KVM Recomendations?

[Klade]

Hello

I did a search but couldn't find anything about non-dvi. So I'm posting this.

Can anyone recomend a good but cheap KVM. I don't need DVI which should reduce the price a bit. I need to switch a monitor between two PCs and need to switch my USB mouse and keyboard between those same two PCs.

Normally I wouldn't ask about something like this but I had bought a KVM off ebay about a year ago and the thing was a total piece of crap. It would somtimes work without a problem. And then othertimes (for weeks on end) not work at all. Plus it never did a good job of switching my USB devices over.

So any help here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BillR]

Linksys makes a great little two way unit at a good price, give it a shot.

 

[bmwrob]

Belkin also makes one. This afternoon I paid $39.99 at Comp USA for just such a switch, and for the same reasons you need one.

 

[Klade]

Can't find anything about a 2 computer Linksys kvm switch that supports usb.

I'll see if I can find that belkin one.

 

[Klade]

Is this what you bought?

How does it work for you? Are the hot keys good or are they hard to get to?

 

[bmwrob]

Well, that looks like what I bought, but I threw out the packaging so can't be absolutely certain about the model. Also, I paid $59.99, not $39.99 as I posted earlier (I kept the receipt). Sorry for the bum scoop on the price. Wonder now if I paid too much?

Anyway, the switch was easy to hook up and seems to work fine; it's for my boys' machines. I use a monitor with DVI so this setup doesn't quite match the quality in text or graphics, but isn't bad.

 

[hokatichenci]

Raritan. I've had my hands on a few kvm's (Belkins especially), and none of them have held up to Raritan. Think I paid $100 msrp for my 4 port, and its awsome. No lag inbetween switching (a serious problem with belkins). You can probably find them cheaper if you look harder. The only problem with mine is a few times a day the mouse seems to lock up for a few brief moments. It also works pretty well with Linux if you swing that way (with a bootline param), *BSD I've yet to figure out but it should work with a param change. If you look up Raritan on google theres a post somewhere from a rep or engineer from Raritan talking about why they are "superior", the jist of it is that every individual channel is emulated with its own chip as opposed to one chip emulating everything (or one channel at once). Either way I'm very satisfied, hopefully they've fixed the mouse freezing problems.

 

[BillR]

Can't find anything about a 2 computer Linksys kvm switch that supports usb.

I'll see if I can find that belkin one.

You don't need "USB", the adaptors work just fine

 

[Klade]

If I use an adapter can I yank my mouse out and then put it back in again?

Raritan doesn't seem to sell a 2 port KVM. I really don't want to spend over 60$ for this and especially don't want to buy something that has more then I need. Thanks for the advice though.

 

[BillR]

If I use an adapter can I yank my mouse out and then put it back in again?

Raritan doesn't seem to sell a 2 port KVM. I really don't want to spend over 60$ for this and especially don't want to buy something that has more then I need. Thanks for the advice though.

Yup, I change from a mouse to a trackball on a regular basis.

I have a Belkin unit as well but it's very sensitive to an overclocked computer which I didn't find with the Linksys. The Belkin also required 2 keystrokes while the Linksys only needs one.