I have addressed this problem by using a 4x4 USB switcher from Rosewill and an HDMI matrix, such as those used by broadcasting or A/V signage industries. I started with an 8x8 matrix and now have a 16x16. It’s dead simple to give each of the 4 or so computers I have hooked up to them 3 or so monitors, and I can swap any video source to any sink using a web interface. The matrix isn’t cheap (approximately $1200) but after using it for around 4 years, I honestly couldn’t think of using my workstation any other way.
Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
41–50 of 155 posts
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#42I bought a fantastic curved Samsung monitor and it supports reading from the port that tells you the current input but not setting it. It also has the worst possible input switcher that cycles until it finds a valid input.
I wish it were easier to hack on monitor firmware. I'd love to improve it.
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#43from a purely software perspective and sort of the inverse of this, everyone should be aware of barrier, the fork/continuation of synergy https://github.com/debauchee/barrier the general concept is you could have 2, 3, 4 or more individual desktop PCs at one desk, each connected to their own displays, and one keyboard and one mouse. The keyboard and mouse are on the primary workstation, you can roll the mouse off the…
I'm still waiting for https://github.com/debauchee/barrier/issues/567 to get fixed. Right now, Barrier (and possibly Synergy) creates zombie processes and leaks handles on Windows, causing the kernel to burn CPU trying to free up memory.
that's unfortunate, I can't say that I've ever tried it in a windows environment
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#44Maybe I missed it (on mobile) but which switch does this use? Or does anyone have one they recommend?
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#45Speaking from experience, download a program that can show what DDC commands your monitor supports before you bother. Mine supports many except… switching inputs (0x60 if I recall). Documentation for most consumer monitors is pretty lacking in this regard, it seems to be a feature mostly on monitors targeted to the professional market.
I was pretty shocked that most of the ddcutil & other similar programs on Linux weren't working for two of my monitors. The utils couldn't even detect the DDC display. But I told it what i2c bus to send to & what commands to issue, and it turns out my monitors had a pretty wide range of commands. Reminds me of an i2c motor controller I bought years ago, based off some avr microcontroller. I spent an afternoon trying…
Sometimes it also the availability of commands depends on the cable/adapter used.
If I connect my monitor directly via HDMI to my laptop I can send all the DDC commands I want, but when I use an USB-C -> DisplayPort cable ddcutil couldn't event detect the monitor. Sadly I must use this cable, because it's the only way I can get 4K@60FPS.
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#46I have a $250 TESmart HDMI/keyboard/mouse switch, after 6 months I have to power cycle it each time when I woke up the computer. Unreliable.
Also bought Synergy that works fine but I need keep the software running(a wifi switch will lose the connection, so it's not the same as the hardware kvm switch).
I now use usb-switch for keyboard/mouse only, and use my monitor's own button to switch displays, so far it is not convenient but "works".
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#47I have a $250 TESmart HDMI/keyboard/mouse switch, after 6 months I have to power cycle it each time when I woke up the computer. Unreliable. Also bought Synergy that works fine but I need keep the software running(a wifi switch will lose the connection, so it's not the same as the hardware kvm switch). I now use usb-switch for keyboard/mouse only, and use my monitor's own button to switch displays, so far it is not c…
If you bought the switch from them, their support is pretty good. I would recommend reaching out to them. Otherwise I guess reach out to who you bought it from.
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was pretty shocked that most of the ddcutil & other similar programs on Linux weren't working for two of my monitors. The utils couldn't even detect the DDC display. But I told it what i2c bus to send to & what commands to issue, and it turns out my monitors had a pretty wide range of commands. Reminds me of an i2c motor controller I bought years ago, based off some avr microcontroller. I spent an afternoon trying…
Sometimes it also the availability of commands depends on the cable/adapter used. If I connect my monitor directly via HDMI to my laptop I can send all the DDC commands I want, but when I use an USB-C -> DisplayPort cable ddcutil couldn't event detect the monitor. Sadly I must use this cable, because it's the only way I can get 4K@60FPS.
Probably that cable contains a set of EDID chips to fool your laptop and the monitor - and as EDID works over DDC, obviously no DDC commands will pass.
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#49Neat! Similarly, I've been using ddcutil on Linux and a stupid python script on Windows to switch video inputs. Janky as it is, it's more reliable than any KVM I've ever used, and I've tested quite a few.
Now for my 2022 project I want to build one those promicro/QMK based custom keyboards with a direct I2c connection to my monitor and control it via hot keys. Eventually I'd add promicros for each computer all talking I2c and the keyboard is smart enough to forward keypresses to the active computer. That's my idea anyway.
Re: Display-switch: Turn a $30 USB switch into a full-featured multi-monitor KVM
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was pretty shocked that most of the ddcutil & other similar programs on Linux weren't working for two of my monitors. The utils couldn't even detect the DDC display. But I told it what i2c bus to send to & what commands to issue, and it turns out my monitors had a pretty wide range of commands. Reminds me of an i2c motor controller I bought years ago, based off some avr microcontroller. I spent an afternoon trying…
Sometimes it also the availability of commands depends on the cable/adapter used. If I connect my monitor directly via HDMI to my laptop I can send all the DDC commands I want, but when I use an USB-C -> DisplayPort cable ddcutil couldn't event detect the monitor. Sadly I must use this cable, because it's the only way I can get 4K@60FPS.
Is that USB-C or thunderbolt over USB-C? One is an entire graphics card and the other is just a muxer.