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The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

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Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#101

Post by aidenn0 »

gambiting wrote: post #70
megaman22 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any that don't suck bogwater? We've tried a handful for our conference rooms, and they are all universally flaky, with signal dropping randomly all the time.

I found that HDMI switches lose signal because the output device doesn't provide enough power for the switch to leach off. I've had a few of Aukey switches: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Switcher-Output-Splitter-Control-Bl... And once you plug in a dedicated 5V power supply they are rock solid.

That one doesn't meat the (IMO ridiculous) requirements of TFA, which is 4k@60Hz

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#102

Post by X-Istence »

My monitor has a KVM built in...

http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-34-ultrasharp-curve...

It has two USB ports that can go to two different computers, and then in the settings you can set it up so that when you switch from one input to another it also switches what the USB devices are connected to. There are 4 USB ports total on the monitor, and they switch from one device to the other.

It's great, instead of being a separate box, it's built into the monitor. It's neater.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#103

Post by ztjio »

ghaff wrote: post #90
j_s wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have time to link the specific product if it has been working well for you? I personally wouldn't even mind a referral link though most get downvoted, especially if they lack a disclaimer. Something that can reliably connect to random/miscellaneous projects would be really useful to me!

This is what I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XRDS1CG/ref=oh_aui_deta... It seems to work fine although I haven't used it a huge amount.

This does not meet the requirements of a modern workstation by my or the original article's requirements. This is limited to 1080p. We're looking at 4k as a minimum.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#104

Post by ztjio »

plq wrote: post #27
Kurtz79 wrote: post #3

PSA: It's about this "KVM": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVM_switch Not this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel-based_Virtual_Machine

... which makes this a total non-story in my opinion :) Of course KVM switches will eventually disappear; when was the last time any of us (minus datacenter staff) has been to the server room since the dawn of the PaaS age?

I've only used KVM switches on the desktop. Try to think outside your own experiences.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#105

Post by arghwhat »

sdfjkl wrote: post #25

KVM switches used to be a huge and super important (and expensive) thing in rack server farms back when every rack or every few racks had a pull-out tray with a keyboard and a monitor. Technology moved on. First the tray and monitor disappeared with KVM-over-IP, which saved many trips to the server room. Then the KVM switches themselves disappeared, as manufacturers integrated out-of-band remote access into the serve…

At work, we have at least the first 30 racks with good 'ol VGA KVM's (no IP) and tray monitor/keyboard/touchpad, despite at least half of the servers having IPMI. Ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

And no, no one needs 4k where a KVM belongs (which is in a server room).

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#106

Post by ztjio »

daemin wrote: post #26
paol wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must have some dodgy hardware. This is definitely not normal, at least with HDMI. I just tried it with the monitor right in front of me, even unplugging it from the wall didn't cause the laptop to drop the monitor like it would if I had disconnected the HDMI cable.

What I had learnt from investigating this issue is: * It's been a problem since at least 2012 * HDMI cables have an active-low connection pin, therefore it's easier to fool the video card into thinking the monitor is still connected. * DisplayPort is an active-high signal, therefore if the monitor powers off, it's the same thing as the cable being physically disconnected. Ideally I would be able to switch the monitor…

Is it necessary to you that the display actually be disconnected from power? I use display port on most of my displays and don't have the issue with simply turning off the monitor. But, that's because the monitor doesn't REALLY turn off. It just goes into an ultra low power mode. If that satisfies you, perhaps you need to get a different monitor is all.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#107

Post by tootie »

sdfjkl wrote: post #25

KVM switches used to be a huge and super important (and expensive) thing in rack server farms back when every rack or every few racks had a pull-out tray with a keyboard and a monitor. Technology moved on. First the tray and monitor disappeared with KVM-over-IP, which saved many trips to the server room. Then the KVM switches themselves disappeared, as manufacturers integrated out-of-band remote access into the serve…

Server room KVMs are still going strong. I used them pretty regularly for a small in-store server room.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#108

Post by ztjio »

beojan wrote: post #7
xg15 wrote: post #6

I'd guess the comment about HDCP is onto something. To build a KVM switch that works with modern displays without weird errors, it probably has to be an active HDMI/HDCP endpoint on its own - which means a vendor would either need to get its own sets of keys and do additional work to enforce all DRM restrictions - or they'd have to use leaked keys and prepare to get sued in an instant. Even without HDCP, I remember a…

What if it physically unplugged the HDMI connection, and reconnected it to the other device? It wouldn't be quite as seamless since the initialization process would be repeated, but it would work .

This is doable but unappealing as the OS will see the display is gone, and relayout the desktop environment every time you switch. Depending on your OS, and your personal concerns about all your environment behaviors, you might not care. I know I would be very annoyed by this.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#109

Post by cormman »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #57

You can get a USB switch and a 4K HDMI switch for about $40. I don't currently have a 4K HDMI switch, but my HD switch works just fine. Sure you have two buttons to push (USB and HDMI), but it works and it's cheap.

Yep, I got this for my 4k monitor: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071CJWSPF/

And this for my usb stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-One-Button-Swapping-Between-...

It's under $25 total and both work perfectly well.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#110

Post by cormman »

gambiting wrote: post #44
sdfjkl wrote: post #25

KVM switches used to be a huge and super important (and expensive) thing in rack server farms back when every rack or every few racks had a pull-out tray with a keyboard and a monitor. Technology moved on. First the tray and monitor disappeared with KVM-over-IP, which saved many trips to the server room. Then the KVM switches themselves disappeared, as manufacturers integrated out-of-band remote access into the serve…

The easiest solution is to just buy an HDMI switch(there's loads of them, even ones which work with 4K signal, and they don't disrupt DHCP) and a USB switch. Total solution should fit in about 40-50 dollars.

About 25 total actually (I use these both for my 4k setup)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071CJWSPF/

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-One-Button-Swapping-Between-...

4k 60fps 4/4/4 color no problem

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