KVM Recommendations for 2002?

oolon asks: "I am in the market for a KVM switch, as my desk at home is really cluttered. Having never bought one before its hard to know which brands are best. Until recently it seems that most KVM switches didn't support 'large' resolutions, however there are new models that now claim such support: Belkin claims they support up to 2048x1536@85Hz @ 400MHz bandwidth on their SOHO range, for example. I only require output to one monitor, and a 4 host switch. The hosts under control will be a mix of PS2 and USB. Thought I don't require the hosts to share USB peripherals other than the keyboard and mouse. Naturally I want a switch that works with my 3 button Logitect mouse under Linux/XFree86, however most importantly I want the switch to support high resolutions, without ghosting, at a minimal resolution of 1600x1280 32bpp @ 85Hz. I am also interested in what cables I should use, brands etc, each host will need a run of 6 feet (preferably 10 feet is that possible at high resolutions?). The switch to monitor needs a minimal 3 feet run. As to price, I don't really want to spend more than 500UKP (750USD). Ideally I would prefer to a price all in of 2/3 that amount."

Comments

teamexcess.com has some great KVMs

[Zeio]

I like Outlook/Avocent/Apex KVMs. Cheap sucks. These ones can hot plug. Check out KVM switches here (4 and 8 port models there).

I have an older Belkin omniview pro, sucks. The newer ones that Belkin sells whith user upgradeable firmware look pretty nice, be sure to check those out.

Old adage that bodes well in any time: you get what you pay for, and KISS, keep it simple stupid, that Belkin SOHO looks like a deformed JU JU fruit. I like them old fashioned, boxy, sqaure.

I also thought that the Cybex branded KVMs were very crappy. The Avocent/Outlook ones are hot plug-able.

Monday and Tuesday mornings suck ;-).

Cybex SwitchView

[dschuetz]

I've always liked Cybex SwitchView, though at least one person here doesn't like the Cybex-branded ones (they're now all Avocent, I think). I've used a bunch of them, all at relatively high (regularly 1600x1200, I once tried something like 1920xIForgetButItWasTooTinyToReadOnA19"Monitor, and it came through crisp (but tiny).

Also has MS Intellimouse support. Plus, the keyboard switching is easy and generally doesn't intrude into the computer -- while at least one brand (Belkin?) regularly leaked the display number (scroll-scroll-3, switches to display 3) into the current window.

Of course, as someone else points out, try getting something with USB support (if you wanna hook up your cool Dual-1G G4, for example), or DVI, you're mostly out of luck. And I have yet to find any name-brand normal-source (CDW or MicroWarehouse catalog) multi-head switch. I've even taken apart a Cybex, but the circuitry wasn't terribly obvious as far as tapping in to slave a second unit...if anyone's done *that*, that'd make for a quickly slashdotted website.