The idea of a keyboard / video / mouse switch, or KVM switch, is not new. The historical problem has always been the sheer expense of them. The ability to connect a single keyboard, monitor and mouse to several PC's, switching between them without having to unplug cables, is extremely handy and invaluable in terms of space saving in a corporate datacentre. Aimed at the corporate market, KVM switches like the Cybex Commander series I remember using in 1995 tended to be priced well beyond the means of enthusiasts - both for the unit itself and the extra, poprietary, cables from the switch unit to each PC.
I've known a few people, including myself, who have inherited old KVM switches from work or bought them at auction, to discover the second big downfall of oldschool KVM switches - a lack of support for higher resolutions. Considering most of the old switches were designed in the days of servers with text-mode consoles, the switching electronics and the long cables used just don't cope with carrying a high-resolution, high refresh-rate video signal. Most enthusiasts only ever want to switch between two, or maybe four, PC's, so what the market really needs is a cheap 2- or 4-port KVM switch that can handle high resolutions and doesn't require separate expensive proprietary cables. Over the last couple of years there's been a few such devices appear, and today we're looking at one from Connectland....
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OCAU
Sep 28, 2004, 10:22 AM
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