To KVM or not to KVM? Networking Made Easy
by Elizabeth B. Wright
KVM is merely a switchbox which will allow multiple computers to use one keyboard (K), monitor (V) and mouse (M). There are KVM plus Audio boxes available, but they are more expensive. It’s similar to boxes many of us have used for years to connect several computers to one printer and/or scanner. One way to end up needing a network is to buy a new computer case when all you want to do is upgrade your old machine.
Never buy a new computer CASE unless you are prepared to fall into the “just one more component” trap. By that, I mean that if you think you need to upgrade and feel a new case would be a good place to start, understand that you will end up with two entirely separate computers. It is terribly difficult to give up the old once you begin adding new stuff to the new case. Yes, the siren song of networking gradually takes over your sensibilities and you know that somehow you will find the space to have both computers available to you.
Well, two new “cases” later, I have a cluttered workspace with three networked computers, two of which have features that hopefully will make the arrangement worthwhile. But the downside to that is a snake pit of cables, which only by constant road-mapping am I able to remember what goes where and why. There are cable organizers available, and probably that is something that will have to be utilized to help keep the system working. Yes, there have been problems due to the inefficiency of just stringing all this stuff together.
Early on, I found a $25 USB cable for linking my laptop to my desktop computer. It was really necessary to get all the data from the laptop onto the bigger system so I could get away from the limitations of the rather meager resources on my laptop. When I finally got the desktop machine completely activated with virus protection, firewall, internet connection, etc., it was time to get away from dependence on the laptop. The last chore for the laptop was to finish the 2003 income tax return. With that accomplished, it was time to transfer everything, via the USB cable, to the more powerful big computer.
Figuring that what was good with the laptop would work just as well with the networked equipment, I set about connecting one of the new computers to my main station with the USB cable. Installing the drivers and the software for the cable is not the most straightforward process, but it is possible to get it done. After all, it worked between the laptop and the behemoth.
To make short shrift of the story, it didn’t work. Try as I would, the main desktop computer just would not recognize the cable when linked to one of the other two new machines. And you guessed it, in the morass of cables, I found that the USB I thought went to the link program actually was for something else. The sneaky little link connector was lying buried in a pile of wire, connected to nothing at one end, happily residing in computer #2 at the other end.
So it may not be rocket science, but don’t count that out. Maybe it is. Yes, everything is connected now, working properly and for the time being merrily transferring files between two of the three stations in my KVM network. In spite of the excessive cabling, this type of network appeals to me because it is less of a learning curve than the more sophisticated wireless systems which are certainly gaining in popularity.
Obviously the next step is to quit adding hardware and get the system organized into something resembling a reasonable work environment.
Oh, oh. I have two extra hard drives and a CD burner in my spare parts box that probably should be put into one of the computers. Or should I buy another new case, motherboard, memory, etc.??? It just so happens the club is offering a class in building computers. Do I hear that faint sound of Sirens from the rocks above the virtual river, beckoning me onto the dangerous shoals of the electronic riverbank?
Elizabeth Wright is a member of the OKCPCUG and a regular writer for the eMonitor