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) ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] PCBUILD's List Owner's: Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]> Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>