Re: One monitor, two computers?


Subject: Re: One monitor, two computers?
From: Jim Cole (greyleaf@yggdrasill.net)
Date: Thu Oct 28 1999 - 18:31:25 MDT


Based on my experience, I would use this advice with some caution. You
might get lucky and pick up a good switch box for cheap, but in general
there is a reason why a lot of switch boxes are cheap. It is that old "You
get what you pay for" thing. I tried to take the cheap way out and bought
a KVM switch at a computer show for about $20. It worked, as long as you
were OK with ghosted images on your monitor, keyboard and mouse lockups,
etc. A good box is more expensive, but you are paying for things like
emulation that keeps mouse/keyboard states sane as you switch, support for
reasonably high refresh rates, cleaner signals, and so on. If you need a
KVM switch for a high end system, there is a good chance you would be
disappointed with a cheapy.

Jim

Dan Delaney's bits of Thu, 28 Oct 1999 translated to:

> On 10/28/99 3:52 PM, Don Arbow wrote:
> First of all, the Apple monitor ports are DB15s, not DB25s. Second, you paid
> WAY too much for that box. If you live in a city which has the MarketPro
> computer shows every month, I suggest you go to one of them and get yourself
> either a DB15 switch box, or a sub-DB15 box (the kind that all PCs and the
> new Macs with ATI cards use). You can usually find them there for $10 to
> $20. You'll also need to get an extra monitor cable which you should be able
> to find there for very cheap as well. If you buy these same items from a
> store, you'll end up paying well over double the price (as Don did).



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