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m463today at 2:47 AM1 replyview on HN

kvm usb switching is always broken, sometimes subtly, sometimes obvious

I use mechanical USB switches to individually switch USB lines like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I0Y3GEE

one for keyboard, one for mouse

Problems it avoids

- cable speed usb

- no extra latency

- using boot-up hold-key-down sequences on macos works fine

- keyboard doesn't get hung in weird states

- no hotkey conflicts

- no mouse gets in weird state on one system that persists to another

etc etc etc


Replies

vogelketoday at 5:11 AM

I have a Dell 2208 monitor with 4 USB-2 ports. If I bought three of these switches, would I be able to share keyboard/mouse/monitor between two machines? My monitor does not have HDMI, just VGA.

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