Input Device compatibility testing with KVM & KM switches

[Wootenblatz]

Yesterday I got a 44 key Koolertron key pad (B076LZJ5JS on US Amazon) and have tested it with the ShuOne 8 port and the AIMOS 8 port.
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If a macro can be crafted to switch ports, it will likely have to be use the KeyDown and KeyUp actions.

After a number of unhelpful back and forth emails with Koolertron support, I believe I have accidentally figured out how to do proper key up key down macros with the Koolertron. All of my email exchanges gave me the sense that the person on the other end simultaneously thought I was an idiot while also assuming I knew some baseline knowledge about how the device works. It kind of drove me nuts.

This applies to the AIMOS 4 port and AIMOS 8 port.

Anyway, I say I discovered this accidentally because no where in the manual or in my emails with support did it ever become clear where the numbers for a key up/down "key value" should come from. When I specifically asked support this question I got this in response:

The parameter after the Keydown command is the row and column number of the key. To use the keyboard to enter the number, you can enter this parameter .

In retrospect this makes total sense. However at no point did this person say "use the row/column key position on the physical device". Hence my comment about "baseline knowledge" I mentioned earlier.

Last night I happened to notice the top of the pop up window you get when assigning a key type to a key. This is when I remembered the cryptic mention of "row and column number of the key". Seeing this finally made everything click into place for me:



As it turns out the "key value" part of macros refers to the physical key position on the device. The 44 key unit has 6 rows of keys with 8 columns of keys. So the top left key is key value 11. The last key in the top row is 18. Keys that take up multiple spots seem to be referenced by the first location they occupy. In my image below the black CTRL key is Key 51 and occupies spot 51 and 61. The "window" key in the bottom row is key 62.

To create a proper direct port swap macro on the Koolertron 44 key unit you'd need to bind one key for NUM* and five keys for NUM1 through NUM5. You'd probably want these out of the way because the macros themselves also need to be bound to keys.

Then you'd need to bind the macro for each PC swap key to 5 additional keys. You'd end up having to dedicated 11 keys up to attain a single button port switch for 1 through 5.

Here is one example of how that might look if the top row dedicated key 3 through 8 to the macros assignments. I'm not showing those keys but instead showing a macro that should swap to the port for PC1. Key 12 is NUM*, Key 21 is NUM1.



Given that you can turn sync on (NUM*+NUM0) with a single key in burst configuration mode, I'd recommend that so you can save a key if you do create direct port swap macros.

In closing, I have not actually tested these exact configuration. I did test a number of other macros that behave in a similar way. I do not want to dedicate 11 keys to direct port swapping on a keypad. I'm generally not turning off keyboard sync in combat with my current setup.