On 14 Apr 99, at 8:33, Ashok Bhiman wrote:

> Is there a way for me to connect two PC's to a single monitor? I
> want to be able to switch to either PC as on my desk I do not have
> place for two monitors. Keyboards I can keep separate and I do not
> need a mouse with my second PC.

  Yes, there is.  Possibly a bit more expensive than you'd like, but a
couple of companies (Belkin is one, and they make good stuff, so if you
need a recommendation, there it is) make boxes that let you plug a
single keyboard, mouse and monitor in and switch them between multiple
systems.  [You can, of course, just use the monitor portion, if you
wish.]
  These units are often called KVM (Keyboard/Video/Mouse) switches.  It
is not normally safe to plug and unplug these devices while the PCs are
running; the switch box include electronics to isolate the systems from
possible problems, and will let a system "detect" the devices at boot
even when they are currently switched away to another system.

  I did mention that price could be an issue.  I've mainly used 4-way
and 8-way versions, but we have a department using the Belkin 2-way
boxes, and I think they were about $120 each.  That's cheaper than a
second monitor, but not by a whole lot -- the main savings is in space.


David G

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