mikefellh
Active Member
I wanted the ability to turn on my PC that's located BOH when I'm at FOH...the PC is located 50feet away and one floor up from FOH and I always hated having to go upstairs each time just to hit the power button on the computer.
Now yes, there's the ability to turn on the computer via the keyboard but for my motherboard it requires a PS2 keyboard, and my FOH keyboard is USB connected via a USB extender (through Cat6 cable).
Another method is using a smartphone and WOL (Wake On Lan), but that would require each person using the computer to set up their phone with the app and configure the software with the specific IP and MAC Address of the auditorium's computer.
Instead I opted for the third option, an add-on that allows the tower to be started via a keyfob that's kept attached to the FOH station.
The device I found is by Silverstone and it's the ES02-PCIe version...it plugs into the PCIe slot which it uses for power when the computer is off (you have to set the BIOS for this feature), and there's a cable from that board which goes inline between the motherboard connectors and the cable from the tower switches for POWER and RESET. There's also a version of this device that instead plugs onto the motherboard USB pin connector, but I opted for the PCIe version.
Anyway, so now all I have to do is press the power button on the keyfob until I hear a tone from that card that was installed, and then I know the "power switch" has been engaged.
Now yes, there's the ability to turn on the computer via the keyboard but for my motherboard it requires a PS2 keyboard, and my FOH keyboard is USB connected via a USB extender (through Cat6 cable).
Another method is using a smartphone and WOL (Wake On Lan), but that would require each person using the computer to set up their phone with the app and configure the software with the specific IP and MAC Address of the auditorium's computer.
Instead I opted for the third option, an add-on that allows the tower to be started via a keyfob that's kept attached to the FOH station.
The device I found is by Silverstone and it's the ES02-PCIe version...it plugs into the PCIe slot which it uses for power when the computer is off (you have to set the BIOS for this feature), and there's a cable from that board which goes inline between the motherboard connectors and the cable from the tower switches for POWER and RESET. There's also a version of this device that instead plugs onto the motherboard USB pin connector, but I opted for the PCIe version.
Anyway, so now all I have to do is press the power button on the keyfob until I hear a tone from that card that was installed, and then I know the "power switch" has been engaged.
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