Re: Using a KVM switch to connect 3 computers at once

On Fri, 17 Nov 2023 09:38:10 +0100, "R.Wieser" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Char,
>
>> With a KVM, you normally have to switch to the PC that you
>> want to use, but with RDP you simply click in a window
>
>I'm not all that sure what you think switching using the mouse is less work 
>than doing the same using the keyboard.

Start with the simplest case of one PC and two simultaneously running
applications. To move from one application to the other, you can click in the
relevant window. There are other ways, but that's the example I'm using.

From that simple example, I'll add a second PC, without a mouse, KB, or monitor
connected. The second PC has only power and Ethernet. Using RDP, in my example,
you can now switch between applications running on either system simply by
clicking anywhere in the relevant application window. Whether it's one system or
two (or more), you'd have to make that click anyway, so it's nothing additional.

To extend the example further, add a second display to the first PC. Now you can
move the RDP session onto the second display. From the user perspective, at that
point you have one PC and all of its running applications on one display, and
the second PC with all of its running apps on the second display. To switch from
one PC to the other, you click in the relevant window. No clunky keyboard
combinations required, or no reaching for a physical KVM switch.

That's why I say it's faster, easier, and more efficient. I can see both
displays at all times, and switching from one system to the other is exactly the
same as switching from one application to another. I don't think it can get any
easier than that.

If one were inclined to do so, you could add another PC, another display, and
another RDP session to run 3 systems seamlessly. Or you could share a display
among two or more systems, since each RDP session can not only be run full
screen but also can be run in a window.

>My old D-link did it with a scroll-lock double-tap and than 1...4 for the 

I had a D-Link KVM that operated that way! Annoying. :-)

>selection.  My current one makes it a more complex : on the numberpad 
>press-and-hold numlock, press-and-release the minus sign, release numlock, 
>and than press 1...7 for the selection.
>
>Yep, that really feels like a /lot/ of work. :-)
>
>Though to be honest, I can't seem to get my muscle-memory to remember the 
>"release minus before NumLock" order consistently. :-\