This is a new shiny/homeownership/what made you happy all in one! My countertops are finally installed!!! Four months in the making! Now to do the backsplash and paint and stuff. But I have counters!!
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I bought a KVM for my work laptops. I had wires everywhere and IT WAS A NIGHTMARE! This thing cost me $40. I was skeptical at first, but it’s tiny and heavy and it works. It did everything I wanted it to, with no hassles.
One laptop has HDMI, while the other has everything else. I got a DisplayPort to HDMI dongle and that worked, too.
No power cable, because it bleeds power off the USB connections. It’s great and I recommend it to anyone in my situation.
Now I have one mouse, one keyboard, one monitor, and one button to switch between the 2 laptops. It even came with 2 HDMI and USB cables.
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This is such a change in my workflow that I can’t believe I didn’t do it before now.
-
At work.
a. 1 VDI dumb terminal with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
b. 1 laptop with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
c. 1 laptop with a mouse. -
At home (previously).
d. 1 laptop with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse (controls both a. and b. now through virtual VDI).
c. 1 laptop with a mouse (see above). -
At home (now).
e. 2 laptops through a KVM with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse (controls both d. and c.).
Switching is easy and instant. I’m so happy.
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Thank you for sharing this. I’m going to sooner or later need to get a work machine with VPN access and once I do, a KVM is probably the best way to integrate it without completely disrupting my home office space.
I’ve been using a KVM for years. I’ve got an IOGear DVI/USB capable one that works for me.
Get more devices than you need You might find you want to throw a Raspberry Pi on or similar. I’ma t 4 and maxed out:
- Old Mac Mini (Still a “daily driver” but probably most in need of being retired.)
- New Mac Mini (Still old, just less so; Used as a “server” for Plex and such.)
- Spare Connection (Currently “WorkLaptop”)
- Hackintosh
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I’ve used IOGear KVMs in the past, too, but it has been a few years. We had a bunch of two-port ones at work for the lab, and I used 4 port ones at home and in my office at work. The old PS2 ones seemed to work better than the newer USB ones, which started getting wonky after a few weeks and would need to be reset by completely unplugging anything that was powered. That was a pain in the rear, so I/we eventually stopped using them.
@Rizak’s new toy only has one review… only one star, and similar problem. Hopefully, yours works better! When they work well, they can boost productivity and reduce frustration.
Oops. I had written a review, but not pressed SUBMIT. Mine should be right there now, too.
Eventually.
Only issue with mine is USB has occasionally been a little flakey, but none of my devices are PS2 anyway.
The biggest issue is on the Hackintosh it sometimes takes a really long time for it to ‘recognize’ the mouse. I’m not sure if some of that is due to running Steelseries and their controller app, which might not like the mouse bouncing back and forth between controllers.
I might need to do something like this soon as my new contract requires me to have one of their devices to connect to their network - and I really don’t want to manually re-plug monitors & keyboards.
I do have a really old KVM, but I think it’s too old to be of any use - I think it might even be VGA.
Kala Scout bass ukulele, with the upgraded case. This will be going overseas with me in the spring. Much more portable than my beloved Ibanez full-scale bass guitar.
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Haha - after all the discussions going on here about KVM switches, I ordered one as well. Just realised it’s the same brand (but a different version) of yours.
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/me flips cape
“My work here is done.”
/me flies off
I have finally found a use for the Ras-Pi3 I was given over a year ago…
As soon as the cloning of my existing Ras-Pi1 has finished I’ll be setting up a media server and all the cool things I’ve been procrastinating about…
(Yeah, technically not ‘new and shiny’, seeing how the Pi3 is about 5 years old now… But hey… 
)
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I got mine a S&W M&P EZ9 - easier to load the magazines and rack the slide. Single stack, too, so it fits smaller hands.
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sigh
Just get her some bigger hands!
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Sunbeam has the original S&W Shield in 9mm and is a big fan. Once I shot it once, I wished I’d bought two while they were on sale.
I was looking at the map of the area around my new property. There’s a gun shop/range withing walking distance. I might finally learn how to shoot.
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