[SOLVED] Can I pull off getting my peripherals to work across two computers?

[Tyrlaan]

Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere but I can't seem to find anything that's both current and speaks to my specific configuration.

My personal computer has the standard fare - keyboard/mouse/wireless headset/monitor, with a second monitor on the way. But with the advent of the pandemic, like many folks I'm basically work from home permanently. I have a work laptop and I basically hate using the laptop compared to a full keyboard, mouse, and 2 monitor setup.

I also do a fair bit of gaming, though probably nothing incredibly taxing - World of Warcraft may be the most demanding thing I play.

So I'm curious what my options are. I've looked at KVM switches since that seemed like the obvious route, however finding one to support all my peripherals and be gaming friendly seems to be both rare and quite expensive (though it's certainly possible I'm just not understanding things). I've also seen there are software solutions, but its unclear if they'll work, especially once I connect to my work VPN. In the same vein, I thought about using a remote desktop connection but I think VPN would interrupt that as well.

Also, any solution I implement is going to come out of my pocket, so I'm looking for a solution with reasonable or no cost (I'll define reasonable as $100 or less).

Hoping folks have some ideas. Worst case scenario, I guess I'm stuck with using he laptop 😛

 

[siaan312]

Remote desktop shouldn't be problematic with your VPN
Neither should software solutions, like synergy.

 

[Shjacks55]

A KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) device allows switching between multiple computers is often used by programmers/developers. USB is designed for one master and 127 slaves, although there are USB switches their compatibility with different peripherals is hit or miss. Networking is the traditional way to share peripherals and most printers and scanners now support wifi. You could do a remote login to your other computers. One computer could share the peripherals across the network also.Some computer bioses allow remote network connections, or could use a kvm to ethernet card. Retail prices hurt: 1G 5 port routers retail $50 but $5 used; $15 for a 6 foot ethernet cable when a 500 foot spool of ethernet cable is $20.

 

[Tyrlaan]

Remote desktop shouldn't be problematic with your VPN
Neither should software solutions, like synergy.

Interesting, I'll have to try them out in that case. The only one I actually tried was the built in remote desktop software in Win10, but apparently my home edition doesn't allow it to work despite it being completely there fore me to run.

A KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) device allows switching between multiple computers is often used by programmers/developers. USB is designed for one master and 127 slaves, although there are USB switches their compatibility with different peripherals is hit or miss. Networking is the traditional way to share peripherals and most printers and scanners now support wifi. You could do a remote login to your other computers. One computer could share the peripherals across the network also.Some computer bioses allow remote network connections, or could use a kvm to ethernet card. Retail prices hurt: 1G 5 port routers retail $50 but $5 used; $15 for a 6 foot ethernet cable when a 500 foot spool of ethernet cable is $20.

Hm, sounds like remote connection is the way to go in comparison.

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

If you're budget is up to $100 then you will have no issue affording the $30 it takes to get Synergy.
Synergy is an application that works on Windows, MacOS, and Linux and will let you use your mouse and key board across multiple devices.

https://symless.com/synergy

It's simple, and clean compared to getting extra hardware to do this with.
Also, when you buy it, you get lifetime access to it, and it's a one time payment, not a subscription.

 

[Tyrlaan]

If you're budget is up to $100 then you will have no issue affording the $30 it takes to get Synergy.
Synergy is an application that works on Windows, MacOS, and Linux and will let you use your mouse and key board across multiple devices.

https://symless.com/synergy

It's simple, and clean compared to getting extra hardware to do this with.
Also, when you buy it, you get lifetime access to it, and it's a one time payment, not a subscription.

Hm, maybe a dumb question, but what about monitors and a USB wireless headset? Is it basically the same as a remote desktop connection or does it truly only do keyboard and mouse?

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

oh, um, no. I don't think it works like that.
It is just a software that let's you control multiple PC's using a single mouse and keyboard.
It doesn't stream a video feed from one PC to a main one.
It just makes it so that you can have a mouse and keyboard plugged into a single PC, and every other PC that is running the software allows you to switch which PC you are controlling, you still need to be looking at that PC's monitor and desktop to see what you're doing.

There is no streaming so you aren't going to get audio or video.
Think of like having multiple desktop spaces on multiple monitors connected to a single PC, except each monitor is a different machine, and you can just move your mouse between them as if it was all one machine, and can drag and drop / copy and paste files between them.

If you are looking to have a single mouse and keyboard that can be switched between different machines, along with audio, then you'll need something else for the audio part, and maybe doing things with a hardware switch might work.