I can’t find an actual answer anywhere.

I’m trying to declutter my desk and a KVM switch sounds like the right way to go. I have two monitors that I use for work/play, but I’m having trouble figuring out if the output from my work laptop dock would be okay to input into the KVM to then output to dual monitors.

Anyone got a clue or has any experience with this?

  • teft@lemmy.world
    2·
    1 month ago

    There are software KVMs that should work if you can’t get a hardware solution to work. I can’t imagine any issues with a hardware KVM and your setup as long as the cables and ports are the proper ones for what you have going on. Most KVMs are plug and play.

  • Magister@lemmy.world
    2·
    1 month ago

    Yes, I used a hardware KVM with a laptop (Dell with a dock) and a desktop, it makes a lot of wires, but it works. You may need a high end KVM if you want to switch dual-monitor, 4K+ monitor, etc

    But having both system at the same time is a must, so at one point I used RDP (windows->linux or linux->windows) from a screen.

    But for ~3 years now I’m using a software “KM”, meaning my desktop is connected to a monitor, my laptop is connected to the second monitor, and I share the keyboard/mouse (hence KM) in software using InputLeap (formerly Barrier). It is seriously pretty good, when my mouse exit monitor #1, it enters monitor #2, and whatever you type is entered in the system where your mouse cursor is. It is fantastic, I cannot live without this now.