What is a KVM Switch?
http://live.pirillo.com/ - Controlling multiple computers from one workstation can be difficult and often requires some special tools. KVM - Keyboard Video Mouse - hardware and software allows you to have one set of peripherals control multiple machines.
Should you got with hardware or software? Ultimately your hardware setup is going to decide what solution you use.
Hardware switches allow you to switch between machines with a press of a button on your keyboard. Often times you simply press "scroll lock" twice and your KVM will switch between machines.
VNC allows you to control another machine on your current machine. It’s almost as if you were running a Virtual Machine on your computer in that you have a program open on your computer which controls a remote computer.
Synergy is a little more seamless than VNC because it allows you to use one keyboard and one mouse to control multiple machines, all of which are connected to their own monitors. It allows you to control those machines as if you had a multiple monitor setup.
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).
Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all.
Multiplicity allows you to do something similar to Synergy:
Multiplicity is a new program that lets you control multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse.
If you’ve ever used a multiple monitor equipped PC, then you can imagine how Multiplicity works. Each monitor is connected to its own PC. When the user moves the mouse over to a given monitor, the user is then controlling that PC.
What do you use to control multiple machines?
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4 Comments
vagabound
June 4th, 2007
at 10:54am
I thought a KVM was just what I needed to control one monitor and two computers. But it turns out that KVM switches don’t work with wide screen monitors. Mine is a HannsG LCD 19inch.
vagabound
June 4th, 2007
at 10:54am
I thought a KVM was just what I needed to control one monitor and two computers. But it turns out that KVM switches don’t work with wide screen monitors. Mine is a HannsG LCD 19inch.
ivan
October 26th, 2007
at 5:08am
I use a KVM switch (Nova View KNV104) and it works great, except for 2 things that bug me:
- Only uses the old PS/2 mouse connection (when I plug the USB converter and use, it sometimes works for a few minutes before crashing, mostly it just does not.)
- Hitting “Ctrl-C” then “Ctrl-V” too quickly activates the switch listener (double “Ctrl” brings up the list of available screens.)
Steve Danielson
November 13th, 2007
at 1:05pm
I would love to be able to operate two computers with one mouse simultaneously. I will be giving Powerpoint presentations to a class next semester and want to have a laptop on the desk or table in front of me that has supplemental information to support what the class is seeing on the screen in front of the classroom that is coming from a desktop computer. Then, I want to use one mouse to advance both the desktop doing the show for the class and my laptop at the push of a button.
Do you know of a way of doing this other than splicing two mouse cables together somehow?
Thanks