These days most computer boffins have more than one computer at home, whether it be additional
dedicated workstations, servers or anything else. Computers take up room, and keyboards and
monitors for them do aswell. Sure theres the hassle of constantly having to unplug a monitor
and plug it into another computer but I myself have done this and after a while it gets extremely
annoying. So, the answer? A KVM Switch, the guys over at Cybex were kind enough to send me a 4
port Cybex Switchview to review. KVM switches come with many features be it, ps2 support, serial
support, USB support and multimedia features. This KVM switch includes ps2 keyboard and mouse
support and VGA video support, AT keyboard and serial mouse support can also be added with an
extra adaptor which Cybex also sent me.
All boxed up
The unit comes with many handy features and supports video modes up to 1600x1280 @85hz. One
great bonus is it doesn't require yet another power supply into that hole in the wall. The KVM
has a Select button on it to switch between computers but should however you want to hide the
unit away or can't be bothered reaching over to the unit and hit Select, you can simply switch
computer by typing on your keyboard the control button twice and then the letter that the computer
is connected to and hitting enter. There are also other feautures that can be accessed via your
keyboard such as the option to scan through your computers at a certain amount of time. But I have
more than 4 pcs and I want this KVM you cry, well you can connect up to 64 computers by
daisy-chaining KVMS, this of course means the more computers you connect the more KVM switches you
need and this also requires a power supply I am told.
Spaghetti junction !!
As you can see you simply connect your monitor, keyboard and mouse to the switch then just plug in
additional computers using industry standard ps2 and vga leads. Also the sockets to plug in that
power supply and daisy chain connectors so additional KVMs. When I received the unit someone on irc
asked me if it had emulation I had no idea what they were going on about so I investigated and
infact it does. It has emulation so you can boot up the pc and it will think theres a keyboard and
mouse attached even if you're not viewing that port with the KVM, a very nice feature.
Lots of LED's
Here is the unit in all its glory pretty much setup and ready to go. The bottom LED indicates if
the computer is on and the top LED indicates what port you're connected to. Like I said earlier
setup is easy using the standard ps2 and VGA cables. However one of my systems here does not use
ps2, its an old AT/serial system. No problem Cybex said! I thought great, they sent me out another
cable but this time it had some funky adaptors with it.
Cable kit
Its just the same ps2 and VGA KVM cable but this time it has little adaptors to convert the ps2
connectors to one AT Keyboard and one Serial mouse connectors.
PS/2 to serial and PS/2 to AT connectors plugged into a cable kit
Voila KVM cable now with AT, Serial and VGA connectors. Now the fun part, turning it on :)
Everything worked first time and soon I was able to easily switch between ports with no problems at
all, considering all the systems had different video resolutions and various different operating
systems I was surprised I encountered no problems. Especially when many KVM units suffer "ghosting",
ghosting is when theres shadowing of an image or text just next to it. This unit has everything that
I could of asked for and I would have no hesitation of recommending it to anyone who is looking for
a unit which is easy to use and can easily switch between their computers and servers.
How did you feel about this ? Discuss in our forums !
|
