Shopsmith Forums

Many many years ago I purchased a Bytelan Keyboard-video switch. At the time the way they came was with the old large round standard keyboard/mouse connectors. This version had 4 ports and in addition to the front buttons it had a serial port that allowed remote switching. The last 10 years or so it has had only two computers attached and no serial port access. I also had used adapters to change to the smaller connector standard for the mouse and keyboard connectors. Then some years back when I changed keyboards I started using USB to serial adapters.

The other day we had a power glitch which has happened twice in the last month or so. Odd because last summer they were digging up everyone's yard for a new power grid that was going to eliminate single point failures....

It wasn't until a few days later that I went to use one of the computers and got the error of no keyboard attached. I checked to see if the switch was set to the correct channel and it was. Just to be sure I went through the ports and still no keyboard. So starting at he keyboard and working to the switch and then off to the computer I checked all the wiring and re-plugged everything. Still no connection.

Went from the keyboard to the computer direct and it works. Connected to the switch and nothing doing. Same for the mouse connections. The only possible solution was to just plug into the computer and do what I had to do.

I don't remember how much the switch cost me back in the day but I seem to recall it was a pretty large cost but less then multiple monitors and keyboard/mouse hardware and then it also saved space. If I had to guess I'd say maybe $150.

Since I want the same function I went off to look at current KVM switches. They have USB versions now which is fine as I will not have to use adapters. They also come with some cables so I don't have to order extra cables.......

I have one on order for $15.50 with shipping and all. Best yet I'll have it in a couple of days. Of course I have to hope it works as I expect it to but for the price, well I had no idea how cheap they had become. Yes you can spend more but I don't think I need to.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042 ... UTF8&psc=1

If anyone is interested I can report back on what I think of it after it arrives and I get it hooked up.

Ed

Ed, if you don't need to share a monitor, you should check out Mouse Without Borders. It's freeware from the "Microsoft Garage". I've been using it for a couple of years, and find it much higher quality than their modern-day paid apps.

I use it to share a keyboard and mouse between my main Win 7 desktop PC, an old XP machine equipped for video capture and editing, and my Win7 laptop. When using the XP machine, I just switch my secondary desktop monitor over to it. It truly makes all three machines feel like one machine with multiple monitors. You can even drag and drop files between the machines, and it supports up to four machines.

BuckeyeDennis wrote:Ed, if you don't need to share a monitor, you should check out Mouse Without Borders. It's freeware from the "Microsoft Garage". I've been using it for a couple of years, and find it much higher quality than their modern-day paid apps.

I use it to share a keyboard and mouse between my main Win 7 desktop PC, an old XP machine equipped for video capture and editing, and my Win7 laptop. When using the XP machine, I just switch my secondary desktop monitor over to it. It truly makes all three machines feel like one machine with multiple monitors. You can even drag and drop files between the machines, and it supports up to four machines.

You or someone else had mentioned that program and I did try and use it for a while but it was driving me crazy when it goes off screen and then has the lag. I have my mouse set for fast movement and fast response and that is how I like it.

After playing with it for a while I took it back off. The other issue is that the two PC with the switch are old machines, one running ME other XP. The ME machine is not on the net and is isolated and old because it has my banking information on it. No access to the real world is needed and that keeps anyone from out side having access. Unless you are sitting at my computer table you just don't have access.

I will be upgrading computer systems later this year, I'd like to get a higher resolution monitor first as the old system is using a ViewSonic VP140 one of the first flat panel monitors that came out at a reasonable price. It is from way back and its pair died some 4 or 5 years ago so any day now.... I will then move the more modern monitor to service the two old PC's and the new monitor will be on the main machine.

Right now the monitor can't display the resolution the graphics card can generate so the monitor is the limiting factor even on the existing system.

I'm also still trying to decide about a lap top. The Dell XPS 13 with the i5 processor is on sale for under $1000 so I'm pretty tempted. My wife is happy with here tablet so I'm not sure if that will change once we have a lap top active again or not. She likes to have it with her when watching TV, she hears something and looks it up on the spot. Searching the net and email are her thing so the tablet it fine for that.

I like to do other computer things like running sketchup and doing spread sheets where I can see a lot of data on the screen. Looking at photos on the higher resolution screen on the XPS would be really nice (QHD 3200 x 1800). But then there is all the tools that will have to wait since I spent the money on a lap top.

Ed

Interesting .. I've never detected any lag when transitioning between screens using Mouse Without Borders, even with the laptop networked over wifi. I too have my mouse speeds maxed out. But then my desktop machine, which hosts the mouse and keyboard, was a high-end machine in it's day. At almost ten years old, it's still reasonably potent. Especially after I spent a hundred bucks to replace the dead OE graphics card with the previous year's high-end gaming card.

Regardless, do check out the 4K monitors when you upgrade. The 27 inchers are down under $500 retail now. I'd much rather have an old slow PC with 4k monitor, than a fast new one with a 1080 monitor. But then, I'm not a gamer. I generally buy PC's used from CL, or lately from a local online auction site that liquidates Amazon returns and such. I get a whole lotta bang for the buck that way, with just the occasional dud.

Can't explain the lag as my machine is pretty fast yet. Quad core at 3.3GHz, 8GB ram, machines are connected at gigabit Ethernet. Mouse and keyboard are both wireless. SSD's and dual graphic, monitor is limiting it to 1680 x 1050. I also run windows10 on both machines X64 and do beta testing so it is always the most current build.

When the mouse goes over it does it pretty fast but coming back it lags by seconds. A couple of seconds seems like a long time when I'm trying to get things done. I didn't measure it and I can't now since I uninstalled it. Maybe it is just an expectation thing with me.

Ed

BuckeyeDennis wrote:Interesting .. I've never detected any lag when transitioning between screens using Mouse Without Borders, even with the laptop networked over wifi. I too have my mouse speeds maxed out. But then my desktop machine, which hosts the mouse and keyboard, was a high-end machine in it's day. At almost ten years old, it's still reasonably potent. Especially after I spent a hundred bucks to replace the dead OE graphics card with the previous year's high-end gaming card.

Regardless, do check out the 4K monitors when you upgrade. The 27 inchers are down under $500 retail now. I'd much rather have an old slow PC with 4k monitor, than a fast new one with a 1080 monitor. But then, I'm not a gamer. I generally buy PC's used from CL, or lately from a local online auction site that liquidates Amazon returns and such. I get a whole lotta bang for the buck that way, with just the occasional dud.

Yep, that's weird. Your machine should be considerably faster than mine. If I had even 200 ms of lag on mine I'd notice it, and I don't. A Win 10 thing, maybe? That "Garage" stuff may not get tested with new OS releases.

The switch arrived yesterday and it works really slick. Instead of the big box sitting on my table it just a little square with a button to change channels. The other part sits back behind out of the way. It also used USB power so it frees up a much needed outlet location.

I really should have done this years ago!


Ed