As far as I am aware from the last time I tried to find such a thing the packet-based interactive nature of modern display standards prevents the cheap implementation of these devices, as opposed to the non-interactive, older standards.
The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
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Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#42I replaced them with standalone USB & HDMI switches. I connect 5 PCs on my desk (main PC, Deep Learning rig, NAS, 2x NUC) first to two 4-port USB switches, then have one 2-port switch that switches between these two 4-port switches, and then a large HDMI switch. It works fine; each of those switches was <$5.
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Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#43There is a project to build an open source KVM-over-IP Rapsberry pi based.
rasky:
https://www.nexlab.net/product/rasky/
I have contributed to it but a lot of time without news. Maybe contribute to rasky was risky.
Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#44KVM 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.
Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#45The main thing that has pissed me off with technologies like DisplayPort and HDMI is that I cannot actually turn my monitors off when I'm not using my computer. With DVI I could turn the monitors off and the desktop and applications would stay where they were. With HDMI/Displayport it considers the monitor disconnected, hence re-adjusts the desktop and moves everything around. I would love an option that I could swit…
I've never really understood the desire to use the button on the display to turn off monitors - does allowing the monitors to be switched off by the OS not solve basically the same problem ?
Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#46The ones that used VGA ports for video often used to degrade the image quality in comparison to a direct connection. Frankly there are entire categories of desktop computer peripherals that get a deserved reputation for being flakey junk. USB hubs used to be this way, but presumably they've finally got those right. Inkjet printers too.
USB hubs used to be this way, but presumably they've finally got those right.
Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#47When I worked in the Pentagon, everybody in our office had these to switch between the classified and unclassified computer systems. It was amusing when someone in our large cubicle farm would say, "Hey, check out this email that just came in on the low side," and then two dozen index fingers would reach out and two dozen monitors would blink over to the Windows login screen simultaneously.
Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#48KVM 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…
Anecdotal, I still use a KVM, for a specific use case. My PC has 2 monitors. My 1st monitor is standard usage, but my 2nd monitor is also used by my partner's PC. If she wants to use her computer, she gets the 2nd monitor (and the speakers) but otherwise I got a 2nd monitor to use.
Practically, it saves me from having to use another set of speakers (you would not use 2 sets of speakers at the same time and I usually use headphones) and it also saves me from having to have or use 3 monitors which takes up more space and costs more.
My partner doesn't use her computer a lot. When she does, all the hardware is available for her. I use the 2nd monitor during development, gaming, watching movies, and RDP session.
As per some comments, I don't see how a VM would replace this use-case but I do understand its niche. Still, it saves us space.
Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#49KVM 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.
But, that's more than one button to push! /s
Seriously though, I am a regular user of DVI and VGA KVMs, which have served me well over the years, but now as I migrate to HDMI or DisplayPort connectors and higher resolutions, I'm finding myself having to re-think how I hook everything together.
Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
#50KVM 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.
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.