if I had more time and money and electrical engineering experience I'd waste a lot of it building a universal low/zero-latency KVM system.
I just want to be able to mix modern machines and ones that use PS/2/XT keyboards and VGA displays. As well as being universally modular and expandable, in case I need to hook up 20 486s for some reason
bah. it turns out this active VGA to HDMI adapter isn't working. It's one of those terrible ones that only accepts 60hz input, which is a pain because the default DOS text screen is 70hz
@ladyailuros yeah, I think that's what I have somewhere. either an extron or a startech, I just don't know where they've gotten to, since they're not in my Video Stuff box.
@foone
I Wired my desk for switching and sharing kb, mouse, screens, clipboards.
I Think the problem is that a lot of this requires software. Professional KVMs often have a max bandwidth somewhere in technical specs. Most are 5, 10 or 5 gigabit limited. Maybe not so bad for 640x480, but this tells me it's not possible to passively achieve, and that there is likely at least firmware (software) on the chips.
*Put software in brackets because the definition of firmware can get stretched to linux
@foone having seen him talk about the process of making it on a few youtube videos now I am pretty resigned to just never get a KVM that meets my fussy requirements
@foone the main one I can remember off the top of my head is (sorry) an LTT video, but the most interesting bit as i recall is the “why is it so expensive” chapter which I believe is just Wendall talking https://youtu.be/akxU62laPMk
@glyph@foone I’m watching this and now feel like a chump for having to move that single thunderbolt cable from my personal desktop to my work laptop when I’m at work
I sort of thought this sort of thing was impossible
@jason@foone it basically is. The single thunderbolt cable method is a lot more reliable and has far fewer integration issues than even the (fabulously constructed) level1techs kvm; all others are garbage as far as I can tell
@glyph the craziest practice I ever had here was using an iMac and laptop, with a thunderbolt hub and extra montor, etc. I discovered I could plug in the laptop and leave the iMac plugged in too, then just lightly unplug and replug the iMac, putting it in target display mode to the laptop.
So it always appeared I had an iMac and a monitor but sometimes the computer driving them was a laptop.
Apple took out target display mode years ago but it was a neat trick.
@foone Having got lazily used to conman (https://dun.github.io/conman/) for $dayjob, I wish that all systems had some OOB management port, not just noisy rack servers
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