Reccomend a monitor switcher..

[Karlos]

Hi all,

Having grown sick of swapping cables, I need to see about getting a monitor/keyboard switcher so I can share my (old style PS2) keyboard and SVGA monitor between my Amiga and PC.

I know you can get such a device that responds to a key combination to switch between systems. Does anybody here use a such system between Amiga/PC?

What would you recommend? Being utterly broke just now I don't want to spend more than 30 UKP..

Thanks for any advice,

K

[KennyR]

I like the Eyetech EZ-VGA range. There's virtually no loss in quality (like in normal switchboxes), the screen can be switched by a toggle switch mounted in a 5.25" drive bay, or with an EZ-Key keyboard adaptor at a keypress. And it's about 30 UKP.

[filson]

The KVM switches from belkin should be pretty cheap and ok quality. Haven't tried them my self tho' but often seen the need for them.
Check them out at http://www.belkin.com/

[whabang]

A little OT:
Are there any monitor switchers with a built in scandoubler/flickerfixer?

[SilvrDrgn]

@ Karlos,

I know you can get such a device that responds to a key combination to switch between systems. Does anybody here use a such system between Amiga/PC?

My company uses switchers from a company called "Black Box".  They're very good quality and produce no noticeable signal loss even when they are being powered by the voltages on the cables that they are switching.  They have a connector for optional power.  The model number is SW625A-R2.  They handle monitor, keyboard and mouse.

It has a button on the front for switching between sources.  Plus, it also responds to switching via the keyboard.  You press and release one key at a time in the following sequence:
, , ,  to select the "A" source.
, , ,  to select the "B" source.

I bought one from my local computer fair for 15UKP including leads its exactly the same as the one Power Computing sells for an outragous 59UKP

its a passive switch and works fine with my amiga and mac but they only run at 800x600 max. anything higher and ghosting occurs, so i dont use it on my PC

to be able to handle higher resolutions you'd need an active switch like a Belkin or an Adder (i have an adder and its great but costs about the same as a decent 17" monitor

They're very good quality and produce no noticeable signal loss even when they are being powered by the voltages on the cables that they are switching.

the Adder is the same but i've noticed that one of my machines cant supply sufficient power and the result is my mouse is jerky, its fine with more than one machine on.

I just use a seperate power supply

[Karlos]

Thanks for the heads up, guys...

To summarise, I run a 19" display at 1600x1200 both on my Amiga and (when I use it) the PC. Whatever I buy (and I prefer something that is remote keyboard activated rather than a switch etc) needs to be able to operate at this resolution.

Looks like I'll need to spend more ;-)

[filson]

Whatever I buy (and I prefer something that is remote keyboard activated rather than a switch etc) needs to be able to operate at this resolution.

AFAIK the belkin KVM's are not keyboard operated. So I guess You can count them out. :-)

[N7VQM]

Karlos wrote:

Looks like I'll need to spend more ;-)

Naw!  I have a Linksys KVM2KIT switch.  The cables from the switch to the computers are integrated into the unit.   It's specs say it can handle upto a 1920x1440 display.  I use it to switch between my Win2k box and my Linux box and I haven't noticed any degraded output with it.  Swtiching between outputs is accomplished by pressing the Scroll Lock key twice.

I found it on Amazon UK for 29.99UKP.  See it at this LINK.

[olegil]

Heh, my company makes what we call a "Media 8", which is an 8 inputs, 8 outputs RGBHV + stereo audio (so it's really 7 8x8 routing switchers) in 3U rack mount. It's only 3cm deep, though. And that's including the BNC connectors. I use one of these to switch between the PC's in the office. Right now I have the office computer on 1 and the AmigaOne on 2. Usually the AmigaOne is at home and the RS/6k workstation is on 2 :-)

However, the price isn't really fit for private use, and it doesn't handle mouse/keyboard :-)

I've got a Belkin SOHO 2-port KVM, switches Keyboard, Video (using 1280x1024, and iirc it can handle up to 180khz), Mouse, Speaker and Mic, there are buttons on the front for switching, or you can use keyboard control (scroll lock twice, then either up/down, the number of the machine, or something else which actually puts it on a "security camera" style flicking every few seconds)... :-)

On the downside, I think it cost closer to £100 than £30, but that was new, and as you can also get 4-port ones like that you might be able to get a second hand one somewhere.

I did used to use a 2-port manual switcher (still got it somewhere) - but it only did one ps/2 and the monitor, and depending on how the pc behaved it could sometimes lose all connection to the ps/2 device and require a reboot, the belkin one is nice in that it "fakes" it when the computer isn't actually connected to anything, so i've never had it lose it ;-)

Robin

[Khephren]

On a (vaguely) similar note, if a bought a TFT with both digital and analogue imputs. Would I be able to plug the Amiga into the VGA and the PC into the digital and swap between them from the monitors front panel? or does the digtal connection overide the analogue? 'cos i'm also getting fed up with swapping monitor cables.

BTW, i just remembered i used to have my amiga plugged into my Adder but the keyboard and mouse didnt handle it very well at all, the mouse lead was plugged straight into the punchinelo on the Amiga and more often than not i found that on boot up the amiga went automically into the boot menu and the key board had a habit of sticking, so i just put it on its own 14" monitor

[Karlos]

N7VQM wrote:


Naw!  I have a Linksys KVM2KIT switch.  The cables from the switch to the computers are integrated into the unit.   It's specs say it can handle upto a 1920x1440 display....

I found it on Amazon UK for 29.99UKP.  See it at this LINK.

Ooh, that sounds like the badger I need. Thanks, I'll check it out. It shares monitor and keyboard though, right?