Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025) • Hacker News Board

Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)

#151

Post by tim-- » Wed, May 20, 2026, 1:39 AM UTC

seany wrote: post #121

tim-- wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These exist, but are exceptionally niche, and very, extremely expensive.

I don't think they exist at all. Even in 4x4 config. Keep in mind I want only dp 1.4 in out +serial control

The Aquilon RS4 can do DisplayPort 1.4[1] up to 32.4Gbps (HBR3). You will need two DP1.4 output cards[2] and two DP1.4 input cards[3].

Probably easier & cheaper to do switching in HDMI 2.1 though.

Aquilon is expensive, but the nice thing about the units is that they literally allow you to have a seamless switching experience (everything else will blank out the screen, and cause it to disconnect for a few seconds while everything resyncs).

[1] https://www.analogway.com/products/aquilon-rs4

[2] https://www.analogway.com/products/four-displayport-1-2-outp...

[3] https://www.analogway.com/products/four-displayport-1-2-inpu...

Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)

#152

Post by sharts » Thu, May 21, 2026, 6:35 AM UTC

TimeBearingDown wrote: post #102

sharts wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasted money on their KVM and it sucked for vfio stuff. Never again.

any details? considering this.

basically what the other commenter said. switching back and fourth between vms would result in the usb hardware IDs changing every time. so i’d have to ssh in and update manually.

i’m sure there would be a way to fix this but I specifically bought it because of the level1 reviews stating that it’d work at hardware level.

maybe I got a bad one, or an earlier revision. but it soured me enough to not really weigh the overly enthusiastic/optimistic reviews.

Last I heard the intel arc gpus would support sriov (as in, there is hardware support but supposedly driver would land eventually). I haven’t followed up on that since I haven’t watched their videos in a while, but I would not be shocked if this ended up being false.

Re: Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling (2025)

#153

Post by akimbostrawman » Thu, May 21, 2026, 9:54 AM UTC

IshKebab wrote: post #122

threetonesun wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's much more reasonable and trivial on lower quality monitors but if one of the two PCs is for gaming you're going to want 4k at at least 120Hz which, last I checked, didn't exist (or was very expensive). You also might have a hard time finding one that takes DisplayPort in, which is preferable for Linux. Personally I just run the USB devices into a $5 USB A/B switch and manually change the inputs on the monitor.

You definitely don't need more than 60Hz for gaming. That's a super nice luxury.

60hz is luxury too (for console lol). There are a lot of things you don't "need" for gaming that are "luxury" for example a modern pc... I at least will not play on the refresh rate level from the 2000s on a current year pc and monitor i spend my money on to specifically get higher fps and noticable better experience.