Remember when KVMs used to work?
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I was lucky enough to have a few years in the VGA era. 9 vga ports, 18 P/S2 ports, and 8 servers in the same rack are at your fingertips. You plugged it in and it just worked. The worst thing you could get was a slightly blurry screen if a cable was bent or too long. Switching was a painless double-scroll-lock and then a number key. Everything was great. Then hdmi and display port took over. KVMs got very expensive and very non-functional. I went through 4 KVMs last year totaling about $1k and all have different fundamental flaws. One would freak out, lock up and emit an ear-piercing tone if you ever hit F1 until you rebooted it (nice of them to put a power switch on the front at least). Two would randomly black out or otherwise garble the monitor output when switching ports. My current one (display port) tells the computer that it's connected to that the monitor has been disconnected when switching, so all the windows get repositioned automatically. Tech support blamed the display port standard ("edid") saying it was working as intended, and my company resolved to buy me a third-party window management tool that theoretically repositions my windows to pre-defined locations when the monitor reappears (which only works about 80% of the time). Still, the screen flickers black for about 50 seconds every time I switch. Where I used to flip to one box for something as trivial as to check the progress of a hour-long restore or whatever or even to check the time on the server that is set to my timezone, I now find myself rearranging my schedule to switch inputs less often and even ssh'ing and rdp'ing between severs because it's faster. I catch myself wishing I had the desk space and capital for a dedicated monitor and keyboard for each box. /rant
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I was lucky enough to have a few years in the VGA era. 9 vga ports, 18 P/S2 ports, and 8 servers in the same rack are at your fingertips. You plugged it in and it just worked. The worst thing you could get was a slightly blurry screen if a cable was bent or too long. Switching was a painless double-scroll-lock and then a number key. Everything was great. Then hdmi and display port took over. KVMs got very expensive and very non-functional. I went through 4 KVMs last year totaling about $1k and all have different fundamental flaws. One would freak out, lock up and emit an ear-piercing tone if you ever hit F1 until you rebooted it (nice of them to put a power switch on the front at least). Two would randomly black out or otherwise garble the monitor output when switching ports. My current one (display port) tells the computer that it's connected to that the monitor has been disconnected when switching, so all the windows get repositioned automatically. Tech support blamed the display port standard ("edid") saying it was working as intended, and my company resolved to buy me a third-party window management tool that theoretically repositions my windows to pre-defined locations when the monitor reappears (which only works about 80% of the time). Still, the screen flickers black for about 50 seconds every time I switch. Where I used to flip to one box for something as trivial as to check the progress of a hour-long restore or whatever or even to check the time on the server that is set to my timezone, I now find myself rearranging my schedule to switch inputs less often and even ssh'ing and rdp'ing between severs because it's faster. I catch myself wishing I had the desk space and capital for a dedicated monitor and keyboard for each box. /rant
I've been using this for almost 3 years with no complaints. Only caveat is I'm using it with an older non-4k monitor; but the price difference vs 1920x1200 models wasn't enough to give up being more future proof. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CPLB6Y1/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1\](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CPLB6Y1/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Edit: I'm also only using it for single screen systems, so am unsure if it has one of your issues or not.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius
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I was lucky enough to have a few years in the VGA era. 9 vga ports, 18 P/S2 ports, and 8 servers in the same rack are at your fingertips. You plugged it in and it just worked. The worst thing you could get was a slightly blurry screen if a cable was bent or too long. Switching was a painless double-scroll-lock and then a number key. Everything was great. Then hdmi and display port took over. KVMs got very expensive and very non-functional. I went through 4 KVMs last year totaling about $1k and all have different fundamental flaws. One would freak out, lock up and emit an ear-piercing tone if you ever hit F1 until you rebooted it (nice of them to put a power switch on the front at least). Two would randomly black out or otherwise garble the monitor output when switching ports. My current one (display port) tells the computer that it's connected to that the monitor has been disconnected when switching, so all the windows get repositioned automatically. Tech support blamed the display port standard ("edid") saying it was working as intended, and my company resolved to buy me a third-party window management tool that theoretically repositions my windows to pre-defined locations when the monitor reappears (which only works about 80% of the time). Still, the screen flickers black for about 50 seconds every time I switch. Where I used to flip to one box for something as trivial as to check the progress of a hour-long restore or whatever or even to check the time on the server that is set to my timezone, I now find myself rearranging my schedule to switch inputs less often and even ssh'ing and rdp'ing between severs because it's faster. I catch myself wishing I had the desk space and capital for a dedicated monitor and keyboard for each box. /rant
Memtha wrote:
ssh'ing and rdp'ing between severs because it's faster
I was going to suggest that. I've never had a KVM switch that worked all that great even in the VGA days, and knowing how finicky DP/HDMI are, I don't have much faith in KVM switches that support them.
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Memtha wrote:
ssh'ing and rdp'ing between severs because it's faster
I was going to suggest that. I've never had a KVM switch that worked all that great even in the VGA days, and knowing how finicky DP/HDMI are, I don't have much faith in KVM switches that support them.
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I've been using this for almost 3 years with no complaints. Only caveat is I'm using it with an older non-4k monitor; but the price difference vs 1920x1200 models wasn't enough to give up being more future proof. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CPLB6Y1/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1\](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CPLB6Y1/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Edit: I'm also only using it for single screen systems, so am unsure if it has one of your issues or not.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius
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Yeah unfortunately I'm using two monitors, and that brand does not seem to have a dual-head 4-way model. Appreciate the thought though.
Ok, I didn't realize you were trying to switch both screens. Years earlier I did have a VGA KVM setup that swapped 1 screen off my main system to a secondary one. For progress/status checks - all I ever really needed box 2 to do - it was good enough.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius
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I was lucky enough to have a few years in the VGA era. 9 vga ports, 18 P/S2 ports, and 8 servers in the same rack are at your fingertips. You plugged it in and it just worked. The worst thing you could get was a slightly blurry screen if a cable was bent or too long. Switching was a painless double-scroll-lock and then a number key. Everything was great. Then hdmi and display port took over. KVMs got very expensive and very non-functional. I went through 4 KVMs last year totaling about $1k and all have different fundamental flaws. One would freak out, lock up and emit an ear-piercing tone if you ever hit F1 until you rebooted it (nice of them to put a power switch on the front at least). Two would randomly black out or otherwise garble the monitor output when switching ports. My current one (display port) tells the computer that it's connected to that the monitor has been disconnected when switching, so all the windows get repositioned automatically. Tech support blamed the display port standard ("edid") saying it was working as intended, and my company resolved to buy me a third-party window management tool that theoretically repositions my windows to pre-defined locations when the monitor reappears (which only works about 80% of the time). Still, the screen flickers black for about 50 seconds every time I switch. Where I used to flip to one box for something as trivial as to check the progress of a hour-long restore or whatever or even to check the time on the server that is set to my timezone, I now find myself rearranging my schedule to switch inputs less often and even ssh'ing and rdp'ing between severs because it's faster. I catch myself wishing I had the desk space and capital for a dedicated monitor and keyboard for each box. /rant
I gave up on KVM for video years ago, but still use KVM for keyboard and mouse. For video I just change the input on the monitor. Which is OK with only two systems (3 monitors) and I would say I generally have to hit the reset button on the KVM about once every couple of months, if that.
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I gave up on KVM for video years ago, but still use KVM for keyboard and mouse. For video I just change the input on the monitor. Which is OK with only two systems (3 monitors) and I would say I generally have to hit the reset button on the KVM about once every couple of months, if that.
Tempting. Years ago, before I decided to "invest" in a "real" kvm, I had a usb hub plugged into a clicky switch thing designed to share a usb printer between computers, and 3 3-way hdmi multiplexers designed for entertainment centers. Arguably that worked better, but I found it annoying to have to hit 3-4 buttons to switch. But it is very tempting to go back.
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Tempting. Years ago, before I decided to "invest" in a "real" kvm, I had a usb hub plugged into a clicky switch thing designed to share a usb printer between computers, and 3 3-way hdmi multiplexers designed for entertainment centers. Arguably that worked better, but I found it annoying to have to hit 3-4 buttons to switch. But it is very tempting to go back.
I would get annoyed if the kvm switched all my monitors now, as I frequently have them displaying from two machines, but sometimes go with all three displaying from one. Worst part is if monitors have different ways to change inputs! So I usually buy three of the exact same thing. A good kvm would deal with all of this but the prices of a good kvm, and the issues of them not working well, has me sticking to my current setup. Until the kvm goes bad (which I dread) I will probably stick to this. I wish I could run 3 machines through a good kvm but I have room to spare so other machines get their own displays and input devices.
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I would get annoyed if the kvm switched all my monitors now, as I frequently have them displaying from two machines, but sometimes go with all three displaying from one. Worst part is if monitors have different ways to change inputs! So I usually buy three of the exact same thing. A good kvm would deal with all of this but the prices of a good kvm, and the issues of them not working well, has me sticking to my current setup. Until the kvm goes bad (which I dread) I will probably stick to this. I wish I could run 3 machines through a good kvm but I have room to spare so other machines get their own displays and input devices.
> So I usually buy three of the exact same thing. Same. Black Friday about every five years. Though this time around I am annoyed at a visible contrast difference. Though that's a whole different rant. Honestly the main reason I don't just go back to input switching is fear of wearing out the little buttons on my monitors. As far as the kvm going bad, I'm more afraid of the ports it has being outmoded. Again. And what the state of whatever replaces hdmi/dp will be. Already there are talks of thunderbolt/usb-c being used for monitors (already a thing on apple), so I'm afraid to think about a usb-c only kvm that handles multiple monitors and input on a single cable; and what additional compromises they will have to make to do that.
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I was lucky enough to have a few years in the VGA era. 9 vga ports, 18 P/S2 ports, and 8 servers in the same rack are at your fingertips. You plugged it in and it just worked. The worst thing you could get was a slightly blurry screen if a cable was bent or too long. Switching was a painless double-scroll-lock and then a number key. Everything was great. Then hdmi and display port took over. KVMs got very expensive and very non-functional. I went through 4 KVMs last year totaling about $1k and all have different fundamental flaws. One would freak out, lock up and emit an ear-piercing tone if you ever hit F1 until you rebooted it (nice of them to put a power switch on the front at least). Two would randomly black out or otherwise garble the monitor output when switching ports. My current one (display port) tells the computer that it's connected to that the monitor has been disconnected when switching, so all the windows get repositioned automatically. Tech support blamed the display port standard ("edid") saying it was working as intended, and my company resolved to buy me a third-party window management tool that theoretically repositions my windows to pre-defined locations when the monitor reappears (which only works about 80% of the time). Still, the screen flickers black for about 50 seconds every time I switch. Where I used to flip to one box for something as trivial as to check the progress of a hour-long restore or whatever or even to check the time on the server that is set to my timezone, I now find myself rearranging my schedule to switch inputs less often and even ssh'ing and rdp'ing between severs because it's faster. I catch myself wishing I had the desk space and capital for a dedicated monitor and keyboard for each box. /rant
I bought this over a year ago, and it seems to work fine. [HDMI KVM Switch Dual Monitor Extended Display 4 Port, 2 USB 2.0 Hub, UHD 4K@30Hz YUV4:4:4 Downward Compatible, Hotkey Switch, with All Needed Cables, No Adapter Required](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088WGKFZH/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_asin\_title\_o01\_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.