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KVM switch?

eclipse525

eclipse525

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
I presently have an iMac G4 and just got a PC(windows). Can anyone recommend a descent inexpensive KVM Switch with Audio? I'm going to need to switch back and forth. I'd like to share my Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers with both systems. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!


~e
 
eclipse525 said:
I presently have an iMac G4 and just got a PC(windows). Can anyone recommend a descent inexpensive KVM Switch with Audio? I'm going to need to switch back and forth. I'd like to share my Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers with both systems. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!


~e
Click to expand...

I have a G4 Mac Mini and an old PC connected to an Apple keyboard, third-party mouse and VGA display with the IOGear "MiniView micro" KVM:

http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GCS632U&name=MiniView™ Micro USB PLUS KVM Switch

It's got audio (I can't vouch for the quality though, as it requires powered speakers which I don't have) as well as USB and VGA; for me the important things are that it fully emulates both the Mac and PC keyboard layouts (so you can still use the eject and volume keys on Mac, for example; some KVM's disable these keys), and that you can customize the key combinations used for switching between the computers (there's no button for it on the device itself).
 
Thanks for all your input. I wound up going with the IOGEAR and it's working like a charm. Not one hiccup yet!


~e
 
Eclipse - to make sure I understand your recent post:

You have an iMac and you use a KVM switch to enable your PC to work through the iMac monitor?

Does the PC do OK with the Apple keyboard?

I have a PC I'd like to replace with an iMac, but still need to access the PC for some occasional things. If I understand your post, I could get rid of the second monitor.
 
OldManJimbo said:
Eclipse - to make sure I understand your recent post:

You have an iMac and you use a KVM switch to enable your PC to work through the iMac monitor?

Does the PC do OK with the Apple keyboard?

I have a PC I'd like to replace with an iMac, but still need to access the PC for some occasional things. If I understand your post, I could get rid of the second monitor.
Click to expand...

I think that would be possible. The iMac's monitor would actually be the monitor input. I'm just not sure what the input for you mac would go....

Actually on second thought, it may not work. Sorry, no help I am... 😉
 
I'm pretty sure you can't do that except through remote desktop. As a matter of fact, I have an old junker that i use for testing sitting in the closet with winxp pro and access it that way. probably won't work for gaming but it works for some low level stuff.
 
Even though the poster has found a solution i would reccomend "Synergy" as it doesnt cost any money and allows you to switch between PCs just as if they were dual screens. I use it all the time
 
Thanks to all, but I really want to share monitors between an iMac and PC - looks like Eclipse was able to do that. Waiting for confirmation.
 
OldManJimbo said:
Thanks to all, but I really want to share monitors between an iMac and PC - looks like Eclipse was able to do that. Waiting for confirmation.
Click to expand...

According to his first post, he was only interested in sharing his keyboard, mouse and speakers between the two computers, not the monitor. As far as I know, there is no way to share an imac's monitor with a KVM.

You could, if you wanted, install a VNC server such as RealVNC on the PC, then access it using a VNC client (like Chicken of the VNC) on the Mac, with fullscreen mode turned on. This would be SORDA like sharing monitors, although I wouldn't recommend it for graphics-intensive stuff like gaming. I do it all the time on my home network.

I may be upgrading my monitor soon and giving my old one to a friend, and I anticipate there may be a few days there where my Mini will have to be headless; I intend to use VNC to get around that until the new monitor shows up.

Does the PC do OK with the Apple keyboard?
Click to expand...

On the IOGear KVM eclipse used (which I also have), it works beautifully -- the Apple/Command key maps to the Windows key, Option is of course Alt, and everything else is pretty much the same.

Over VNC on the other hand, I've noticed I can't get the Alt key to work (there must be a way though...)
 
OldManJimbo said:
Eclipse - to make sure I understand your recent post:

You have an iMac and you use a KVM switch to enable your PC to work through the iMac monitor?

Does the PC do OK with the Apple keyboard?

I have a PC I'd like to replace with an iMac, but still need to access the PC for some occasional things. If I understand your post, I could get rid of the second monitor.
Click to expand...

No you can't use your iMac as a monitor for the PC. I have a PC with a separate monitor. I'm using the KVM switch just for the "Keyboard and Mouse" . I am using my Mac Keyboard and a Logitech Mouse(mx310). So far I haven't had a problem.


~e
 
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