neat: belkin soho kvm can be used to switch 4-speaker systems

[badbob001]

I just got a Belkin SOHO 4 port KVM (F1DS104T) and it has inputs for speakers and microphone. I have a four-speaker setup (2 front, 2 rear) and I tried using the KVM's microphone input for the rear speakers and it works! There doesn't seem to be any difference in quality and it's still in stereo.

Probably better to have a four line mixer... Anyway, FYI.

 

[dakata24]

hey, im actually thinking about gettings this kvm.. how is it with optical mice?

 

[Mavrick007]

You tried your rear speakers in the "microphone" jack?? That's strange considering a mic is input and speakers are output devices..

 

[badbob001]

I haven't tried it with an optical mouse. I do have a couple of MS Explorer Optical mice around, but I can't use it yet since they are usb mice and I don't have the usb->ps/2 dongle. The KVM does allow you to connect to the computers using usb, but the master mouse/keyboard has to be ps/2.

I wonder why they don't support a usb master device. Perhaps usb requires a direct peripheral to computer connection so belkin gets around that by having the kvm emulate a usb peripheral and then translate the ps/2 device's input. For a usb peripheral to work, I guess they would need to make the kvm emulate a computer: usb mouse -> kvm computer emu -> kvm mouse emu -> pc usb port. *I GUESS!*

As for the mic input/output thing, the kvm is just a switch box when it comes to the audio inputs... there is no input or output only restriction... flip the switch and the kvm completes the circuit from point a to b.

pc1:
front auido out -> kvm port 1 speaker in
rear audio out -> kvm port 1 mic in

pc2:
front audio out -> kvm port 2 speaker in
rear aduio out -> kvm port 2 mic in

kvm:
master speaker out -> front speakers
master mic out -> rear speakers