OSEC

Neohapsis is currently accepting applications for employment. For more information, please visit our website www.neohapsis.com or email hr@neohapsis.com
 
Re: [A bit OT] KVM recommendation and information on "Compaq EO1004B 8 Port KVM Switch, Part No. 147094-001"

From: Daniel Ramaley (daniel.ramaleyDRAKE.EDU)
Date: Thu Jun 02 2005 - 08:24:05 CDT

If it helps at all, i'll weigh in with my limited experience with KVMs.
At home i have 2 four port KVMs that are daisy chained. If i recall
correctly, both are made by Aten. They work well with OpenBSD, Linux,
and even Windows, and a key command can be used to switch either one. I
think they cost around US $180 each, and i bought them about 5 or 6
years ago, probably from cyberguys.com.

I've never had any problems that i could trace to the KVMs i own beyond
slight video degradation. Every KVM i've seen (which admittedly isn't
very many) has this problem, though. Depending on how picky you are, it
may or may not be an issue. I'm picky enough that i no longer run
graphics mode through a KVM, and only use it on my servers (which don't
run an X server or any other graphics mode applications). For ordinary
text mode a KVM is great. If you need to run graphics through one, i'd
say spend the money on high quality cables and don't run the resolution
too high.

At work we have a cheap 4 port KVM. I think it was made by Belkin. It
was cheap, and i learned that with KVMs you get what you paid for. We
no longer use it because it had problems passing the video signal and
wouldn't consistently switch properly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Ramaley
Digital Media Library Specialist
(515) 271-1934
Cowles Library 140, Drake University