KVM for USB and ps/2

[Guest]

Ok so i'm helping an old chap out with his 2 PCs. I want to set it up for him so that he can just use one monitor between the two base units, or even better one monitor and the base units share a mouse and keyboard between them.

I ended up getting a KVM switch, which looked ideal. However, it turns out that one of the PC's has USB (win XP)... but the other is ps/2 only (win <cough> 95). Aaaagh.

I tried plugging the keyboard and mouse (from the newer, USB PC) into the KVM as per instructions and attached it to both computers - I used a ps/2 -> usb adaptor to plug the USB from the kvm into the ps/2 of the win 95 PC. When I power up the (really) old PC the monitor registers and that works fine, but no keyboard or mouse. (For reference the newer PC works fine with the KVM switch + mouse + keyboard). I have to admit I wasn't _that_ surprised.

So I used the spare ps/2 socket on the old PC to plug the keyboard in, now I at least have a monitor and keyboard running. So KVM going into VGA and ps/2, keyboard going straight into ps/2. No mouse action at all.

Well that's ok, I thought, i'll just keep the VGA (coming from the KVM switch) plugged in, forget about sharing a mouse and keyboard, and just plug the old mouse and keyboard back in the ps/2 ports... only, as soon as I did that the monitor went blank. AAaaaaagh (again), is there some sort of power being drawn from the ps/2?

So to get to the point:

a) If I can't share mouse and keyboard should I just give up on the kvm thing altogether? Can I get a 2-base unit to 1 monitor VGA splitter - actually a quick amazon search shows some pretty cheap switches that look like they'd do it.

b) Does anyone know how I can get the whole KVM solution working with these 2, very annoying, PCs?

Thanks

 

[BadPeteNo]

This isn't a complete solution, but...

First, the KVM switch is powered off the ps/2 keyboard connection. I have a similar situation. My main rig only has one ps/2 port and I don't have any ps/2 optical mice. So the keyboard and monitor work fine, and I just use two mice.

Next, I've heard that usb to ps/2 adapters only work when you use them for both keyboard and mouse. I've never tried myself.

Lastly, I don't know if win 95 supported it, but have you tried remote desktop to control the second rig? You could also use something like teamviewer if it doesn't but both rigs would need an internet connection.

Little curious though as to why anyone would be using win 95 hardware when xp rigs can be found at thrift stores for $10 or at the curb on trash night. Is there a particular reason?