Posted by Scott Oberg on 27, 2000 at 2:22 PM:
In Reply to: MAX Cable lengths posted by CJ on 24, 2000 at 7:51 AM:
The problem with cable legnths for mouse/kb/video/joystick is almost entirely one of signal loss due to the cable quality. There are manufacturers that make custom cables with heavy duty shielding that are designed for long runs and/or high interference industrial environments. Someone posted the link here once, but I don't have it.
I took a look at it, since I do the same thing myself. They made KB/Mouse/video runs up to 200 feet, which I thought was quite impressive. (BTW- the cables end up being about 3/4" in diameter each at this legnth.)
In my personal experience, I have PS/2 kb and video going 6' from my computer to switchbox, and another 13' or so to the cabinet. That's almost 20' with a switchbox in the middle. My Joystick run is about 20' as well. I don't have any problems with this setup. by placing the Switchbox about equidistant between the cabinet and my desktop monitor/kb, I end up getting about 25' total seperation. Not enough to put it in the next room for me, but close.
I think that the restriction on USB can only be extended with powered USB hubs for signal repeating.