I have one of those fancy MSI gaming monitors, with a built-in KVM. It’s pretty infuriating. If there’s no video input, it stops forwarding keyboard and mouse commands. No way to switch keyboard and mouse via the keyboard. You have to use the toggle button on the monitor buried under multiple menus.

I’m looking for a nice KVM that people can recommend. I mostly care about the keyboard and mouse switching. I guess that’s a KM. Ideally it wouldn’t take multiple seconds for the USB to register on the new device when I switch. Bonus points if I can switch just using a keyboard combination.

https://github.com/debauchee/barrier Is an open source software option, that basically forward your keyboard and mouse over the network between machines. It’s interesting.

I have some very sensitive systems, and I wouldn’t be comfortable installing binary blobs on them, and a few are off the network entirely. So this solution would be less than ideal, but it’s really cool.

What’s your favorite KVM? How many machines do you have hooked up right now to the computer using?

  • peereboominc@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    I’m using a simple cheap usb switcher (Aten 2 x 4 USB 2.0 Switch). I have connected a mouse, keyboard, card reader. One machine is connect to the monitor via hdmi and the other via display port. I simply switch video via the buttons on the monitor. The third machine is a laptop that is not connected to the monitor.

    A dedicated KVM would be a better option but I’m not willing to spend that much money.

    • BaconIsAVeg@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      A dedicated KVM would be a better option but I’m not willing to spend that much money.

      Honestly the worst part about a dedicated KVM, at least for a home setup, is the 30lbs of thick bulky cables.

  • unsaid0415@szmer.infoEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    Just in case anybody is in the market for a new monitor and wants shortcut switching, check out Dell’s monitors with Auto KVM - https://youtu.be/ZqutRcWG2Rc?feature=shared&t=332

    The keyboard shortcut switching probably works only with Dell’s proprietary Dell Display Manager software, that runs only on Windows and maybe on Mac.

    Still, I’m wondering if there’s a ddutil code that means “toggle KVM to the other computer” that you could just bind in Linux.