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Offline GryfonTopic starter

Port switcher for A1200 / PC...
« on: November 05, 2002, 03:39:20 PM »
Greetings all,

A couple of questions:

1) Does anyone know of a port switcher available to permit a PC & A1200 to have simultaneous connection to one PC style mouse / monitor / keyboard?

2) The A1200 has a scandoubler which fits over chips on the motherboard with a ribbon out to a VGA style output port.  Would this be of any use regards question 1 (ie : are there monitor limitations that I would need to be aware of when using this device?)

3)  Would it be simpler / cheaper to buy a dedicated two-in-one style  tower (Power Tower etc) and stuff everything in there?

Thanks in advance,

Gryfon
\\"We should take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.\\" Ripley, Aliens
 

Offline Ilwrath

Re: Port switcher for A1200 / PC...
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2002, 04:03:21 PM »
Quote
1) Does anyone know of a port switcher available to permit a PC & A1200 to have simultaneous connection to one PC style mouse / monitor / keyboard?


The switcher has little to do with it...  What you need are the adaptors that allow you to plug PS2 devices to Amiga.  I use the Mr Hardware adaptors, and they work fine with my simple Belkin switch.
Mr Hardware Computers

Quote
2) The A1200 has a scandoubler which fits over chips on the motherboard with a ribbon out to a VGA style output port. Would this be of any use regards question 1 (ie : are there monitor limitations that I would need to be aware of when using this device?)

I'm not familiar with that particular device, but again, it shouldn't be a problem, provided that the signal it outputs falls within the displayable range of your monitor.  (It SHOULD, of course, or else it wouldn't be of much use to people, but it never hurts to double-check...)

Quote
3) Would it be simpler / cheaper to buy a dedicated two-in-one style tower (Power Tower etc) and stuff everything in there?

I have never priced a solution like this, but I would think that it would be more complex than simply adding the adaptors, since you'd be moving hardware around, etc... Plus, you'd still need to deal with doubling the scanrate somehow...  Some windows video cards can take a TV input and display it on the monitor, but it probably wouldn't be as clear as a native display generated by the Amiga.  
Plus, there's no guarantee of it being frame-accurate, etc...  (It doesn't matter if a TV signal is delayed 1/10th sec before display, but it could really screw up your Amiga gaming experience...)  No one has ever answered that question of mine....
 

Offline GryfonTopic starter

Re: Port switcher for A1200 / PC...
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2002, 04:10:01 PM »
Cheers dude - very much appreciated!
\\"We should take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.\\" Ripley, Aliens
 

Offline Sidewinder

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Re: Port switcher for A1200 / PC...
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2002, 04:21:32 PM »
I have a setup similar to this.  I have my PC and A4000 hooked up to one keyboard, monitor, and mouse.  The switch is called a KVM switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) and many companies manufacture them.  I use a simple 4 port KVM from Linksys, but they sell 2 port KVMs if you want to go cheaper.

llwrath is correct in that the easy part is the switch.  You will need adapters for the mouse and keyboard.  Mr Hardware makes the best adapters but they are a bit expensive.  Also, be sure that the mouse adapter is  compatable with KVM devices, the first one I bought was not and it took me forever to figure out why the mouse wasn't working.  :-)

So, there are, in the end, 5 things that you need:

1 KVM switch.
2 KVM cables (one for the PC and one for the 1200)
1 PS2 to Amiga mouse adapter
1 PS2 to Amiga keyboard adapter

You will need a scan doubler for the A1200 but as long as you have a decent PC monitor there shouldn't be any problems.

I think it cost me about $100 when I was done, but it could probably be done for cheaper.
Sidewinder
 

Offline GryfonTopic starter

Re: Port switcher for A1200 / PC...
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2002, 05:01:50 PM »
Guys - that's superb!  Thanks for the detailed explaination, it's been very useful.  I've found lots of info re: KVMs & cables as a result.  I think I'll go with the Mr Hardware solutions, as they'll definitely work with KVM switches.  Need to have a think about scan doublers.  But first - need to rescue my A1200 from the attic and make sure it's still working... ;-)
\\"We should take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.\\" Ripley, Aliens