Is this feasible?

[Iain]

Hi everyone

I'm about to start a couple of IT courses and it's recommended to have some old PCs around so I can network/hack etc. at home and then reinstall the OS if necessary. As space is at a premium, is it feasible to have only one monitor as a display for 2 PCs? I'm thinking of having a cable from the back of each PC into a small box (maybe 6" by 4" by 2") and have a rotary switch on the box to switch the PC input to a single output socket from which I'd run a cable to the monitor. I guess it would be sensible to have a three way switch, so there's no possibility of contacts connecting one PC output directly to that of the other, albeit for a fraction of a second. The central position would not connect to any PC output. How many of the wires in the monitor cable are "live"? If this is feasible, this number would determine which kind of rotary switch I'd need.

Maybe this is completely off the wall, so I'd rather know now and before I wreck some of the kit that I'm about to get. If it is, I might just have to ""bite the bullet" and see if I can make space to house two (or more) monitors.

[hillmiester]

Bonjourno,

I have a couple of boxes for exp's and only one 17" TFT, I use a belkin KVM switch where I just flick a switch and it changes sources. I don't know how hard it is to make one im guessin it could be easy. KVM switches can be really cheap and may be a better alternate to hacking some wires together and doing it that way. Just my opinion most likely get slated for it :P

[PoyBoy]

I have a benq FP202W 20.1 inch lcd and it supports two video feeds. I just hit a button to switch.

[W4RP3D]

What about this *Clicky* it looks like the kinder thing you want. Its bout £40.

[Iain]

Some great ideas. I may have to buy a TFT screen (I'll make sure that the hardware all works together). It would certainly be easier to buy "off the shelf" than try to make the kit myself.

[cooper]

Rather than a second computer, why not get VMWare Workstation? It's a commercial product that allows you to run any OS in an emulated mode. Basically, an OS in a window. You can download the VMWare Player and an image file of a number of OSes (rest assured, Windows isn't among those freely available, but I've seen hacks that will allow you to install an OS using the Player) and run that for free to get an idea of what it is you'll be using.

It won't be as fast as a separate machine, but it'll be a HELL of a lot cheaper than getting a complete new machine with all its bells and whistles.

[programertobe]

just use a KVM switch (tigerdirect.com or wherever you go) and go that route

[cooper]

Quality monitors tend to come with multiple inputs. See if yours is one of them. If it does you can probably hook up the monitor to the second machine at the cost of a mere cable, and use the controls of the monitor itself to select which input you want.

I never liked KVM switches myself because at the time they were rather limited in the quality they were able to transfer. In other words, if you had a GOOD monitor, getting 1600x1200x32-bit@75Hz and up was pretty much unattainable when a KVM switch was employed.

But if that's not an issue for you (or they now make affordable KVM switches that can deal with this), by all means, get a KVM switch.

Note that if you're going the UNIX route, 99% of the time you really don't NEED a monitor. Just a putty session to the other machine which can just run headless after you're done installing your OS of choice on it.

But I still say go with VMWare. The snapshot feature is a godsend when you want to hack a box in a way that might nuke it.

[VaKo]

Note that if you're going the UNIX route, 99% of the time you really don't NEED a monitor. Just a putty session to the other machine which can just run headless after you're done installing your OS of choice on it.

Works fine with windows as well, just needs a power cable and a network connection to run. Then just remote desktop into it.

[tabath]

Why don't you just set up a virtual kvm server using synergy and then its a simple matter of networking them (if you haven't already) using tcp/ip.

Let me know if you need links for anythiig

[Darren Kitchen]

Synergy is a great tool but will only network keyboard/mouse. You still need a monitor on each PC. I'm using it right now on my trip 19's and love it.

[tabath]

Lot less cables just having the monitors linked up to a cheap rotary switch though.

Also there is no reason you couldn't run a VNC server/ client system on a LAN to accomplish the same thing without multiple monitors is there?