We have a need for a mouse/keyboard toggle that would allow a user to sit at a workstation with a mouse/keyboard/monitor and at the press of a button, toggle over to a second monitor/PC but keep using the same mouse/keyboard.
Any ideas if such hardware exists? The front reception wants to have her calling software running on a separate PC near her, but not on the one she uses for day to day tasks (due to the nature of the software, it’s pretty resource intensive and a pain when it demands to be center of attention). Originally, we were going to just have two work stations set up for her, but it was decided (cough) that it would be easier if she could just press a button to make her keyboard/mouse work on the second workstation.
What you want is a KVM, with the monitors left hooked up to separate PCs from the sounds of it. They’ll usually have a keyboard shortcut or a button on the KVM unit itself to switch between systems.
One nice feature to look for is the option to switch back and forth using a key on the keyboard, rather than having to push a button on the KVM device itself which may end up being located in a hard-to-reach spot, depending on how you set it all up. Edit: Er, what Fugitive said.
The most important feature you want to look for is DVI.
I know I can’t stand reading from VGA signal cables compared to DVI displays. Poor eyes aren’t what they used to be (Civilization should get kick backs from opthamologists).
While I agree that VGA sucks these days, DVI KVMs are ridiculously expensive compared to VGA ones, and kind of irrelevant to this thread because he said he wants to use 2 monitors, just share keyboard and mouse.
IMO, you don’t want a KVM at all, you want Synergy or if both systems are PCs (not Mac OS, not Linux) maybe Multiplicity. These are software solutions that let her use both systems as if it were one multi-monitor system without having to worry about pressing buttons to switch from one to another, just mouse off one screen to another and the keyboard/mouse focus follows.
Aha, someone mentioned Synergy to me a while ago and I totally forgot to follow up on it, CCZ.
Slightly tangential, but have you any experience setting up an SSH server on one of the two computers that are connected via Synergy, to secure the Synergy synergy itself?
Sorry, but no, I haven’t ever run Synergy through ssh. I use it on two systems on the same desk that are both connected through the same mini ethernet switch (a $10 Rosewill switch) so I’m not worried about the security implications of sending the data unencrypted. If someone somehow managed to get at the communication channel between these two systems I’m already completely fucked, security-wise.
I recommend not running Synergy through wireless LANs, though, if that helps. Not just because of the security implications (though there’s that too) but because losing mouse responsiveness for even a fraction of a second is extremely annoying and if you run it over wireless you’re likely to have little events from time to time where the latency drops to below acceptable levels of responsiveness when you are mousing on the system that doesn’t have the USB connected mouse/keyboard.
Strangely, I never saw the sale price on their web site, nor did I receive a newsletter offer. (I did, however, receive a newsletter offer for WindowBlinds - $10).
