James Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Aaargh. I know this is Ot and I know no -one wants to read this but sometimes a good ole rant realy makes you feel better. I'm trying (and failing) to get some computers to work at home.... My main screaming problem is that I don't have enough monitors/keyboard&mice to go arround... Therefore I'm constantly switching and always reaching for the wrong ones.... I have 5 machines with 3 sets and it is truly irritating. Does anyone know of anyone who makes a KVM matrix? 4x4 preferably??? Oh well.... </private rant> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Try Ebuyer and Novatech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Baldwin Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 I'm not sure why you'd want a 4x4 matrix for only one user? Surely if you have 4 computers, and four IO device sets, you don't need to switch (unless you're a long way away from 3 of the computers?) KVMs with 4 outputs aren't going to be cheap... doubly true if you want high resolution outputs. Black Box will undoubtedly sort you out, but their pricing is, ahem, "aspirational", and you may well find it cheaper to clone Bill Gates to operate each PC for you. I've never used AdderTecKVMs, but on paper they sound very well spec'ed; their SmartView 4XPRO is 16 in, 4 out, priced around £1250. Unless you have serious space constraints, more keyboards and monitors will be cheaper, especially as you'll have to buy expensive cabling for the KVM as well. Belkin make budget KVMs, and their stuff we have at work seems to work quite well, but 4 outputs is quite unusual for a KVM, and their offering involves buying and daisy-chaining 4 Enterprise Series KVMs, at about £650 each.... :** laughs out loud **: But a KVM isn't the only way, depending on what you're trying to do. PC Anywhere might allow you to access your myriad PCs if you're running Windows; VNC (Virtual Network Computer) is an open source cross platform alternative, which will allow you to take control of remote machines. But obviously, if you're trying to get networking to work, then that's naff all use. At the risk of seeming to brandish a notional beard and sandals, does this have to be Wintel? I use UNIX a lot at work, and find that remote access is a real non-issue with telnet and X-Windows type things. Tell us some more about what you're trying to do, and I'm sure we can come up with more useful answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted August 21, 2003 Author Share Posted August 21, 2003 Tom I have 2 machines on this desk at the moment My Redhat 8.0 "Office" machine (1x 17") (A)and my Win 98 "show / DAW" machine (1x14" and 1x17") (B) the win98 is dual head and is here as I am rebuilding my other room into a dedicated DAW room... So on the desk I have all that lot and two sets of mice and keyboards Oh and the laptop (w90) I run spot FX / remote CAD with is here as well. © I have a new machine I've put together out of "broken" bits on my left running w2K, RH8 and has space for 98 (when I can find a spare hard disk to install it on then transfer it Grr.)(D) and another set of bits behind me (E) So I am trying to get the (A) machine to see the workgroup despite the fact that samba is running and I can't see anything wrong with the samba.comf file Oh and SWAT doesn't seem to want to work at all on this machine. the (B) machine is running as something on the workgroup to see and as a online help book for getting samba to work the d machine is having OS's installed on it and I am switching monitors left right and centre never having the right one in front of the right keyboard and getting in a complete mess. I need four and I have only got 3. I know this sounds like a silly problem but I have been doing this all day and probably know less about samba now than when I started. (and I should have gone to sleep at least an hour ago...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Baldwin Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Hmm, rather you than me :huh: You're trying to install 2 machines, and configure a 3rd, using a fourth for answers, and as a network point, with a fifth doing very little but smirk at you? How about: 1) hide the dual head Win98 machine for now, just sit it on the network somewhere out of the way (in your bed might be an option, as it sounds like you're getting no sleep with this problem anyway :** laughs out loud **: ) 2) use the laptop as an answer book. It's always good to have the answers on a separate screen to the one you're working on, and a laptop can be shoved out of the way more easily, and the keyboard stays with the display of its own accord. 3) buy this Belkin KVM to connect one monitor & keyboard set to machines A, D and E. Dabs sell it for £98.70 inc. VAT. then you can cycle through the machines you're working on, getting answers from the laptop as required. So now you've only got one display, one set of answers, and a working machine elsewhere on the network (which I guess the laptop could PCAnywhere or VNC to if required occasionally) Anything else is going to start getting expensive: ideas like a bank of flat screens permanently showing each PC's output(s) plus the KVM to connect your main KVM set to each one in turn... Hope this helps, Tom P.S. Anybody fancy fixing the smilies problem on this board? (i.e. the fact that when people enumerate lists using A, B, C and brackets etc, they are converted into smilies) Could we just change the smiley codes into something really odd that no-one would type, or do people here type their smilies more than they click them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted August 22, 2003 Author Share Posted August 22, 2003 P.S. Anybody fancy fixing the smilies problem on this board? (i.e. the fact that when people enumerate lists using A, B, C and brackets etc, they are converted into smilies) Could we just change the smiley codes into something really odd that no-one would type, or do people here type their smilies more than they click them? Well I normally type a - in the middle of a smilie, as in : - ) rather tha : ) so could B - ) be nominated as the replacement for : B ? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Changed at your request :** laughs out loud **: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Baldwin Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Changed at your request :** laughs out loud **:You're too kind! Cheers. :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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