Dear Bill et al,
I have 6 computers including one old mac and verious 4, 5 and 6 x86ers
running networked and on one keyboard mouse and monitor. They run off and
on all day and have been running for more than 2 years in various configs
(WinNT, Win95, MAC OS7.5 (with a special Mac adapter). I use an Omniview
by Belkin. The only concession I have to make is to start each machine
and wait until it boots into the GUI before switching to the next
machine. I don't have to do this with the mac, but I use a seperate mouse
on the Mac ).

The newer auto switches by Belkin and others are supposed to avoid this
inconvenience. And If I were using a PS2 mouse instead of a serial mouse
on the PCs I could avoid the extra mouse for the Mac.

I have also set up other systems with a manual switch. You need to use an
high quality switch or the contacts go bad, usually in the video first
(off colors). The same "boot one at a time" restriction applies here.

I have never had a system freezeup because of the use of these switches.
HTH
Joel Bluming
[log in to unmask]

On Mon, 15 Feb 1999 16:51:49 -0800 Robert Fisher <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
>I would like to add a word of caution on using switch boxes between
>machines.
>It seems the machine which is not actively connected to the keyboard
>and
>mouse will hang because it can no longer see them. But this does not
>effect
>the monitor because of the one way signal travel when the system is
>idle. So
<SNIP>
>
>
>Hi Bill,
>This is easy and inexpensive. I have a workstation and a Novell server
>in my
>home with only one monitor, keyboard and mouse. I got a switch box for
>about
>$20-25 at Fry's Electronics that allows them all to be used with both
>computers. When I was looking for the switch that I got, I saw there
>were
>sever different ones that allow various combinations of monitor,
>keyboard,
>and mice switchers. Keep in mind that you will need cables to connect
>to the
>switch box. The only problem I have encountered is that if I am in
>the
>server for an extended length of time, i.e. fifteen minutes or more,
>the
>workstation tends to freeze. Hope this helps.
>Brad Loomis, fellow listmembers,
> I need to set up a direct cable connection between two Win98 puters.
>My
>problem is only 1 monitor.
>Is it poosible to do this with no monitor on host machine?
>If not, how can I do this ?
>This help is urgently needed (I am setting up a machine for my nephew
>at
>college and He's returning back to school soon)



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