a matter of pressing a button on your monitor?

I was thinking I would be able to plug in the Logitech wireless keyb/mouse USB dongle (currently plugged into my main PC) into the KVM itself, which would then let me connect to the Time Machine using PS/2 connections, and to my main machine using USB.

Does the USB dongle work if you plug it into an ordinary USB to PS/2 adapter? If not, I don't think a KVM with the kind of technology you're looking for exists.

Can't you use PS2 from your main computer to the KVM switch?

On the KVM switch you use a PS/2 to USB adapter for both keyboard and mouse.

I do have several of those little adapters laying around. A single dongle is used for both the mouse and keyboard - so would I just plug it into either PS/2 port to test? I don't believe my motherboard even has PS/2 ports on my main machine.

Jorpho wrote:

Isn't switching your monitor back and forth just a matter of pressing a button on your monitor?

I have to cycle through three 4 different outputs by pressing a single button - HDMI, Component, DVI, D-SUB.

Jorpho wrote:

IDoes the USB dongle work if you plug it into an ordinary USB to PS/2 adapter? If not, I don't think a KVM with the kind of technology you're looking for exists.

I can certainly try this - I just wasn't sure how the Windows 98SE machine would see this, as the dongle is used to control both the keyboard & mouse. This is the 2.4Ghz USB receiver I'm talking about:

http://buy.logitech.com/store/logib2c/en_US/D … s=1358172235797

vetz wrote:

On the KVM switch you use a PS/2 to USB adapter for both keyboard and mouse. http://www.mzoori.com/images/product/verybigs/ce91 […]
Show full quote

On the KVM switch you use a PS/2 to USB adapter for both keyboard and mouse.

This will not work. These adapters are only for mice/keyboards which support both PS/2 and USB protocols.

There are real (active) converters to connect PS/2 keyboards/mice to USB ports, but I've never seen one that works the other way around.

5u3 wrote:

This will not work. These adapters are only for mice/keyboards which support both PS/2 and USB protocols.

There are real (active) converters to connect PS/2 keyboards/mice to USB ports, but I've never seen one that works the other way around.

All my USB keyboards and mices works with these adapters, so there can't be many devices out there that does not support it. Granted, the last mouse I bought was in 2010.

But I think you are shooting this down bit too early. If I were Artex I would've tested it.

EDIT: He just have one receiver 😵 If they were separate it would have a better chance.

Why not use USB on your Time Machine? Isn't it SS7?

Good point - I had Windows 95 on here for a bit so I didn't have the USB ports enabled in the BIOS. I suppose I could just use USB on this box....That being said, I still have an issue of whether or not the single dongle would work for both the mouse and keyb.

That's vastly unlikely. Also, while USB keyboard support is a thing, there is to my knowledge no USB mouse driver for DOS.

If you don't plan to use DOS applications much, and the USB receiver works as-is in Windows 95 (or 98SE or whichever it is you're using), then you could use a KVM that uses USB.

Artex wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

Isn't switching your monitor back and forth just a matter of pressing a button on your monitor?

I have to cycle through three 4 different outputs by pressing a single button - HDMI, Component, DVI, D-SUB.

I can't really think of any way around this without using a DVI-to-VGA adapter.

Does your monitor automatically switch inputs when the signal is lost? In that case you could rig things up so that the monitor switches back to your primary machine with the KVM disconnects your time machine, but you'd still have to switch it over manually when going the other way.

It does automatically switch back to DVI when the 98SE goes into power saving mode. Likewise, when my main monitor goes into power saving mode, it switches over to the analog connection. Maybe I should just get a USB mouse and keyboard so I can avoid this mess. I just really prefer wireless I guess..

Check this out though - a KVM that comes with it's own keyboard/mouse AND wireless dongle. Curious of this thing ONLY accepts IOGear's wireless dongle or if it would work with any other (i.e. my Logitech version).
http://www.iogear.com/product/GCS1734-KM1/

Artex wrote:

It does automatically switch back to DVI when the 98SE goes into power saving mode. Likewise, when my main monitor goes into power saving mode, it switches over to the analog connection. Maybe I should just get a USB mouse and keyboard so I can avoid this mess. I just really prefer wireless I guess..

Check this out though - a KVM that comes with it's own keyboard/mouse AND wireless dongle. Curious of this thing ONLY accepts IOGear's wireless dongle or if it would work with any other (i.e. my Logitech version).
http://www.iogear.com/product/GCS1734-KM1/

EDIT:

Looks kind of hit or miss.. Amazon reviewer has an MK710 with 'some' success.
http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-MiniView-Extreme … KM?pageNumber=2

"Test Scenario 2: Logitech Wireless Desktop MK710

The KVM switch did not respond at all to the Logitech unifying receiver when the receiver was placed in either the frontside keyboard or mouse switch. I was only able to get the keyboard and mouse to work by placing the unifying receiver in the back USB ports on the switch. Again, the downside to doing this is (1) keyboard/mouse get treated as USB device that is disconnected and reconnected when switching leading to delay, and (2) switch does not respond to keyboard commands coming through the secondary USB ports, it only responds to commands coming through the frontside keyboard port.

Calling Iogear tech support, they had me run through the test scenarios I already described before telling me that the switch was not compatible with my wireless keyboard/mouse."

I have several old Microsoft wireless receivers that use PS2 for keyboard and USB for mouse, though I have no idea if the USB component works with a PS/2 adapter – though a moment's Googling suggests that Microsoft wireless mice of that era did have that capability. Such a receiver ought to work with a PS/2 KVM.

Converters to connect USB keyboard/mouse to a computer's PS2 ports exist and work, but are somewhat expensive: http://www.adder.com/products/adder-kmu2p
I've heard some rumors that a few KVM switches could make trouble, but for me it works perfectly connected to a Aten CS682 (I use a VGA2DVI-Scaler, too).
This converter is sold under different brands but always looks like this. The price is rather high, usually between 40€ and 150€.

citronalco wrote:

Converters to connect USB keyboard/mouse to a computer's PS2 ports exist and work, but are somewhat expensive: http://www.adder.com/products/adder-kmu2p

thanksd, I have been looking for such thing for quite a while now