One Monitor Two PC's

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I bought a new PC with Vista (POS). I am unable to use most of my programs
so networking does not fill all my needs. Is there a way to share keyboard,
mouse and monitor between two PC's (primarily the monitor). Desk space is at
a premium. The old PC is running Windows 2000 Pro and I cannot use remote
access.
 
Thank you. When I was young (er?) HiFi was the thing. Switching and sharing
components (peripherals) was the thing - "spaghetti hell". Paralell
reasoning led me to think that it would be possible with PC's. Thanks again.
--
Life is not a banquet; it is a covered dish dinner. What do you bring to
the table?


Dave B. said:
Yes, it's called a KVM. A Google search will yield results.

--
Click to expand...
 
If your primary need is to share the monitor and the monitor has two inputs
you can connect one to each of the PCs and switch the input manually at the
monitor.

Otherwise, you need a KVM switch. Be sure it has the correct inputs - USB or
PS2 - for the mouse and keyboard connections you use and that it has
sufficient bandwidth for the monitor. Cheap KVM switches are unlikely to be
able to handle the data streams for a high resolution monitor. Some switches
can also switch the sound so speakers can be shared.
 
Just go to your nearest Radio Shack ... ask for the IOGear MiniView Micro
KVM Switch ($US30). Model: GCS62
Catalog #: 25-103
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2353884&cp

I use it for two desktop computers placed side by side but out of the way
under the counter, Vista & WinXP ... I use one wireless keyboard/mouse and
one monitor and it works fine. Double tap the Pause/Break key to
immediately switch between OS's.
 
Fred,
Are you using a USB adapter for the Vista computer, or did you upgrade a
computer that you already had to Vista? My new computer came with Vista and
is USB only, so I ordered a PS/2 to USB adapter for my current KVM, but now
that it's not working correctly, I thought I should just get a USB KVM.
--
Thanks,
Stephanie


Frederick Pouy (Fred) said:
Just go to your nearest Radio Shack ... ask for the IOGear MiniView Micro
KVM Switch ($US30). Model: GCS62
Catalog #: 25-103
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2353884&cp

I use it for two desktop computers placed side by side but out of the way
under the counter, Vista & WinXP ... I use one wireless keyboard/mouse and
one monitor and it works fine. Double tap the Pause/Break key to
immediately switch between OS's.
Click to expand...
 
Stephanie ... my latest computer came with Vista, but that should have
nothing to do with the KVM switch. The computer happens to have PS/2
outlets so I use those, but a USB port with an adapter works just as well.

I would think that most KVMs sold would come with PS/2 connectors (sell to
the largest possible market theory) but perhaps you've been able to find one
with USB ... still, it should make no difference.

What exactly is 'not working correctly'? Video? Keyboard? Mouse? Audio?
--
Regards, Fred

soulsrfing said:
Fred,
Are you using a USB adapter for the Vista computer, or did you upgrade a
computer that you already had to Vista? My new computer came with Vista
and
is USB only, so I ordered a PS/2 to USB adapter for my current KVM, but
now
that it's not working correctly, I thought I should just get a USB KVM.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Fred,
My new computer with Vista (5 days old) came with only USB ports, no PS/2.
My old KVM and old computer are PS/2. When using the KVM, my monitor receives
a signal from the XP, but not Vista - the indicator light shows activity from
the XP, but nothing from the Vista. The monitor works fine when hooked
directly to the Vista. I can't tell you if the mouse and keyboard would work
through thte KVM because I am waiting for the adapter to modify my current
PS/2 connectors to USB so I can plug them into the Vista (I'm not using the
mouse/keyboard that came with the computer). This KVM works just fine with my
2 XPs connected, but for some reason (which none of the tech people can
explain) it won't work with the Vista. Iogear and LG (monitor manufacturer)
say the problem is Vista, MS blames Dell, Dell blames Iogear. I'm ready to
box it up, send it back to Dell, and just add more RAM to my old computers.
 
Stephanie ... What's curious is that the indicator light does not come on
for the Vista computer even after switching away from XP. The KVM is
powered by any connection (in your case the XP) and it doesn't matter if
anything is plugged in to the Vista computer ... switching from one to the
other should bring on the alternate light.

One thought ... my IOGear KVM is 'analog only' for video. Is yours perhaps
the same and are you trying to use the digital connection?

Let us know how it goes with the adapters.
 
Hi Fred,

Still no luck. Even the audio doesn't work, so I'm going to get a new KVM
with USB to see if that solves the problem, The Iogear site says it is Vista
compatible, so if this one doesn't work I'll call Dell and see if they will
solve the problem. If not, I'll just return the computer. What a pain that
will be :( Wish me luck.
 
Good Luck, Stephanie ... let us know how that works out.

And don't give up on Vista ... the reason I had my own KVM was to get
through the 'grump' period on Vista, but now that most of the drivers have
been updated, UAC is under control, etc, etc, I use it almost exclusively
and rarely switch back to XP.
 
FredP (Fred) said:
Good Luck, Stephanie ... let us know how that works out.

And don't give up on Vista ... the reason I had my own KVM was to get
through the 'grump' period on Vista, but now that most of the drivers have
been updated, UAC is under control, etc, etc, I use it almost exclusively
and rarely switch back to XP.
Click to expand...
 
I would say, when are we going to be able to run one computer (mobo/cpu,etc)
with multiple displays and keyboards for two or more people to share a box?
We already have the ability to define multiple (separate) instances of logons
per Vista/XP installation.... why waste a two processor core, memory, SLIx2,
etc. on one person? I've yet to even come close to maxing out my AMD dual
core CPU or my memory. (Hard drive bottleneck is another matter.)

Perhaps we'll get this about 2 years after Apple offers it.

sparkinark
 
On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:16:00 -0700, sparkinark
I am using a KVM Switch (LINKSKEY ) that uses only USB connections for
the mouse and monitor. One PC is running windows XP using an analog
monitor feed and the other VISTA using a DVI monitor. It also permits
sharing of other USB devices and support 7.1 audio. I have not
experienced any problems with this configruration, except for the fact
that when a swith PCS external USB mass storage devices are recognized
as new hardware.
 
I have been trying to find out if I can use a KVM switch between Vista and
XP. I have one monitor, keyboard, mouse, and printer. Can someone please
help?

Dave B. said:
Yes, it's called a KVM. A Google search will yield results.

--
Click to expand...
 
Same here. KVMs are not OS dependent. Just make sure you get one
that supports the mouse/keyboard connection you have. I've found that
KVMs with PS/2 connections do not like the USB to PS/2 adapter on the
console ports.
 
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