[tech] Monitor Switch Box

[Simon Fryer]

Bingle

I am not sure if committee is a  sub set of tech so apologies to those who 
get this more than once. 

I have been pricing up the cables needed for the monitor swtich box. 
First the good news - all the machines have VGA which maked life easy. 
Unfortunatly, most of the machines have 5pin Din style keyboard connectors
apart from two machines. From the machine room:
Machines with Din5 Keyboard connectors: router, mako, dagon, ziggy, mermaid
	and moray.
Machines with PS2 Keyboard connectors: q, mussel.

>From this I recomend we obtain 1 PS2 male -> Din5 male cable, 4 Din5 male  -> 
Din5 male cables and 4 HD 15 pin male (VGA) -> HD 15pin male cables. This 
allows some flexability when setting up machines. 

I had a quick look at pre made cables and thought there must be a better way. 
Then I thought, we have a lot (We we did, this is why cleanouts are a bad thing)
of old keyboard with intermittent keys. Also we have a couple of dieing or 
dead VGA monitors. Solution - grab cables from these and fit connectors to them.
This works out to be a very cheap solution. 

I know I have already been authorized to spend money on this but I thought I 
would run it past committee again. Part I will need are
5 * Din5 Male connectors@$0.85 each 		$4.25
4 * DB9 Backshells@$1.50 each			$6.00
4 * HD15 Male D style connector@$2.95 each 	$11.80
These prices are including tax and from the Altronics catalouge. I had a look
at the Jaycar price list but it ended up being more expensive. 

This solution also has the advantage that I get to rope interested freshers 
into hardware assembly *looks at Grahame*!!!

Is this ok  or does someone else have any other fantastic ideas?

See Ya
Simon

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to 
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is 
the utility of the final product."  
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh