Has anybody used one of these?

http://www.kvmgalore.com/shopping/product_info.php?products_id=42958

I am a bit puzzled by the single USB ports on the PC ends, but other than that it seems to cover HDMI quite well, according to the specs.

Also, I wonder why the 2-port costs just as much as the 4-port switch:
http://www.kvmgalore.com/shopping/catego...I+KVMP+Switches

Aten is my preferred KVM brand, so I'd recommend it solely based on that. Do report back with your experiences if you get one.

The two USB sockets on the console are connected to the USB socket on the selected CPU group.

Sure. Not planning to buy it immediately, but I'll be happy to let you guys know how I like it when I do.

Yes, meaning that each CPU will be controlling both mouse and keyboard via one single usb port on the mb. I wonder if that creates any issue. I mean, it's just a USB Hub, but I usually had problems with those. Even though last time I used one was 5 years ago...

I'm probably running the worst possibl setup, with two 7-port USB hubs, the second one daisy-chained from the first, and both of them fully populated. I've not had any problems, except my computer won't start (from power-off) if either hub is connected to an external power supply.

tanstaafl.

Heh.. and each of those "7-port" hubs is really a pair of 4-port hubs, internally cascaded.

USB is great stuff!

"duke", our MythTV butler, has a related issue: the BIOS really doesn't like USB hubs, either self or bus powered.

They seem to confuse it at POST time, causing a multi-minute delay before it finally decides to boot. And sometimes it never decides to boot.

It also gets confused by certain other USB devices from time to time. And the motherboard also has the (common, it seems) flaw of leaving USB devices powered even when the computer is "off".

Gag.

So I plug most USB stuff into a hub, and use a power relay to keep the hub switched "off" until after the BIOS has loaded the operating system.

Then, a startup command trips the relay, causing the hub and connected devices to power-on and become available for use.

Heh.. and the relay, of course, is controlled over USB..

Cheers

So, as different computers are selected, the each OS (Presumably Windows) goes nuts when it sees hardware disappear and reappear.

I have never used that specific unit, but the idea of these switch devices is that they don't do that!

The OS always sees the devices, even when a different CPU is selected at the switch. So nothing should go "nuts".

Unless you're using really bizarre hardware, USB support is generally good enough in all mainstream operating systems that it won't go crazy. The two USB sockets are intended for your keyboard and mouse anyway.

In my experience, after 1st time recognition of a specific USB mouse or keyboard, Windows will simply notify you when you plug them in and out, and both will start to work 1 second after you plug them. So, I am not worried about that.

But, I was actually assuming that the purpose of such switch is precisely to trick the OS in thinking that the mouse/keyboard are there but not issuing any command, while you are in fact using them on another PC.

My concern is more that mouse/keyboard may simply not be properly detected at startup for some reason, or that they may require some plug out/in, or that the PCs may have issues at boot, as described above, or that the hub (KVM itself, in this case) may need to be power cycled.
Those are precisely the symptoms I had in the past when using USB hubs.

Again, it was a long time ago (but I see some is still showing the same issues), and hopefully these KVM may not be suffering from such glitches. I mean, they are being used in environments where one switches from one pc to another tens of times (or more) a day, after all...

Still, a direct pass-through connection to TWO motherboard ports would make me feel more comfortable.