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Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
141–150 of 153 posts
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#142I am trying to do the same, and I absolutely don't understand what is happening in the 3-5 seconds while two gigahertz-level machines and a modern monitor negotiate something over tens-gigabit-per-second connection. If Steve Jobs herded makers of all the parts into a single room, and told them they aren't leaving until this takes 10 ms, I would be immensely grateful and I bet it could be resolved in a week.
For real. So many things do this. I'm particularly frustrated with Bluetooth. Why does it take multiple seconds for two devices to send a minuscule amount of rf data when connecting over known mac?
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#143I am trying to do the same, and I absolutely don't understand what is happening in the 3-5 seconds while two gigahertz-level machines and a modern monitor negotiate something over tens-gigabit-per-second connection. If Steve Jobs herded makers of all the parts into a single room, and told them they aren't leaving until this takes 10 ms, I would be immensely grateful and I bet it could be resolved in a week.
A pox specifically on my otherwise delightful samsung OLED, which immediately upon any sort of disconnect event (say, changing the resolution, or restarting the machine) decides to spend 10-15 seconds slow-scanning every other possible input. Exactly none of which have a physical cable attached, and exactly zero of which have ever been used once. What the devil is taking so long? I'm sure there's some technical reaso…
My Acer Predator can disable that option. The downside is specifically for MacOS, the Mac often gives up trying to sync before the monitor has finished its side of things, and since the Acer has a non-configurable, extremely short auto-power-off, so the two get into a death loop.
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#144I have a Dell U3225QE with a built-in KVM and 2 macs. One connects with Thunderbolt only. The other connects with Display Port for video and USB-C for the rest of the built-in dock. It's OK most of the time with the nipple switch. My one piece of advice is *avoid HDMI*. I learned after getting this monitor that the HDMI protocol is a petulant unstable little shit that does not tolerate renegotiation well. Get yoursel…
I have had exact opposite experience WRT display technologies. I normally use USB-C DP, but they are far more finicky than HDMI. I only use the former because the hub I have for my Mac doesn’t do 4K@120 Hz over HDMI.
EDIT: sorry, the reason is because the monitor has HDMI 2.0, so it can’t do 4K@120 Hz over HDMI. Otherwise, I’d use the Mac’s native HDMI port and be done with it.
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#145For anyone that wants actually seamless switching of video and data, look to professional AV switchers and KVM. This Lindy 5x2 HDMI + USB KVM is the business [1]. I use one because I constantly switch between Mac and Linux while working on the same project and the couple of seconds of black really gets tedious pretty quickly.
https://www.lindy.eu/5-Port-Seamless-Multiview-KVM-Switch.ht...
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#146Personally i prefer two computers, two monitors, one mouse/keyboard. Deskhop has been a lifesaver https://github.com/hrvach/deskhop
I use two computers displayed side-by-side with the picture-in-picture feature of a single ultra-wide monitor. Input leap[0] is a great open source KVM software version of the deskhop which allows me to control both computers on the same monitor with the sam peripherals. [0] https://github.com/input-leap/input-leap
That's too bad that it requires software installed. I love deskhop because it needs absolutely nothing installed on the machines.
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#147As long as everybody is posting their favorite solutions. https://xpufx.com/posts/hundred-percent-software-kvm-switch/
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#148This is pretty cool, dunno if I'd want to commit to a specific monitor brand to get this functionality though. My primary concerns with monitor selection are ports and color quality.
I have an old TrendNet KVM that I've used for years but it doesn't support Thunderbolt so it's getting a bit long in the tooth.
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#149Note that your monitor is a QD-OLED, not a QLED monitor.
Despite the similar names, these are two very different technologies. QD-OLED is a OLED panel that uses QD (quantum dots) to achieve a wide color gamut. QLED is a LED backlit LCD panel that uses QD in a similar way.
The difference in performance characteristics of these two panel types is dominated by the difference between OLED and LCD.
Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use two computers displayed side-by-side with the picture-in-picture feature of a single ultra-wide monitor. Input leap[0] is a great open source KVM software version of the deskhop which allows me to control both computers on the same monitor with the sam peripherals. [0] https://github.com/input-leap/input-leap
That's too bad that it requires software installed. I love deskhop because it needs absolutely nothing installed on the machines.
Well, my initial thought was that I have more cpu cycles and storage than spare desk space, so software is the easy win. But thinking about it, I do occasionally plug sbc's or liter pc's for bare metal OS installs. Deskhop might be the perfect solution for that!