Networking Reviews

This cable has TWO FEMALE ENDS. This is very unlikely to be what you need, unless some special circumstance applies to you. Normal monitors have a femal attachment. Normal computers have a male attachment. Normal monitor cables have a male side and a female side. KVM switches mimic this, having a female attachment as a monitor would. Unless you have some unusual setup, find a different cable.

KVM Cables have 2 female ends because one end connects to the output of your video card and one end connects to the input of the KVM Switch, (both male). It is the proper setup for KVM switches, and most likely is what you're looking for if you have a KVM Switch.

Model for this product is DSB-H4SMK, it has 4 usb port, 1 ps2 keyboard, 1 ps2 mouse & 1 serial port. I bought this product because I was hoping to free up irqs and not buying more products, boy was this a big mistake. I connected the device to my computer then turned it on, it took 15 to 20 min to boot up. Ok so it takes a while to boot. Then After booting I notice my the software for my UPS was really slow....the integrated serial port was slow, slower then the board serial port. Third no other driver but win98 no winnt, me, 2000. You would think that it should be compatible w/ ME, think not I got that blue screen drivers not compatible. Or win2000 upgrade....same thing.... So I say stay away from this product, better yet stay away from this Brand. Further more I called dlink techsupport and they put me on hold for 20 min. I told them my problem and they said we cant do anything this type of product. I could have told them that, so I told them if you cant do anything why sell a defective product. And then I added maybe this company is defective. So they hung up on me. Well I guess I cant expect a defective company to have good service!!!!!!!!! Hope this review helps.

This little gadget it great. My computer resides a little further away from my desktop and monitor than most peoples so the USB and PS/2 ports are a little far away and the mouse cord has limited slack. I bought this and everything works as planned. I installed the drivers, plugged it in after a reboot and off I go. My PC is considerably loud with all the fans I have in it, and I don't like to work in a noisy area. So with this I can keep my computer closed up and still be far enough away to not let the noise get to me.

I bought two of these in the summer of 2002. One died a month ago; the second one died today. Both of them had burned-out AC adapters. This is just not acceptable; devices should last more than 18 months.

I would give it 1 star, except that I was so pleased with it when I got it; it was such a joy to have a switch that didn't care if I was using a crossover cable or not, and would connect to other switches as easily as to hosts. These days, though, that's a fairly common feature.

Hawking makes inexpensive network equipment. I own a 3 year old PCMCIA 10/100 NIC that's still going strong. 95% as fast a 3Com NIC, but at 25% of the price. I expect this switch to be just the same and so far have no problems with it.

Bought this product to use with my MS Internet Keyboard which is a PS-2 keyboard (with a usb adapter). No matter how many times I attached the keyboard to the USB of the miniview, it would not detect it as an Internet Keyboard. Only as a HID Keyboard Device. This prevented me from using the shortcut buttons at the top of the keyboard.

Also, when going into games, never of the keyboard keys would work which is strange. I even d/l the latest drivers from MS to get it to work and it still would not respond inside of games. But the keyboard keys work in stuff like Word and Visual Studio.

So in all, it just turned my multi-functional keyboard into a generic usb keyboard which only worked in programs other then games. I would recommend staying away until IOGEAR or MS resolves this bug.

I have been using this KVM switch for years.
Very well build. No problems under Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
I did try variety of USB devices connected to the HUB such as: Scanners (HP & CardScan), Keyboards (Microsoft and GoldTouch), Hard drives, Cameras (Logitech), and a Cannon Printer. I never had any issues. The only negative is that the switch can not be controlled from the keyboard.

Had this frustrating little bugger for awhile but finally had to return it. After months of messing around with it trying to get it to work properly, I found someone at their tech support dept. that told me there are known problems using this with non-intel chipsets. If they would have said this up-front they could have saved me and a lot of other people alot of time and frustration.

For cablemodems, computers on the go, or if you just want to have a simple, no-messy install for a network, USB is the way to go. I have tested it and it works wonderfully with Win98, 98SE, and 2000. However, Win95 has ALWAYS been prone to USB problems. I would strongly not recommending for ME either, since Microsoft was nice enough to put faults in that. UPGRADES, Anyone? Install is easy, even when the machine is running. Plug it in, and in minutes, you can be enjoying superfast internet access or a awesome multi-user game. All the software you need is there. :-) Another good thing from Linksys

This adapter may work fine with other Sony products, but it does not work with PDAs other than Sony Clie. I tried every listed and imaginable option on both ends (my Vaio notebook and iPaq 2215), they "saw" each other, but could not transfer files -- not with Bluespace, not with integrated WinXP functions, and not with the ipaq software. Nada. Sony tech support was no help. I went on-line to research this problem, and MANY complaints of the same type were available -- that Sony Bluetooth does not play nice with its neighbors. Seems this is the way Sony competes in the marketplace. Fortunately, I can return this control-freak BT adapter, and get one more diversity-friendly. But many who have an integrated Sony BT in their Vaios apparently are forced to buy external BT adapters, as they are unable to use the Sony internal with their non-Sony PDAs.
Not very friendly, Sony. This is a lousy way to compete. I got my Vaio TR1 because it was an awesome little laptop. If I had liked one of the Clies, I would have purchased it. However, I preferred the iPaqs, for many reasons. Don't bully the consumer! Let us choose based upon our needs and how your products meet them.

I purchased one of these for use with my Sony TR2 laptop, which curiously had its internal Bluetooth removed for the American market. In any case, I wanted to use it with my Sony Ericsson T616 Phone and Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, nothing fancy.

I'm glad to say that software installation was a breeze, and the included BlueSpace NE software makes adding Bluetooth devices a snap. You launch the application, then press discover, which brings up a list of Bluetooth peripherals within range. You are then prompted to add the device and enter a PIN number. Much easier than the previous hassles I've been through with Bluetooth technology.

The hardware itself is tiny, easily the smallest USB Bluetooth adapter I've ever seen or used, and far better than Microsoft's monstrosity that comes with the keyboard and mouse. The end of the adapter glows a cool blue when plugged in as well. The mini carrying case comes with a lanyard hole so you won't lose the thing, I actually have mine attached to my keychain.

Initially I had a problem getting Outlook to sync with the T616 phone through XTND Connect, which is provided with the phone. This caused some hair-pulling, but was resolved by going to Phone Monitor Options under the control panel and turning on COM Port 4. Then activate the Serial Port service in BlueSpace NE and you're good to go.

As an interesting side note, this adapter works perfectly with my 667 MHz Apple PowerBook G4 in addition to the VAIO! Although it's a bit more expensive than other USB Bluetooth adapters, the cool design and ease of use make it worth the bit of extra cash. Definitely recommended.

Contrary to the product description, this adapter is not compatible with the Apple Macintosh with a USB port. I have an I-book G-4 that is Bluetooth enabled and it could not recognize the Kespan adapter (BT-A).

I emailed Keyspan for technical support and never received a response. Thus, I had to send this back to Amazon and lost $4.00.

I have a t610 sony ericsson and it worked great i was able to sync with extend conncet (but you have to open the wireless modem control panel and select the com port first) after i did that it worked great i got some bt software... i think it might work wit the 3650 also someone should try it its great....

The product works fine when using regular CRT type monitors but fails to provide adequate signal strength when using Flat Panel monitors. The 17" Flat Panel I tested was one provided with a Dell system. So, if you're hooking up 2 CRTs to a single system this product works very well. But if you're hooking up 2 Flat Panel monitors, it will not work. Belkin is aware of this but they don't put this fact in their advertising and marketing literature.

3com has a good repution for reliability and it will probably carry over to this product, but why restrict yourself with an INTERNAL cable modem.

Keep your options open with an external one. This way if you want to add a hardware firewall or a hardware firewall/switch made by Linksys or one of their competitors, you will not be left out in the cold.

Overall the switch works great out of the box, but there are some caveats.

First, it doesn't come with the necessary cables, and not just any cables will do; the VGA cable has to be a special kind with male and female connectors and screws on BOTH ends. This can only be found (as far as I can tell) in a special kit that Belkin sells. And you will need two sets, of course, which adds a hidden cost to the price of your switch.

Then there's the matter of upgrading the firmware. Although you can connect Macs and PCs running just about any OS, the flash upgrades can apparently only be applied from a PC running Windows 98. How lame is that? It wouldn't be so much of an issue, but on the Mac side I am experiencing keyboard issues which require upgrading. Why they couldn't allow installation of the upgrades via USB instead of through an arcane parallel port cable is beyond me.

The last annoyance: on my PC running Win 2000 there is a significant delay after switching before my wireless mouse or Wacom tablet will work - about 10 seconds. No such delay on the Mac, though.

Other than that, the unit looks great and handles well.