[SWLUG] advice on kvm switches please

[Dick Porter]

On Wed, 2005-02-09 at 23:27 +0000, bascule wrote:
> i'm looking at the above and i've found some that have power adapters and some 
> that don't, what would that be about? the number of ports?
> plus i've read a few references to video degradation using kvm, is that 
> common?

I can definitely recommend Adder switches (http://www.addertec.com/ )
They work well, with configurable hot keys (I have mine set to C-A-num)
and can cascade.  Their tech support was excellent - the switch hadn't
broken but when I bought a wheel mouse the firmware needed updating.
They sent me the new firmware flash, and even included a tool for
pulling out the old one that actually worked, unlike some I've used :)

I have my switches configured to give maximum degradation:

monitor, keyboard etc -- KVM 1 -- cat5 extension -- KVM 2 -- machines
                          |
                        machines

and it's still perfectly good at 1280x1024.  A slight hint of ghosting
but nothing much to worry about.

- Dick