[Gllug] OT: Good KVM switch for a very heterogeneous environment.

[general_email at technicalbloke.com]

Hello all,

This may be a little OT but I figured I'd ask here as I'm guessing many
of you are familiar with the more professional end of KVM technology...

I have a repair shop that deals with a fairly high turnover of random
Linux, Mac and Windows computers (mostly domestic, Some brand new, some
up to 7 or 8 years old) and I'm looking for a 4 port KVM switch that
works solidly across most if not all of them. I could do with one that
handles PS-2 and USB mouse/keyboard well even during booting/rebooting.

The situation is complicated by the advent of computers that only have
DVI outputs. In an ideal world I'd be able to connect a mix of both but
I guess that would be prohibitively expensive and severely limit my
options, is this correct? As I'm not seeing huge volumes of them yet I'd
be happy enough with a good VGA one for the time being.

My searching has turned up suitable looking kit from IOGear, Adder,
Avocent, Aten, Startech. I'm inferring Adder are the best as they are
the most expensive but... they are the most expensive so I'm wondering

1) If any other brands occupy the same sort of territory, solidity or
feature-wise e.g. do any others offer constant keyboard and mouse
emulation and suchlike?

2) With regard to particular models - are there any well-seasoned
industry favourites I should look for or is the KVM market as messy as
the printer one?

3) As far as UK suppliers go expansys and misco seem to have a fair
range, would any of you recommend them and/or point me to some other
good ones?

I'd really value your advice and good or bad experiences with any of the
above. I'm budgeting up to 200 quid although naturally I would much
prefer something around the hundred mark ;) At the end of the day though
I've had bad experiences with the cheap stuff in the past so I want one
that rarely if ever drops a stitch. Consequently if you think I need to
spend more than 200 quid for good day to day reliability* please let me
know too!

Thanks v.much,

Roger Heatcote.


* We're not talking NASA or stockmarket trader levels of quality here
but I want to be able to go at least week (where maybe 15 random
computers are connected and disconnected) between incidence of flakiness!
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