Tom's Hardware KVM Roundup

nexex writes: "Tom's Hardware has a new article with a review of several KVM switches. I have considering buying a KVM switch as I seem to collect/use more & more computers, I feel left with little choice :) While I have several friends who have taken the plunge, they have all spent wildly different amounts on them. Granted price plays a great factor on the features you get, but how do you know which one is not going to end up letting you down? If you end up with el cheapo, you will most certainly end up regretting it, as this device will be carrying the signals of your primary input and output to your systems."

Get VNC

[jackb_guppy]

If have nine machines - I have 1 spare monitor and keyboard for base boot and load. Once loaded VNC all the way - even with linux.

Nice to be able to use any machine any where in the house with touching it.

Re:Get VNC

[MikeFM]

My experience with those switches has all been bad. We had them in an apartment I usda have and they were a pain. And I've had more expensive versions at several jobs and all were also pains. I'd honestly rather just just network to the other machines and run apps remotely. I do keep an extra monitor etc around in case I need to install some hardware on another computer.

Too much $$.

[TheSHAD0W]

Here's a less expensive solution [att.com].

It can't do everything (it irks me that I can't log onto my 2K box through it), but it also doesn't limit you to a few feet away.

Audio switching

[Chris Pimlott]

I'm surprised Tom is so exciting about audio switching. Most decent speaker setups will take more than 1 input signal, so you can have both (or more) boxes hooked up to the same speaker at once all the time. It's nice to be able to play a CD or something from my other box while I'm using the first's drive.

Belkins are good

[Da_Big_G]

I've been using a Belkin OmniCube 4-port kvm at my desk for almost a year now and it's been great. I think I paid about $130 for it, but I've recently seen it for nearly half that on sale at the various superstores. I have also chained an older Belkin OmniView 2-port kvm off it and it works fine.

KVMs are no longer just the domain of the NOC... for those who prefer Linux, but need a Win2k or 98 (ugh) box on demand (or anything else for that matter) a kvm can be a huge plus. It's also allowed me to save space (got rid of 2 extra monitors on my other desk).

The OmniCube has a nice shortcut... double-tap scroll-lock, then hit the number of the box I want and it comes up. This has allowed me to leave the kvm on the floor behind my desk, with all the cables.

One thing to consider... I use a high resolution and a high refresh rate on my monitor... if you want 1024x786 @75Hz or higher, you'll probably have to shell out around $25 for a high-end vga extension cable. PS/2 extensions can be had for under $5 ea, and lower-grade vga extensions are easy to find under $10. Just something to keep in mind if you are on a budget.

Only negative I've found is that I need to have the Win2k box selected while it boots, otherwise the wheel mouse isn't detected... the rest of the mouse works, just not the wheel.

Re:Get VNC

[RogrWilco]

I agree with the VNC, however I still keep a KVM in the server room. If you have a lot of servers, and are doing mission critical work, a KVM is better than nothing, and you don't lose so much rackspace if you only have a couple of monitors
The big, mission critical servers are all fit with VNC, as well as have their own monitors, everything else (voicemail,modem and fax sharing, IDS, DNS, etc) are fitted with a kvm. If the OS won't work, neither will vnc, and I'd much rather spend my time fixing the problem than pulling junk out of the storeroom.

What about picture quality?

[Hank the Lion]

In the article, Tom has concentrated on go/no-go tests.
In a product that can influence picture quality tremendously, I would have liked to see something more than "It ... produced a good picture " (with no mention of the resolution tested) in case of the CS-USB21H , or no mention of picture quality at all in case of the GCS124U KVM .
It would have been really helpful to see characteristics like 'amount of reflections' or 'actual measured bandwidth'
This would have helped me more on deciding which unit is right for my purposes than describing the computer systems that were used in detail. What is the use of specifying the brand of CD-writer or the amount and brand of RAM that were used? I cannot imagine that these have any influence on the performance of the KVM switch.