KVM Recommendations

I've had one of these Dr. Bott dual-VGA/USB switches since early 2001... works perfectly between my Mac mini and my Sony PCs, and it's very solidly built. Dr. Bott has a whole line of switches that might be suited to your purposes.

(Yes, this ain't cheap. But it is VERY well made and works perfectly.)

 

I use a KVM by Gefen.

http://www.gefen.com/


Works very well, and they generally include interconnect cables, which can be very expensive on their own.

 

I bought a Belkin KVM with USB and it was a pain. It kept wanting to change channel, I returned it for a replacement. It to had similar problems, i ended up giving up.

I found getting hold of KVM switches with USB was a pain compared to the cheap readily avaialble ps2 models.

Wow Clayj that Dr.Bott model is like 400 Dollars I know the belkin were rubbish, but they were only 30... For 400 bucks you can get a decent monitor and keyboard and frig sharing

 

If you have one monitor, I suggest Belkin. I've had one for 5 years and it's been great.

If you have two monitors, but want one keyboard, you can use Synergy.

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

 

I said it wasn't cheap.

And sure, you can get another monitor, keyboard, and mouse... but where ya gonna put 'em? I use my Dr. Bott switch to share a keyboard, mouse, and 2 displays between 3 machines (and could have one more machine connected).

 

I'm using a Belkin DK102U with a PC, a Mac Mini, an Apple k/b, a MS Intellimouse and a 17" Iiyama monitor and its absolutely fine. I've just bought two more for work and they're also working ok. Switching from one machine to another results in about 3 secs delay before the mouse moves but that's not a problem.
I believe they also make a similar model with audio sockets as well.
If I were you I'd get one with built in cables - seperate cables will put the cost up considerably.

 

yeah ummm search the forums, you gonna find a lot of info on this question...

 

most affordable switches that have USB only have one USB cable. i have a PC and Mac. i guess i can try to see if having my apple keyboard with the mouse attached to the keyboard would work with my PC though i doub it will.

 

kvm

I'm using an IOGear Miniview GCS124U (4-port) with 2 pc's and a mac mini. Keyboard is generic usb pc and a microsoft intellimouse 3.0. Works ok. The kvm comes with cables. (Newegg has it for $under $175 with shipping) I tried a Cables to Go switch, but it didn't support the extra mouse buttons for pc use.
I have a Logitech mx518 mouse for gaming, and it would lock up games on the pc when using it through the KVM. I have it hooked up directly to that pc now.
-Rick