The Passback Blog

I have used a Belkin OmniView KVM for years to switch between my three main computers – a Centos server, a Fedora workstation, and a Windows Vista workstation. My old KVM used PS/2 connectors for the keyboard and mouse, and only supported a single monitor shared between the computers. When I upgraded the hardware that is my Fedora workstation I got a USB keyboard and mouse, in addition both of my workstations now have dual head graphics cards, so I decided to look about for a new KVM.

My requirements were:

• Support a USB keyboard and mouse
• Support dual heads (two monitors)
• Support at least 1280 by 1024 resolution on each monitor
• Support at least four computers

After a bit of research I settled on the Belkin Omniview Soho Series 4-Port Dual Head KVM Switch. I ordered the switch from Amazon UK and sat back to await its arrival. The KVM arrived and I realised my first mistake – I had naively expected that it would use generic USB and VGA cables, but no you needed to purchase the special Belkin Cables. Back on to Amazons website and I had ordered three cables, unfortunately due to a Postal strike the delivery was delayed for almost a week.

Once the cables had arrived I powered down my machines, removed the old KVM and cables, and then installed the new system. Once the cabling was complete I powered everything back on and hit a problem. When I logged into my Centos server I noticed a problem with the IMAP service starting so I tried to run some commands to debug the issue, this involved typing the | character, but I couldn’t type this character on my new USB keyboard. My first reaction was that this was a Centos problem, possibly it was failing to properly recognise and configure my USB keyboard, so I logged into Windows Vista to see if that exhibited the same problem. It did.

Looking at Belkins support website I discovered that there was a firmware update available for the KVM which claimed to fix the problems with the missing key support (\ and # being the main ones). I downloaded the firmware and the installer application. From reading the release notes I noticed that it didn’t support Linux (no surprise) nor Vista, so I copied the firmware and installer my laptop running Windows XP. I installed the installer, rebooted, and then tried to update the firmware. Problem number two, the update always failed. Ah, I had seen this mentioned in the release note, the solution was to power off the KVM, unplug the cables, and the reconnect them. So I did this and it failed. So I did it again, and it failed again. Five of six times I repeated these steps, even rebooting my laptop a couple of times as well, still it failed.

Next step, call Belkins UK Customer Support number, it’s an 0845 number, 10 pence per minute cost to me, profits shared between Belkin and the Telco! The engineer I spoke with immediately acknowledged the problem, and even admitted that the only reliable way to get the upgrade to work was to use a Windows 98 or Windows ME system. Given that these systems are years old and no longer supported by Microsoft where was I going to get such a system. The Belkin Engineer had obviously come across this before and suggested that I send the KVM to him and he would flash it using one of the Windows 98 systems they kept specially for this purpose!

So I boxed the KVM up and sent it off. A week later it returned and again I powered down all my computers and reinstalled all the cabling. Powering the computers up I could login and use the previously missing keys.

So would I recommend the Belkin Omniview Soho Series 4-Port Dual Head KVM Switch, probably not. There are two issues that hold this device back: firstly it doesn’t have great support for USB keyboards, having to update the firmware to get the | and # keys working wasn’t good, and even after this the multimedia keys still don’t work. Secondly the fact the the KVM is sold as having firmware that you can upgrade, but the reallity is that unless you run a computer museum with Windows 98 or ME you won’t be able to upgrade. the only reason to buy this KVM is if you are desperate for the dual head functionality, otherwise look around for a KVM with better multimedia keyboard support.