Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

loper-os.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 145 posts

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#71

Post by petecox »

Jaruzel wrote: post #49
gambiting wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My windows laptop has only VGA out, so I hook up a second monitor via displaylink (usb -> DVI).

I tried plugging the cable into my KVM switch and it worked okay on the Windows 10 side but there was some hot-plugging kernel panic when switching to Linux (must file a bug report!)

So perhaps the future of KVM switches doesn't need video connectors such as VGA/DVI/DP if USB-C -> HDMI (as smartphones are adopting) becomes universal.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#72

Post by Nursie »

Fnoord wrote: post #48
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…

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…

Don't your monitors have multiple inputs? Mine do and have for some years.

I think both of my current ones have built in (crappy) sound and both HDMI and Display-Port inputs.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#73

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

These days, I believe the monitor is becoming the KVM. High-end Dell laptops have multiple inputs as well as USB slots for peripherals, and even a handful of USB type B to send back downstream.

Mine doesn't, unfortunately, so for my two computers plugged into my Dell monitor, I have the keyboard and mouse plugged into a cheap USB switch, while simply cycling through the inputs on the monitor.

It's two clicks instead of one with a traditional KVM, but I don't have $150 to blow on a KVM that has something better than a VGA slot...

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#74

Post by DashRattlesnake »

theothertom wrote: post #45
daemin wrote: post #9

The 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 ?

> 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 ?

Right now, my monitor is in my bedroom. If I let the OS shut off the monitor, it still shows a little white pulsing light to show it's in sleep mode. That's really annoying when I'm trying to sleep.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#75

Post by npsimons »

python-guy-vt wrote: post #61

This tone of this article is pretentious and just plain douchey. The author is largely assuming that their small niche (and petty) use case is what everyone who uses a KVM would want (i.e. using a 4k monitor). The single largest use for KVM is for servers, who the hell is wasting money on a 4k monitor for their servers? There are plenty of reliable and affordable KVM's that the author deems as old relics that work ju…

> This tone of this article is pretentious and just plain douchey.

I got that same feeling. First a "What?! KVMs are no longer sold at all?!" followed by "wait, no, he's lying - KVMs are still sold, they just don't meet his standards." It's clickbait.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#76

Post by uniformlyrandom »

exikyut wrote: post #36
daemin wrote: post #9

The 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…

There are two possibilities: 1. Fake GPU software, which I haven't researched at all but probably exists 2. Forcing your graphics chipset to turn a specific head on and leave it on Here's a Linux-specific example of how to do #2. Since I'm just talking to graphics hardware here, there should be equivalent operations for all of the following for other operating systems. I don't connect an external display at any point…

This comment deserves a github gist, and a separate top-level post.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#78

Post by linsomniac »

This URL starts off with the condition that the KVM needs to be less expensive than adding another display and keyboard, and operate at 4K. So this is targeted towards the home environment? I'd guess that RDP/VNC and the like have pretty much done away with the KVM in that environment.

Re: The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM

#80

Post by j_s »

daemin wrote: post #9

The 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…

A permanent option sometimes required for headless operation: a hardware emulator/terminator such as https://amzn.com/B00FLZXGJ6 ($8.50).
Post reply on HN