Use a Laptop As a KVM Switch
I’ve thought of another feature I wish existed for a laptop. I frequently work on people’s computers for them. If I have them bring me their desktop machine I tell them to unplug everything and don’t worry about bringing me the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. I’ve got all of these things at my house that I can hook up if I need.
Map Laptop Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor to Desktop Machine
The problem is that I’d like to be able to sit the CPU down next to me on the couch and then sit on the couch with my laptop and review their system. I’d like to somehow be able to plug-in the desktop to my laptop and be able to map my laptop’s keyboard, mouse and monitor to the desktop.
I know you could kind of accomplish this with Microsoft Remote Terminal Services client, but that’s kind of hard to initially setup at your first boot-up of the machine. But even then there’s challenges if it’s not on your network or is having Ethernet problems.
Does this type of functionality exist somehow? Let me know!
Tags: desktop, keyboard, KVM, laptop, monitor, mouse, MSTSC, remote service, tech-supportRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Microsoft Hardware, Software Wishlist
3 opinions for Use a Laptop As a KVM Switch
Stephen F. Heffner
May 6, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I use a freeware product named Synergy; it’s on Sourceforge. Allows you to use your cursor and keyboard across multiple computers. Mostly works well, occasionally not. I’ve used across Win2K and Vista.
Ben Buchwald
May 14, 2008 at 1:17 am
I’ve wanted the same thing for when I do in-the-field installations so that I don’t have to travel with a keyboard/monitor. The closest thing I’ve been able to find is this usb2.0 device. Almost exactly what I want, although ideally I’d want an expresscard version so that it could use the better bus to get me better color depth and framerate (since what I do is graphics intensive). Also it would be nice if you had a choice between the VGA/PS2 dongle and a VGA/USB one. But still, pretty close. Might be good enough for what you want.
http://www.epiphan.com/products/product.php?pid=27
Gleb Esman
May 25, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I just published a long review for the device that does just that :)
http://hubpages.com/hub/laptop-as-kvm-switch-kvm2usb-review
Gleb
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