Subject: Re: USB, KVMs, Old- and New-World Macs?
From: Brian Watson (bcwatso1@uiuc.edu)
Date: Fri Jan 18 2002 - 21:30:09 MST
>I would like to get a KVM (IOGear's Miniview II USB KVM to be precise)
>to get rid of the horrible monitor I have now for the 6400/200. My
>questions are:
>
>1. Is there any adapter (aside from a PCI add-on) to convert USB to
>ADB bi-directionally?
>
>2. If not, would a Comm Slot ethernet tranceiver work with YDL? I
>know there were problems w/ the whole GeoPort thing, I didn't know if
>the ethernet had the same issue.
>
>3. If not #2, and i get rid of the graphics card, does firewire work
>with YDL yet? (Obviously not CS 1.2.1, but 2.1?) In other words, I
>would like to put a combo USB/Firewire card in.
>
>4. If I do get rid of the graphics card, that leaves me w/ 1 MB DRAM
>video memory, which i believe maxes out at 800x600@8bpp. Is this
>video mode supported by YDL, and if so, how would I go about stating
>this in the BootX command line?
>
>Also, if anyone knows what the max size IDE drive that a 6400/200 will
>support, that would also be greatly appreciated.
My 6500 was running YDL up until midweek when the hard drive crashed.
It is very similar to the 6400. I used the comm slot card with YDL,
and it worked fine. The issue with the geoport modem was that, if
you had a modem in the comm slot, it was the same thing as having a
modem physically plugged into your modem port. An ethernet card
doesn't have this problem. I don't know of any USB to ADB
converters. I have a 4 port PCI card installed on the 6500, and YDL
will recognize it without the need of additional drivers. Mac OS 9
or later will also recognize it as if you had built in USB support.
Some of the earlier versions of Mac OS with USB support (8.1, etc)
would have serious trouble recognizing USB devices with add on PCI
cards. I don't know of any size restriction on the volume. Any
drive that supports ATA/33 should work with the 6400. If I were to
use a KVM switch, I'd use a native USB keyboard. Converting ADB to
USB gets messy.
--Brian
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