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Clever Computer People - KVM Switch

Matt@Nearfield

Matt@Nearfield

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Ladies and gents,

Following help from everyone on losing Sketchup program following my much resented 'upgrade' to Windows 11 I have just found out about KVM switches. And more fortuously, my wide a.ss Dell monitor has a built in KVM switch. I'm hoping, that I can run my old Windows 10 pc, with the working copy of the Sketchup CAD software into the back of the montor, whilst also having my new Windows 11 pc running into it. If my neanderthal understanding is correct, there's a little chap inside the monitor, who when I push a switch on the monitor, makes either PC appear, and ensure the mouse and keyboard are switched accordingly.

Is this correct? Am I going to mess anything up, is it reversable when I do, and am I just wasting my time?

Your's backwardly,

M.
 
kinda pretty much. The monitor (if it's like mine) will pass through the keyboard and mouse that is connected to the montior to either machine depending on the input selected. (i have my work laptop and my desktop connected to the screen and my keyboard / mouse connected to the screen. When i change the screen to either device the input devices are passed through.

Another alternative you could look at is an IPKVM like the PiKVM / (other solutions are available)
Which will allow you to open a browser on your system and remotely interact with the other system.
 
Amazing. Thank you everyone!

I'll start with Dell's built in switch and if it becomes annoying I'll try the in browser settings up which sounds better actually now I think about it..
 
You could access the other PC by Remote Access (RDP). Just log on over the network.
A bit technical but once you have it, you won't look back and no faffing with switches and video cables.
 
It depends how you have the printer setup. If you have a spooler service running on a PC then it can be used by other PCs on the same network.

A better option is for the printer to be connected to the network either by wire or WiFi such that it is a network service available all the time it's switched on.
 
You should be able to 'share' the printer and to print to it remotely

Google how to do this; it's simple.

wifi is simpler
 
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