FERRUM setup: wiring, driver and COM port

FERRUM connects to your mouse or keyboard, your main PC and your second computer. Nothing gets installed on the main PC. Its port layout is different from MAKCU's. If you're not sure FERRUM is the right one, Aim devices: MAKCU or FERRUM compares the two.

Before you start

Wire it up

• Mouse or keyboard into the center USB-A port.
• Left USB-C to the main PC.
  Use a port on the back of the case. Front and top ports go through a cable inside the case and can cause dropouts. They can work, but the back is more reliable. Your main PC sees a normal input device.
• Right USB-C to the second computer.
  This is how your second computer tells FERRUM what to do.

The driver and the utility

• Install the CP210x driver on the second computer.
  A driver is a small free program that lets Windows talk to FERRUM's chip. Get it from Silicon Labs, the chip maker, on their driver page, not from a driver download site. Without it no COM port shows up.
• Install the FERRUM utility on the second computer too.
  It only runs on Windows. If you're not sure where to download it, ask in your Discord ticket. Don't grab it from a random site. In the utility, choose what your main PC sees FERRUM as (a mouse, a keyboard, or both) and write down the COM port it shows.

Point your software at it

FERRUM is KMBox B+ Pro compatible, so software made for a B+ Pro works as is once you give it the COM port. Through the utility it also takes KMBox Net and DHZBox style commands over the network. If your software speaks none of these, FERRUM won't work with it.

If it is not working

• The main PC doesn't see it.
  Try another port on the back of the main PC. Front and top ports go through a cable inside the case and can cause dropouts.
• No COM port.
  The CP210x driver is missing, or the right-hand cable isn't connected.
• Mouse works, but the software can't talk to it.
  Wrong COM number, the left and right USB-C cables swapped, or the software doesn't speak a command set FERRUM takes.

With all four ticked, FERRUM is ready. If you have a fuser, Video fuser setup is the last step. If the COM port still won't show up or your software can't reach it, open a ticket in our Discord and tell us what the utility shows, or post on the support forum.