The Peculiarly Quiet Decline and Fall of the KVM
Yes, that familiar little PC peripheral. The one that toggles a single keyboard/mouse/display ensemble between two or more connected machines.
They've quietly vanished from the market. And the fact appears to be discussed nowhere on the Net, at all. So I have seen it fit to make a note of it here.
What's this, you say, they are still available? I'll bite: who and where sells a KVM box that reliably works with recent ( 3840 × 2160 x 60 Hz ) display, and costs less than simply adding another such display would cost?
Every single claimed counterexample I've turned up, either has a kilometer of "this is rubbish, doesn't work at all at the claimed 4K res" reviews hanging from it; or no reviews at all, on account of no one being stupid enough to purchase a KVM that costs more than adding two or three additional high-quality displays to the workstation.
I have no idea re: just why the KVM has gone into extinction. But it seems to have! And said demise is rather difficult to explain in purely technical terms, because signal switches with arbitrary bandwidth remain available: analogue relays (as found in, e.g., inexpensive oscilloscopes and elsewhere.) So what gives?
Edit: To all of the "switching an analogue 500MHz takes exotic and expensive FETs" people: somehow a mid-range -- 300-400 $ -- LCD quite routinely takes input from 2 (sometimes more) selectable Displayport jacks. But to get exactly the same functionality in an external KVM, is 700-1000 ? Why?
Something like this selection, you mean?
Of course you'll have to settle for hdmi and usb, not ps/2, but they do appear to exist. Cheapest goes for 70-odd euros.
Curiously, elsewhere I'm still seeing the NewStar SV421+ available new, which has vga, ps/2 or din(!) keyboard and ps/2 or de9(!) mouse ports. No, it doesn't do very many megapixels nor is it arbitrary bandwidth. One might wonder what it would need to become such.
Dear Chief Fetters,
Somehow the point of this article passed you by entirely?
I do not care whether 1990s-style KVM units are still sold, they are neither here nor there, wholly irrelevant to the question of flipping a current top-of-the-line LCD between a stack of PCs outputting at its full res.
Yours,
-S
Did you even take a look at the link he posted.
The cheapest one there that does 3840x2160 @60Hz is ca. 135€.
https://geizhals.eu/aten-2-port-displayport-kvm-switch-with-usb-audio-cs782dp-a1516751.html
Dear Daniel,
Based on reviews elsewhere, it is a safe bet that this product is a dud, like every other Displayport switch.
And its cost approaches that of a reasonable new display.
Yours,
-S
Why would you want to connect your servers to a high res monitor, it seems like waisting ressources to me...
Dear NameNotRequired,
Have you considered actually reading the article ? Where was a server mentioned ?
Yours,
-S
May be related to DRM?
I can imagine how a device that cared about how its output was being used might object to suddenly being switched mid-stream somewhere else.
It's possible that HDCP is at fault here, although that's only a guess.
Dear Duncan Bayne,
This is possible. Though as I understand, the secret key for the HDCP nonsense leaked some years ago.
Yours,
-S
The secret key having been leaked is irrelevant. The existence of it isn't for security - it is for enforcing the requirement that HDCP compatible devices are licensed and approved (ecause the moment you use the key it is clear that you are in breach). A hacker or hobbyist could use it, as possibly could a no-name foreign manufacturer, but if a proper hardware vendor did they would be immediately sued.
The alternative method, as you proposed, would be simple switching (it could be solid state rather than mechanical and probably would have to be for signal integrity at these bandwidths but I'm no RF engineer). It wouldn't be very seamless though - lots of monitor adjustment every time you switched in and out.
Dear WillW,
It so happens that I am already switching by yanking and reinserting plugs.
A mechanical switch would be a serious improvement, and doesn't require breaking the copyprotection or making any sense of the signal. Yet AFAIK there are no mechanical Displayport+USB switches on the market today.
Yours,
-S
It's still legally impossible to use them without opening yourself up to 50 kinds of lawsuits.
They replaced the broken HDCP with a new version.
Dear apeloyee,
How did this work with the keys in old iron ? Or does "new" simply barf when plugged into an "old" ?
Yours,
-S
> Or does “new” simply barf when plugged into an “old” ?
Allegedly refuses to transmit "protected" "4K" to old devices.
I speculate the decline of the KVM is due to general adoption of reasonably-good remote desktop solutions; you can see both desktops at once, maybe cut-and-paste between them, etc.
Dear PRW,
Really, games over "remote desktop" ? How, over 10Gb/s LAN ?
Yours,
-S
You may be interested in having a look at the Steam Link. It's not perfect but works great for my use case (streaming games from my desktop to my TV). Working fine over AC WLAN.
There are many solutions which provides very reasonable performance, even over ADSL lines.
For Linux, X2Go is wonderfully efficient. It can provide both image quality and speed over 4mbps networks. It can do much lower (even dial-up) if you need to. Or stream HD videos over higher bandwidth connections.
I manage some servers which provide X2Go desktops to some researchers at the university. Nobody complained yet about its performance. They use it from home or on the go.
RDPs latest versions are very efficient too, but I didn't pit it over X2Go.
Dear Hakan Bayindir,
How would you go about moving a 3840 × 2160 x 60 Hz of uncompressible ( do not presume they are compressible, they can contain whatever they may happen to contain ) frames over 4mb/s ?
Elementary arithmetical "sorry, nope."
Additionally the item on the other end is not a Linux box. It can be anything, e.g. MS, or even FPGA board. I can already ssh -X to my Linux boxes.
Yours,
-S
Steam In-Home Streaming actually works pretty nicely. Of course YMMV depending on the game.
Dear Johannes,
How does this comment relate to the article, which was about connecting arbitrary Displayport emitters to a passive console ?
Yours,
-S
There are remote desktop applications specifically for games. They use their own protocol and compression algorithms, which results in rather low latency. Check out as an example.
Dear pReya,
One of my emitters is an FPGA dev board. How does this piece of shitware help in connecting my console to the dev board ?
Yours,
-S
It doesn't help at all, in fact not only does it not help, it's also the reason for not finding a kvm. There are remote solutions that mostly work for common scenarios, now less people have need for kvm. Uncommon scenarios are now even more uncommon. So while it doesn't help, it is relevant to the problem.
Dear Justin,
This was the original point of the article -- the classical source-and-destination-agnostic KVM has died. While still theoretically available, the offered items are not economically justifiable anywhere other than, e.g., a space station or a submarine.
Yours,
-S
Steam's in-home streaming works fine even over jittery 100 mbit/s wifi links, although for low-latency gaming, GBit Ethernet is generally recommendable.
Last time I checked 90s style KVM switch was more expensive than used 15' 1024x768 display, cheapest new mouse and shittiest new keyboard combo.
Dear Fghj,
Mine were mechanical toggles, and cost pennies -- at junk stores.
Yours,
-S
Last time I looked, VGA KVMs were inexpensively available, but don't handle the video bandwidth you've grown accustomed to. The actual device I think you're desiring - a multi-monitor DisplayPort KVM - has never actually existed on the market.
As you point out, they are not impossible - switching between HDMI (DVI) is basically what a home theater receiver does. There just isn't a market demand. Rather, switching between video sources can be done on the monitor(s) themselves, as most modern monitors are made with multiple inputs. The keyboard and mouse (and any other peripheral you desire!) can go through a USB switch (eg Monoprice #2996).
Dear mindslight,
HDMI and DVI are about as relevant to this thread as VGA -- which is to say, not at all: AFAIK you're stuck with Displayport if you want to use a current state-of-the-art display at full resolution @ 60Hz.
Displayport KVMs apparently do exist on the market, but none of them are known to work reliably, and quite a few appear to cost more than a reasonably high-end LCD -- IMHO defeating their very purpose.
And really, no market demand ? Nobody keeps a "games box" around any more ?
Yours,
-S
There really isn't much market demand. Very few people have 2 desktops with smartphones, tablets, consoles and laptops all encroaching on different parts of the market that desktop services.
A "game box" means a console to most people. Most people don't even have an (external) display, or a separate keyboard or mouse. They have a laptop.
> HDMI and DVI are about as relevant to this thread as VGA — which is to say, not at all: AFAIK you’re stuck with Displayport if you want to use a current state-of-the-art display at full resolution @ 60Hz.
4k@60Hz is also possible over HDMI 2.0.
Modern HDMI works fine at 4K@60Hz – it was 2-3 years ago that it had problems. 10K@120Hz HDMI was just recently specced, AFAIK the first time that it beats DisplayPort in that regard.
Between HDMI receivers that cover the HiFi and gaming market (you don't want, and often can't, share gamepads between consoles anyway – and when you can they tend to use bluetooth, not USB) and Ye Olde VGA KVM for server markets, the market for desktop-class KVM switches is really, really tiny.
I'm afraid you're expected to make do with display/receiver switching for video and dedicated USB switches for peripherals.
> 10K@120Hz HDMI was just recently specced, AFAIK the first time that it beats DisplayPort in that regard.
By
> https://semiaccurate.com/2017/11/29/hdmi-v2-1-adds-lot-goodies-10k120-support/ in HDMI 2.1
10K@120Hz only works using "Display Stream Compression (DSC)", which decreases the visual quality.
According to the VESA FAQ
> https://www.vesa.org/faqs/#DSC%20FAQs
this is "visually losless". Decide for yourself...
I keep a games box around. I just stream from it. There's now several pretty good solutions for this, including Parsec, Steam "in-home streaming", and Nvidia Gamestream. They can do HD video at 60fps, and it works just fine on a normal lan, even wifi if the signal is good.
Dear Ryan Castellucci,
In my household, a "games box" is one that might contain such a thing as an Nvidia GPU card, MSWin, etc. and a "non-games" box is one that very certainly does not.
The apps you listed may work for streaming console from one "games box" to another. But why would you want to do this ? Simply install the game on both ?
And how does this comment pertain to the article ? I am not interested in installing closedshitware on my Linux boxes.
Yours,
-S
"HDMI and DVI are about as relevant to this thread as VGA — which is to say, not at all: AFAIK you’re stuck with Displayport if you want to use a current state-of-the-art display at full resolution @ 60Hz."
HDMI 2.0 supports 4K at 60 Hz. today. 2.0a and 2.0b cables/devices are also available and support HDR.
HDMI 2.1 will support 4K and 8K at up to 120 Hz.
I seem to remember that 4k displays are essentially two displays as far as the HDMI protocol is concerned (they're too wide to be addressed properly) and a lot of work is required to cover that up, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what breaks old-style KVM switches.
As for vendors that support 4k-KVM, I have no idea.
Dear anonymous,
It still isn't clear to me why the thing cannot work with the same mechanical relay as in, say, my Rigol oscilloscope.
A reed switch does not need to understand the protocol...
--
And apparently dedicated Displayport switching ASICs are available.
Yours,
-S
The issue with mechanically switching DisplayPort between monitors (or using an ASIC to do this) is that DisplayPort is a packet based protocol.
If you take a normal DisplayPort monitor in a multi-head environment and turn it off, the OS will detect the display topology change and "helpfully" rearrange your displays and/or windows to fit the new topology.
If you switched DisplayPort like this, where the monitor disappears, you're going to end up with a rather confused OS and application windows.
So, it is possible, but due to the way DisplayPort communicates with the OS, a display falling off DisplayPort causes a very poor user experience. Likely people wouldn't be very pleased with this kind of switching if it involved correcting the display/window position.
Dear kogepathic,
I can definitely picture that some OS would barf a little at displays being yanked and replugged etc. However I am already stuck doing this with physical plugs, with bare hands. A mechanical switch would be an improvement; not only in cutting down on the chore, but also on the connector wear -- they are not meant for thousands of make-break cycles.
Yours,
-S
I think what you're talking about is MST, which was a early "hack" to get 4k @ 60Hz working over DisplayPort 1.2. I think modern 4k tech is past that.
Re: cheap analog switches with high bandwidth: they are not as cheap as you think. The oscilloscopes you are referring to work with a bandwidth in the low 100MHz area, and as soon as you approach lets say 500MHz it is getting expensive. I'm not sure what a top-of-the-line GHz scope uses, but whatever it is it will be expensive.
Dear hli,
I have right here in my hands a switch called "bare hands and a coax cable" that is good for 10+ GHz! And even existed 50 years ago.
A reasonably-mechanized version of this could be made, switching ( even if not with simultaneous make-break ) an arbitrary number of lines.
Yours,
-S
Using a mechanical switch for KVM is, for modern system about as helpful as dialing down the video signal back to VGA.
A modern KVM does not only switch video and peripherals, it usually also simulates attached hardware to the hooked-up systems so they boot properly in spite of the keyboard not being connected to them, they tend to be able to switch different channels to different ports so the harddisk you are currently backing up your kitten pics to is not disconnected from your box all of a sudden and subsequently worthless, just because you wanted a glimpse at a download somewhere else - likewise, though not as drastic, for audio.
Also, with 4k DP MST the frequencies transferred are very high and very susceptible to every single joint along the way to the display's processors. There is a reason why those signals practically can't be transferred from a conference table to a beamer hanging overhead said table without having a bunch of thick cables running bottom-top and make it look like a mess.
Long distance DP cables need amplifiers along the way, which is, every couple of meteres to get 4k transmitted properly without too much loss in quality.
That is why those KVM's which are still on the market despitehat their admittedly prohibitive prices are exactly that: pricey.
And as with the proliferation of easy-to-use desktop virtualization environments as well as remote desktop solutions there probably really isn't the market demand for these things anymore. At least not outside a professional environment where prices don't matter that much...
Dear Marquel,
Why would you plug USB storage into a KVM?!
And what do "easy-to-use desktop virtualization environments" do for my FPGA boards and other non-PC iron ?
Yours,
-S
Because, as I said in a later comment, I might be constrained in space I have available.
A console to a system might consist of more than a monitor, a keyboard and a pointing device.
USB-camera, a USB-disk bay to hotplug HDDs, joystick, USB-headset - it might be worth to consider having two of every of these items sitting around when running only two systems, as well as maybe hardwiring some of them to only one system (f.ex. the joystick goes to the gaming system, period), but when it comes to having more than two systems sitting around and wanting some of the "extra" features of the "console" being available for more than one, a KVM switch which is capable of switching USB peripherals independently from the Keyboard-Video-Mouse-stream starts to become handy as it not only reduces the number of keyboards on the desk, but also that of the cameras to look at or the HDD bays to try where the disk you want to backup a system to needs to go into.
Admittedly, desktop virtualization doesn't help for working with FPGAs which need to send their 4k DP signals somewhere, you are right about that, but I guess not everyone running more than one or two systems on the same desk also has the need to hook up FPGA systems to their consoles. Which might be the "professional environment" I talked about earlier, where prices of $500 or more for such a switch are not so much a question than they are at home. Which is in turn a decline in market demand and that results in higher prices.
Sad as it is.
I picked up a 4k KVM a few months ago from here:
http://www.kvmswitchdirect.co.uk/acatalog/KVM_Switch_Direct_1_user_controlling_2_computers_11.html
I use the 'CS782DP: Aten 2-Port USB DisplayPort KVM Switch 4K UHD Supported', comes with a little mechanical toggle switch.
Not sure if that's the sort of thing you are after?
Toby
Dear Toby,
For the cost of this item ( which is of unknown, to me, quality, every single unit on the market for which there is any public feedback whatsoever, appears to be a complete dud ) I can simply buy another console. Which was the whole point of this article.
Yours,
-S
Isn’t the most likely explanation simply that demand has dropped? More technical folf are using laptops, displays have gotten larger, and monitor prices have dropped, so why use a KVM?
As you noted in your comments the KVM has always been kludgy - surprisingly expensive and restrictive for what should be a simple pass through - so why worry about it?
Lastly I’m imagine the need for multiple machines has dropped now that so much work is done in the cloud.
Well here's one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BSNSOPU/
There seem to be plenty of KVMs available, sold through plenty of websites. I don't think the KVM is in decline at all.
Dear Jim Kirk,
Did you read the user reviews in your link? E.g.,
"some interesting behaviors - my macbook pro decides to go to sleep after a few minutes, and my Windows 7 box decided to resize all of its windows into an 800x600 area in the upper left"
"I couldn't get the product to work with my Samsung 32" UHD Professional LED Monitor (U32D970Q) (also purchaed on Amazon) at 3820X2160 resolution. No video output on either of the connected Windows 10 PC's"
etc.
"He's dead, Jim" (tm)(r)
Yours,
-S
"Did you read the user reviews in your link?"
I can cherry pick reviews as well:
"This thing is great."
"Perfect!! Go product!! fast delivery!!"
"Works great. Allows my desktop and work laptop to display correctly on my 34 ultra wide monitor"
"Works as described and supports my 4k screen @ 60Hz, which is much more than I can say for some other products that boast the same functionality but fall short. IOGEAR will now be the first company I consider for similar purchases."
This man is alive, Stanislav.
Check 'em: https://store.level1techs.com/products/kvm-switch-single-monitor-model
Dear PinkWojak,
The product you linked to ( which may or may not work, I haven't any notion, but the track record for Displayport switchers is abysmal ) costs slightly more than one would expect to pay for a reasonable 4k LCD. Which was the original point of this article! A KVM's whole purpose in life is to save you from the need to buy yet another display, again and again...
Granted this one has 4 jacks. But suppose I do not need 4 ?
Yours,
-S
I'm using one of this line: https://www.iogear.com/solutions/kvm . It works fine. Yes, it's a bit expensive, but the fact is they need to be more complicated than simple relays.
The good KVMs will replay the EDID of the monitors down to the connected computers. That's important 'cause you don't want the systems to reconfigure their displays (or worse, not realize they havenew displays) when you switch over from one computer to another. So, a good KVM will make both (or all, if more than 2) computers think that they have the monitors connected to them even if that computer isn't selected at the time. This, in turn, means that a good KVM can't just be a couple relays...it's got to be a lot smarter than that.
Dear some_jerk,
Which one ?
All of the 4k-capable units on the linked vendor's site appear to cost the same, or more, than a new 4k LCD. What is the point of such a product ? It is quite like taking your money and burning it.
Yours,
-S
The point might be, in all honesty, that it might in fact be cheaper to bolt such a unit under a desk (or on the wall behind that) than to buy a larger desk, not to speak of a necessary rebuilding of the room said desk is in if all available space is already in use - and tell me how to keep track which of up to four keyboards and mice are currently active.
Place constraints are an incentive to buy a KVM, but not to lower their prices...
Dear Marquel,
Now this I could see. Somebody must be buying the $400 bricks.
Yours,
-S
You and I appear to be in a very small minority but I feel your pain. I currently run a dual-head 4 port KVM for the various machines I use. And yes, I did shell out roughly $500 for a KVM.
For those that lack context, yes I DO actually want/need 4 machines. For a long time it was: Windows box for gaming, work laptop with desktop monitors because working on a tiny screen is insane, linux workstation for personal development, mac mini as my personal mac. I recently scrapped the linux workstation in favor of a hackintosh so that I can get around the 16GB memory limit.
While most folks won't run 4 machines, at a minimum everyone should have a separate personal machine not tied to their work machine. You are just asking for trouble if you don't separate your personal from work.
Right now I run with a pair of 24" 1920x1200 displays. I've been shopping for a KVM that would support two 4k displays at 60hz since I would love to upgrade, but what I want literally doesn't exist. At best I can get dual-head at 4k at 30hz. Well that sucks. And the prices are insane to boot.
My next best option is to keep the KVM I have, buy the new monitors, and directly attach them to my hackintosh for 4k, and to the KVM on their other ports. Then when I switch I have to hit both monitors and the KVM potentially. I've yet to find a less painful solution.
Dear Mark Kegel,
$500 for a KVM that also doesn't 3840 × 2160 x 60 Hz ?!
That's pretty sad.
Yours,
-S
The KVM I currently have (IOGear GCS1644) is a couple of years old and pre-dates by a long shot the newer displayport and 4k standards. But for its time its actually a really good KVM and I've been incredibly happy with it. I can drive two displays at full dual-link DVI bandwidth at 60hz. This works out to something like having two displays 2650x1600 at 60hz. I only have displays that are 1920x1200 so for me everything is ok.
I would love to buy a newer KVM that would do 3840 × 2160 x 60 Hz but as far as I can tell they don't sell what I want (dual-head 4 port).
For me I just use a 4k Display Port switch that runs about 80 and I contributed for a lifetime license to Synergy so I can share my mouse & keyboard across multiple systems. Haven't looked for a full KVM until reading this article in years but you're correct... No good way without a multi-product solution it seems anymore
Dear Keith Shannon,
Items like "Synergy" don't help me any: not all of my Displayport-outputting devices are PCs, or have NICs. (e.g. the FPGA system mentioned in one of the earlier comment replies.)
Yours,
-S
Stan,
Of course as you are aware, the DisplayPort standard features 4 differential pairs, not a single-ended coax line like your oscilloscope. This means that a mechanical switch (8 pole double throw, say) must switch all 8 individual connections. They then must not only pass the full serial bandwidth - which goes up to 32 GHz according to the wikipedia - but also ensure that the electrical lengths of each pairs (and all pairs together) must be exactly matched pairwise and also across pairs. Furthermore, there must be no signal reflections introduced in the switching path that would cause too much inter-symbol interference (self interference due to multipath). Frequency, group delay, and time-domain reflection considerations all make the design of such a switch a tall order.
You can buy a display that has such an "input switch" because each endpoint is terminated in highly proprietary hard silicon high rate deserializer. They typically have things like adaptive equalizers that correct for the multipath in the cable channel on each pair. Everyone else down the electronics food chain just buys whatever the big chip (big Inca?) vendor is selling.
Of course Hollywood morons know this and think that forcing you to deal with hardware vendors of their choice will help prop up their DRM racket.
You could probably build you own for several thousand dollars using something like this stuff along with piles of proprietary VHDL routers and associated crap: https://www.altera.com/documentation/hco1410462777019.html
Dear anon,
> which goes up to 32 GHz according to the wikipedia
There is not a smidgen of a 32GHz-anything-whatsoever in my current iron. Or in yours. Nor a 16. Nor a 8. Why bring up this nonsense?
> highly proprietary hard silicon high rate deserializer
Not the least bit "proprietary", but available off-the-shelf at e.g. Digikey. I linked to a datasheet earlier.
> You could probably build you own for several thousand dollars
Or I could buy ~$50 worth of FETs, lol.
I betcha you're one of those "I got my doctorate, and without ever smelling soldering iron!" folks, anon.
Yours,
-S
<iThere is not a smidgen of a 32GHz-anything-whatsoever in my current iron. Or in yours. Nor a 16. Nor a 8. Why bring up this nonsense?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#1.4
"The DisplayPort connector can have one, two, or four differential data pairs (lanes) in a Main Link, each with a raw bit rate of 1.62 (reduced bit rate), 2.7 (high bit rate), 5.4 (HBR2), or 8.1 Gbit/s (HBR3) per lane (6.48, 10.8, 21.6, or 32.4 Gbit/s for a full 4-lane link)"
I only cite wikipedia because it appears to have the best copypasta of the standard. Go, pay VESA for the full spec. I was aggregating the 4 pairs, the actual clock rate at the highest bandwidth mode per pair is 8.1 Gbs.
I linked to a datasheet earlier.
That part has a 3 dB bandwidth of 2.0 GHz.
Or I could buy ~$50 worth of FETs, lol.
Go, build, blog about that. Why did you ask the question if you are just gonna use the occasion to insult randos?
Dear Stanislav,
We are currently developing a KVM solution that costs around $25 for a consumer device and $99 for a server unit: http://www.elinkgate.com/. One peculiar feature is that you do not need a cable (VGA or HDMI) to capture the output. We intend it should be able to stream at Full HD, at least 30 fps. The plan is to make it works at 60 fps first, then we will move into 4K.
What do you think?
Dear Tu,
WTF, this is not a KVM ! There is no Displayport input or output. It appears to be a USB-mass-storage emulator that installs Windows shitware.
How many times do I have to say it? I am simply not interested in a software pseudo-KVM, not all of my devices are PCs.
Yours,
-S
You haven’t watch the demo. The device works on preboot environment, and can access video memory region so there’s no need for a display port. At least it works on the laptops/desktos/servers. You can imagine it is similar to an external IPMI, but is not limited to Intel. The USB device is for remote support a regular computer user, the server version is similar to the KVM switches on the market, except it is smaller.
You can watch the demo here: http://www.elinkgate.com/demo/
Dear Tu,
I have non-x86 devices (e.g. FPGA dev boards) that must work, so your product is not of any interest to me.
And to call it a KVM, and advertise it next to actual KVMs, is disingenuous at the very least. Take your "I Can't Believe It's Not a KVM!" somewhere else.
Yours,
-S
Oh wait i was wrong. The server version indeed has a vga and a hdmi ports. The server version is indeed called KVM, but the usb version is named something else. But it’s interesting on your FPGA use case. Mind to share more details? Thanks.
Dear Tu,
One of these, for example.
And a number of PCs without NICs in them.
Yours,
-S
I came here to see if someone what proved you wrong that the sad sorry state of KVMs has changed. It appears it has not. For my application the cheapest way to achieve doing what I want is the HP Z-Display with the built in USB switch
Dear Jayme Snyder,
I've used this method in the past. Unfortunately, it only works for PC (rather than e.g. FPGA boards, or other machinery which does not run a PC OS and does not support USB video cards.)
Yours,
-S
Oh so you can't use it without a OS? I thought half the dreamcolor market was random other crap... switching a USB video card probably wouldn't work well if switching on the USB end... you are still SOL by the new niche it seems
Dear Jayme Snyder,
The USB VGA dongles require OS support, yes.
Yours,
-S
btw that's the z27x... If I didn't also want a color critical display this would not be a palatable option. I think you can also use the daisy chain topology to switch a second display but I am not sure...