Specifications

APPENDIX: Cable Guidelines

Appendix: Cable Guidelines

IMPORTANT NOTE

The maximum supported cable lengths vary widely between devices and

cables. It might be possible to use cables that are longer than those

specified in this Appendix with certain computers and peripherals, but

this can’t be guaranteed. If you have problems, try using shorter cables.

A.1 Cabling from the Keyboard, Monitor, and Mouse to the ServSwitch Wizard

All of the shared devices plug directly into the relevant ports at the rear of the

ServSwitch Wizard. If you use a PC/AT style keyboard you’ll need a PC/AT (5-pin

DIN female) to PS/2 (6-pin mini-DIN male) adapter. (These are readily available

from Black Box.)

If you are not using the optional power supply, these peripherals’ cables should

be no longer than 6 ft. (2 m). If you are using the power supply, you can use

ServSwitch Duo User-Extension Cables to increase the distance from ServSwitch

Wizard to your peripherals to as much as 32 ft. (10 m; see Section 3.3.4); many

keyboards and mice will operate at distances up to 65 ft. (20 m), but don’t count

on this.

A.2 Cabling from the ServSwitch Wizard to the CPUs

Video: HD15 male to HD15 male, wired as a standard VGA CPU-to-monitor cable.

There are two types commonly available. The better type, which will carry video

very well, is constructed with a coaxial cable core. The not-so-good type—cheaper

cable more suited for data communication—is often used, but can degrade video

quality, especially over longer distances. Avoid using “data cables” longer than

6 ft./2 meters unless video quality is not important in your application.

If you are not using the optional power supply, the video-extension cable should

be no longer than 15 ft. (5 m) in any situation. If you are using the power supply,

you might be able to run good coaxial video cables as far as 165 ft. (50 m) with

little loss of video quality, but the longest we recommend going—unless you use a

ServSwitch brand KVM Extender—is 100 ft. (30.5 m) over the video strand of our

ServSwitch Duo CPU-Extension Cables (see Section 3.3.4).

If you want to make use of the ServSwitch Wizard’s ability to pass Display Data

Channel (DDC) information between your CPUs and the monitor, you’ll need a

cable that carries the DDC signaling lines (HD15 pins 12 and 15), which not all

video cables do.