Such thing as a KM switch (without the V)?

[absinthe]

I've been using a $30 KVM switch to attach one keyboard, mouse, and monitor to two different PCs for years -- in fact I've been through 2 switches. Anyway, the monitor was always a 19-incher supplier by my employer, and it fit my personal bill quite nicely so I conserved space and just used one monitor. But I recently decided to splurge and bought a 25.5" Samsung. I still need the work monitor, but I really only need one mouse and one keyboard.

I tried using my current KVM switch and only using the K and M, without hooking up the monitor to the switch. This seems to work for the keyboard, but not the mouse. The mouse is optical, and it's a USB. The KVM switch only has PS2 inputs, so I use an adapter to plug the mouse into the switch. That was never a problem. All three pieces (K, V, and M) output through the monitor cable, which splits out the keyboard and mouse on the PC end. I'm wondering if perhaps the optical mouse is looking for power from the USB or something, but like I said it was never a problem before.

So I'm basically looking for ideas, and wondering if there's such a thing as a "KM switch," which will handle keyboard and mouse but not monitor. My searches yield nothing.

Advice?

 

[ecom]

I have a similar situation at work. I have a 24" and a 19". I did not want to use VGA connection for the 24" because it looked horrible. My KVM however, only has VGA.

What I did was a dual monitor setup for the main workstation which has 1 each DVI and VGA. The DVI goes straight to the 24" and the VGA and goes into my KVM switch along with the keyboard and mouse. This allows me to have dual monitor setup for my main workstation using a 24" and the 19" as secondary screen. All other computers connect to the 19" screen through the KVM.

 

[absinthe]

Hey, that is clever. That might work for me, too. Think I'll give it a try. But can you output two different resolutions from the same vid card? I've never tried ...

 

[ecom]

My workstation has Intel GMA4500 and it can output 1920x1200 + 1280x1024 no problem. I've done it with whatever IGP is on the Q35 chipset also.

None of the computers I've used in recent years had issues outputting two resolutions as long as I was not trying to mirror the output on both connections.

 

[heymrdj]

My 8600GT in my laptop can push 1440x900 to the laptop monitor while pushing 1280x1024 to a tv no issue.

 

[Phantomaniac]

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

You won't even need the KVM anymore. Once configured, all you will have to do is drag the mouse cursor from the edge of one monitor and it will flip control over to the other monitor/computer.