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Right now I have 4 4U rackmount computers (soon to be 16). Each one is sitting next to its own monitor right now. I need a monitor per computer for experiment reasons. I would like one keyboard/mouse to be able to switch between controlling the computers. I won't need a master monitor to show me what each other monitor is looking at. I just want to take my wireless mouse/keyboard to each station and control it accordingly. I was going to purchase a KVM switch, like this one, and cables like these but I believe I'm missing something. I still need each computer to control its own monitor, then go into the switch? Should I also purchase a VGA splitter (one vga -> two vga) and plug in one to the monitor for that station, and another to the kvm switch? Am I missing something?

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  • Is it possible to just to remote connections to these systems? A 16 way KVM can get a bit expensive.
    – Shinrai
    Apr 23, 2012 at 19:54
  • not really - we need individual monitor stations and the person controlling them must be infront of them to see how the experiment is working.
    – Diego
    Apr 23, 2012 at 19:55
  • In that case, something like this is probably the best you'll do if you don't want to buy 16 slide-out rackmount monitors.
    – Shinrai
    Apr 23, 2012 at 19:56
  • So do I need the extra VGA splitter? Is that possible? To have a VGA splitter come out from the computer, one end goes to its monitor, the other to the KVM cable. The usb end of the kvm cable also goes into the computer. Then, I plug in the other VGA end of the KVM cable to the KVM switch?
    – Diego
    Apr 23, 2012 at 20:01
  • That depends on the interface on the KVM, and I'm not familiar with this one, sorry.
    – Shinrai
    Apr 23, 2012 at 20:07

2 Answers 2

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You could possibly use something like Synergy (cross platform) or Mouse Without Borders (Windows only). Both are free and are capable of sharing one computer's keyboard and mouse across multiple computers using only a network connection. Whether this will work in your case depends on your specific setup (I don't know if either can handle up to 16 computers simultaneously).

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You could use the KVM switch you suggest and just plug-in the mouse/keyboard cables. Cable the VGA direct from each computer to monitor. Or find a switch that just does keyboard and mouse - I have seen some 4 port versions but not a 16 port version.

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  • On the switch I suggested it only has a VGA input coming in from each computer. So does that mean I buy the VGA<->VGA/USB cables I suggested and just NOT plug in the VGA end into the computer? So in other words, from the computer, the VGA output goes to the monitor. Then from the USB to the computer, do I just plugin the USB piece of the KVM cable, and then place the VGA piece into the KVM switch?
    – Diego
    Apr 23, 2012 at 21:10
  • What you suggest should work but I've never used that particular KVM so no guarantees.
    – BJ292
    Apr 24, 2012 at 19:30

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