Two PC's sharing mouse and a keyboard

[tomek001]

I have two PC'c and I would like them to share a mouse and a keyboard. I have heard that could be accomplished via KVM switch ( hardware ) or program called Synergy.

Does anyone have experience with either/both. What is more reliable and seamless?

th

 

[Ijack]

I've used the hardware switches and they are very reliable. You either switch by pressing a button or using a hotkey (something like <ScrollLock> pressed twice in quick succession). They also share the display. Normally these are used in server farms to control 16 or more servers, but you can get cheap two-computer versions which work just fine.

 

[N19h7M4r3]

Yeah hardware switches work just fine... you dont need to share the screen, you just dont have to connect it, but if you want to save up by sharing the mouse and keeboard you might as well share the comp screen... if you have another one what you can do is then connect it to your main comp for a bit more desktop space =p
i think you can consider 2 types of switchs... the ones who use USB and the ones who have PS/2... some switchs also can share 2 way speakers...
by the way if your thinking in buying a switch may i recomend that you buy one that has all cables going to the back... some switchs have ports in the front and are a pain to set up because of all the cables running around the desk 😉

 

[Ijack]

I actually gave up on physically connecting both PCs because I was fed up with all the cables. I just access the second one via the network (it's running FreeBSD, so I use ssh and XWindow, but it could just as well be Windows with Remote Desktop). When I managed Windows servers we very rarely used the physical display - it was almost all done with Terminal Services.

 

[tomek001]

I've used the hardware switches and they are very reliable. You either switch by pressing a button or using a hotkey (something like <ScrollLock> pressed twice in quick succession). They also share the display. Normally these are used in server farms to control 16 or more servers, but you can get cheap two-computer versions which work just fine.

thank you for your comments. It helps.

th