Home Support Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) Don Johnston Products FAQs DJ Switch Interfaces FAQ's

1. Connecting to your computer

   This device can be likened to a small keyboard. It is important to attach this hardware with the computer turned off.

1. Desk Top PC’s

   The switch interface should be plugged into the keyboard socket of desk top PC’s and the keyboard plugged into the remaining socket on the switch interface.

   1. PS/2 Type Keyboard Sockets
      

      If the plug on the keyboard of your computer is of the PS/2 type (ie approximately 9 mm diameter with 6 pins and a large locating pin), attach the short adapter cable provided onto the end of the Switch Interface cable, and plug the smaller end of the adapter cable into the PS/2 socket of your computer. Plug the computer keyboard directly into the PS/2 socket of the Switch Interface.

   2. XT/AT Type Keyboard Sockets
      

      If the plug on the keyboard of your computer is of the older AT or XT type
      (ie approximately 13 mm diameter with 5 pins), plug the cable from the Switch Interface directly into the keyboard socket of the computer. Plug the short adapter cable into the Switch Interface. Plug the computer keyboard into the socket of the adapter cable.

2. PC Laptops

   PC Laptops typically have only one PS/2 socket for connecting either an external keyboard or an external mouse. The computer checks to see if a device is attached to this socket shortly after it is turned on, and determines whether it is a mouse or keyboard.

   So if you plug the Switch Interface (or any other device for that matter) into the laptop after it has been turned on, it will not have recognised that there is an external device connected, and will not work.

   The laptop PS/2 socket can be either a mouse or a keyboard. It cannot be both. Therefore, you can only plug an external keyboard into the Switch Interface connected to the laptop. A mouse plugged into the Switch Interface will not work.

2. Key Stroke Emulation

   The DJ PC Switch interface has five standard 3.5 mm switch sockets.
   Switches connected to these sockets can emulate many more than five keyboard functions by toggling (pressing once to activate) the following function keys:

   • Caps Lock
     (typically above the Shift key on left hand side of the keyboard)
     
   • Scroll Lock
     (typically to the right of the F Keys at the top right hand side of the keyboard)
     (Laptops – press Fn key and F12 together)
     
   • Num Lock
     (typically the top left hand key of the number pad)
     (Laptops – press Fn key and F11 together)

1. None

   With no Toggle key pressed, the five switch inputs emulate the arrow keys and the Enter key.

2. With Caps Lock toggled

   With Caps Lock pressed the five switch inputs emulate from left to right: Space, Enter, Tab, Shift Tab, and Backspace.

3. With Scroll Lock toggled

   With Scroll Lock pressed the five switch inputs emulate from left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 0 keys.

4. With Num Lock* toggled

   With Num Lock pressed the five switch inputs emulate from left to right: Click, Right Click, Double Click, Space and Enter.

   *The asterisk is to remind users that to emulate the mouse functions: Click, Right Click, Double Click, it is necessary to turn on Mouse Keys in the Control Panel:

   1. Select Settings from the Start menu
      
   2. Select Control Panel
      
   3. Select Accessibility Options
      
   4. Select the Mouse tab
      
   5. Click on Use MouseKeys to place a tick in the box
5. Which key does the switch emulate?

   You can check which keyboard key a switch plugged into the DJ PC Switch Interface is emulating by opening a word processor (eg WordPad from Accessories) and pressing the switch to see what it does. You will need to enter a few returns into the word processor in order to see the arrow keys.

   You can check the mouse key emulation by placing the mouse pointer over an icon on the desk top and pressing the switch. Check to see what the normal mouse functions do first.