KVM Switch

[mcdougrs]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if any of you use a KVM switch and if you experience any problems using it. For example I have heard that Wndows sometimes goes nutty with KVM switches with mice working through them. Do Linux users experience such problems, or any for that matter?

Also if you do use one or know of a good one would you please let me know what brand and model.

Thanx

[pbharris]

hello,
i have one - works great between debian and redhat - it sucked between win2k and a linux box.

[gorn]

at my school we have one on our servers, novell, win2k, linux, win2k and it works pretty well, cept for mice which dont work at all....

[Compunuts]

I have a tecktronic 12 port KVM switch. The only time I have the problem with mouse is when I shutdown a system completely and switch to another box. That happen to both Win2K, Red Hat and Debian so I would assume that it's the KVM's problem. If I send the command to shut the system down but immediately switch over to another box, there is no problem.

When you buy a KVM, make sure you have KB and MS emulation built in. When you have that, the KVM will let your OS think that it's still attached to a KB and MS regardless of whether it's physically attached or not so that loosing mouse problem won't happen.

If you do loose the mouse, it's easy to fix in Linux since all I have to do is restart mouse demon or XDM and be done with it. If it's Win2K, then I needed to restart Windows ( : ) just to get mouse working again.

[BJ250]

I got a Raritan SwitchMan - works great.

[gorn]

you could also use poor mans KVM, vnc. not perfect but might be able to do the job.

[edit]http://realvnc.com[/edit]

[BJ250]

lol yeah. KVMs arent too bad themselves, but the wires cost a crapload of money.