5 ms·

My setup at home is 3 monitors, and I switch between a connected laptop (work), and my home desktop machine. IT means when I finish work I have to hit the swit

by LandR 4y ago

My setup at home is 3 monitors, and I switch between a connected laptop (work), and my home desktop machine. IT means when I finish work I have to hit the switch to change input on each monitor (and with one setup vertically, it can be awkward, and one requires going through a menu, which is annoying). I also have to swap the USB dongles for keyboard and mouse from the laptop docking station to my desktop. Would a KVM fix this for me ? SO I can just hit a single switch and it will swap over the keyboard / mouse and my monitors? I'd love that.

spacedcowboy 4y ago
I too have 3 4k monitors at home (in the "office", which is really the shed at the bottom of the garden); all of them are linked to a work machine and my own Mac Studio. It's not one button, it's 3, one per KVM, but yep - I just tap the button on each KVM (under the monitors) and the desktop changes, the mouse/keyboard work, and the other machine is up and running in front of me. Even the webcam mounted to the monitor switches over - because it's not just mouse/keyboard, there's a couple of USB ports too. One thing I'd recommend (because otherwise wiring gets unmanageable) is to bunch together the mouse, keyboard, video cables using some split-sheathing. I have an 8-way KVM for the main monitor (all ports used) and this makes it much easier to figure out what's going where.
bmitc 4y ago
Dell makes monitors with built-in KVM switches. At home, I have one single monitor, webcam keyboard, and mouse between my work computer and home computer, and I switch between them with a software defined keyboard combo. I highly recommend.
farco12 4y ago
As someone that drastically simplified their desk setup for 3 computers this year: YES. A KVM would easily solve this. You would need a triple monitor KVM with at least 2 USB inputs. You could also get an Ultrawide monitor to simplify further, which is what I have done.
Rebelgecko 4y ago
In conjunction with a KVM for switching the USB between devices, you can use this software to automatically swap the inputs on the monitor (if your monitors support the command protocol, most do but one of mine doesn't support the "change input" instruction): https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch Otherwise you'd need a KVM that supports 3 monitors which I'd imagine is a compatibility nightmare if they're beyond 1080p@60hz
- bpye 4y ago
  I saw this a while ago and then promptly forgot about it. I should give it another try! I wish I could disable auto switching on my cheapo USB 3 switch though, sometimes my laptop will update and reboot and steal input from my desktop which is irritating.
Hamuko 4y ago
I have a personal computer, a work computer and a gaming computer and I switch between them using an Aten USB switch [1] and this software that switches monitor inputs when your plug/unplug USB devices [2]. Works quite well and costs less than 50€. [1] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00B1SENTE/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00B1SENTE/ [2] https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch
kbutler 4y ago
I recommend it! You can get KVMs that switch multiple monitors, but you pay more for multiple monitors and for multiple input types (HDMI & Display port), so depending on your setup, it may make sense to have the some monitors on the switch but manually select inputs on others. KVMs tend to work well, except - you need to pause for a second when switching to allow the USB devices to reconnect, or sometimes things get into a weird state, like keyboard thinking a modifier is pressed - rarely things get confused anyway, and I have to unplug and re-plug in devices to one of the computers. Cheaper KVMs and smarter mice and keyboards seem more prone to this.
kalmi10 4y ago
Displays often support input switching using DDC/CI, so a simple script should allow you to switch all the displays over.
william_T 4y ago
Yes. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MMZ1W1Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MMZ1W1Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

by LandR 4y ago

spacedcowboy 4y ago

I too have 3 4k monitors at home (in the "office", which is really the shed at the bottom of the garden); all of them are linked to a work machine and my own Mac Studio. It's not one button, it's 3, one per KVM, but yep - I just tap the button on each KVM (under the monitors) and the desktop changes, the mouse/keyboard work, and the other machine is up and running in front of me. Even the webcam mounted to the monitor switches over - because it's not just mouse/keyboard, there's a couple of USB ports too. One thing I'd recommend (because otherwise wiring gets unmanageable) is to bunch together the mouse, keyboard, video cables using some split-sheathing. I have an 8-way KVM for the main monitor (all ports used) and this makes it much easier to figure out what's going where.

bmitc 4y ago

Dell makes monitors with built-in KVM switches. At home, I have one single monitor, webcam keyboard, and mouse between my work computer and home computer, and I switch between them with a software defined keyboard combo. I highly recommend.

farco12 4y ago

As someone that drastically simplified their desk setup for 3 computers this year: YES. A KVM would easily solve this. You would need a triple monitor KVM with at least 2 USB inputs. You could also get an Ultrawide monitor to simplify further, which is what I have done.

Rebelgecko 4y ago

In conjunction with a KVM for switching the USB between devices, you can use this software to automatically swap the inputs on the monitor (if your monitors support the command protocol, most do but one of mine doesn't support the "change input" instruction): https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch Otherwise you'd need a KVM that supports 3 monitors which I'd imagine is a compatibility nightmare if they're beyond 1080p@60hz

bpye 4y ago
I saw this a while ago and then promptly forgot about it. I should give it another try! I wish I could disable auto switching on my cheapo USB 3 switch though, sometimes my laptop will update and reboot and steal input from my desktop which is irritating.

Hamuko 4y ago

I have a personal computer, a work computer and a gaming computer and I switch between them using an Aten USB switch [1] and this software that switches monitor inputs when your plug/unplug USB devices [2]. Works quite well and costs less than 50€. [1] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00B1SENTE/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00B1SENTE/ [2] https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch https://github.com/haimgel/display-switch

kbutler 4y ago

I recommend it! You can get KVMs that switch multiple monitors, but you pay more for multiple monitors and for multiple input types (HDMI & Display port), so depending on your setup, it may make sense to have the some monitors on the switch but manually select inputs on others. KVMs tend to work well, except - you need to pause for a second when switching to allow the USB devices to reconnect, or sometimes things get into a weird state, like keyboard thinking a modifier is pressed - rarely things get confused anyway, and I have to unplug and re-plug in devices to one of the computers. Cheaper KVMs and smarter mice and keyboards seem more prone to this.

kalmi10 4y ago

Displays often support input switching using DDC/CI, so a simple script should allow you to switch all the displays over.

william_T 4y ago

Yes. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MMZ1W1Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MMZ1W1Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...