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Subject:RE: KVM switch vs. separate keyboard/mouse From:"McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> To:Gregory P Sweet <gps03 -at- health -dot- state -dot- ny -dot- us>, TechWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, "techwr-l-bounces+gps03=health -dot- state -dot- ny -dot- us -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l-bounces+gps03=health -dot- state -dot- ny -dot- us -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:04:20 -0400
I didn't actually mention VM in the portion of my post that you quote.
I do have a couple of real machines (non-VM) that I access - the Windows box via Windows RDP, and the Linux box via !m (that's NoMachine).
Of course I have VMs here and there, as well.
You have a good point about video. RDP and other such protocols conserve bandwidth by sending you just updates of changed screen elements (of the remote session), and uploading (to the remote session) only your keyboard and mouse inputs. The view of the distant system simply doesn't update fast enough and comprehensively enough to handle motion video... especially if you throw a VPN into the mix.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gregory P Sweet
Sent: April-15-13 12:55 PM
To: TechWR-L; techwr-l-bounces+gps03=health -dot- state -dot- ny -dot- us -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: KVM switch vs. separate keyboard/mouse
> And then I thought: Why would anybody want to use that when they
> could just get the laptop set up the way they liked, with any/every
> external display they could beg, borrow, or steal... and then use
> Remote Desktop to view and control any other PC, Linux box, Mac,
> whatever, under their purview?
Using two PCs rather than VM boxes or RD sessions can have advantages. For example, when I am teaching via webinar, I run a second PC to monitor the session performance and keep an eye on what the students are seeing. I run that on a separate computer, and it is much more convenient to use a software km switch to operate both PCs that to keep jumping from keyboard to keyboard as I go. Or when doing multimedia production and crunching video is taking up most of the system resources, it's really convenient to just mouse over to my second PC and keep working.
I use Synergy BTW. another free software KM switch. It's main advantage over the MWB is that it is cross platform and supports Win, Mac, and Unix boxes all in the same setup.
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