All, I came across a Belkin switch (OmniView) at CompUSA that permits running

But, I'm wondering if any listers have used this switch with a linux

On Sun, 2004-05-02 at 04:58, Karl Hakmiller wrote: > All, > > I came across a Belkin switch (OmniView) at CompUSA that permits running up to four computers using a single monitor, keyboard, mouse and speaker-set. It sounds like a great space saver - I have an XP Home and an FC1 machine taking up most of the table space in my study - and it would be great to get rid of one of the monitors and such. > > But, I'm wondering if any listers have used this switch with a linux machine before I buy it. I don't mind set-up problems if they can be overcome with a little patience and work but I've been burned a couple of times lately with hardware having installation software which is only written for Windows machines. > > Any comments would be welcome. Sounds like the same as I use. There is a general problem with a lot of the KVM switches that occasionally the mouse pointer goes wild when switching the fix is switch form the GUI to a console screen and straight back. Apart from that (in my case it's somewhere around one switch in ten) no problems. Regards Roger

From: "Karl Hakmiller" <karlh(a)concentric.net&gt; > I came across a Belkin switch (OmniView) at CompUSA that permits running up to four computers using a single monitor, keyboard, mouse and speaker-set. It sounds like a great space saver - I have an XP Home and an FC1 machine taking up most of the table space in my study - and it would be great to get rid of one of the monitors and such. > > But, I'm wondering if any listers have used this switch with a linux machine before I buy it. I don't mind set-up problems if they can be overcome with a little patience and work but I've been burned a couple of times lately with hardware having installation software which is only written for Windows machines. I have an 8 port Onmiview. It's video quality is so low and support from Belkin so wretched I tend to urge people to avoid Belkin like poison. A brand new unit oscillated on the video for certain brightness transitions. I arranged a replacement from Belkin. I received a VERY used unit that was in worse shape than the one I had. I subsequently took the original one apart, found something that rectified most of the problem, and am still limping along with it. The video still has unsatisfactory levels of video ringing. I will not be purchasing Belkin again for a VERY long time. {^_^} Joanne Dow said that.

On the other hand, I have a Belkin 4-port PS/2 kvm switch that I use with FC1, SuSE, XP, and win2k. So far no problems with any of these. I did have an issue when I tried SuSE and had to change a mouse driver setup. Otherwise no problem.

At 20:56 5/2/2004, you wrote: >Been wanting to try some of the newer units out there. Last time I >looked there were some nice ones that used a single cable that used >pigtails to connect to the systems. Problem there is cost. Based on my >experience I would recommend almost anything else besides Belkin. Avocent (née Cybex) makes fantastic gear. I have two of their four-port SwitchView series, and love them. To lower the cost, I got my KVM cables from NewEgg for something like $10 each and they have also worked beautifully. I highly recommend Avocent, and I also recommend that people buy longer cables (10' at least) to make system and switchbox placement easier. I've heard too many "Belkin is cheap and doesn't work too well" stories to be comfortable trying their stuff, but have no first-hand experience with it.

any listers have used this switch with a linux machine before I buy it.

Thanks to all who replied to this query. The space saving promised is so significant that I'll give it a try and report the results back here. Besides, CompUSA has a 14-day return policy :)

One word, stay away from Belkin! Installed a brand-new 8port Omniview, mix of NT, 2K and Linux. I had endless problems with the mouse going crazy, had to do a hard reset or reboot the servers one by one to resolve, support from Belken suppliers in NZ sucks, took 3 months to convince them to replace the unit, the new replacement unit used combo cables so I had to buy another 8x cables, they only had 3x cables in stock took another month to get the remainder, on installation the power connection was flaky, wiggle it and the unit did a reset. Out of pure frustration bought an HP unit and it worked right away, what a waste of time. Roland ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karl Hakmiller" <karlh(a)concentric.net&gt; To: <fedora-list(a)redhat.com&gt; Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2004 3:58 PM Subject: FC1 and Belkin OmniView 4-port switch > All, > > I came across a Belkin switch (OmniView) at CompUSA that permits running up to four computers using a single monitor, keyboard, mouse and speaker-set. It sounds like a great space saver - I have an XP Home and an FC1 machine taking up most of the table space in my study - and it would be great to get rid of one of the monitors and such. > > But, I'm wondering if any listers have used this switch with a linux machine before I buy it. I don't mind set-up problems if they can be overcome with a little patience and work but I've been burned a couple of times lately with hardware having installation software which is only written for Windows machines. > > Any comments would be welcome. > >