Getting a monitor screen to show 2 computers

I have 4 computers and 4 monitors. The computers are pretty good, the monitors are ancient-ish.

But I don't really need a monitor for each computer, so I'm thinking it would be best to connect 2 computers per monitor. And then to be able to switch between them and/or have them show half/half on the screen.

The first thought is to buy a VGA connector that connects to the monitor on one side, and to 2 computers on the other. But I'm 99% sure it's not that simple.

So do I need like a monitor that supports that functionality? How do you do this?


p.s please don't start throwing around any fancy stuff. I know you guys first instinct is to spend a million dollars, get the biggest newest latest fanciest setup with biggest balls in the world, but please hold your horses. I barely ever look at these monitors. In fact one of the monitors I have I got for $10 bucks and it has a scratch on the middle of the screen. No problem, I don't care. I just want to have a cheap setup of 2 PCs per monitor, so that I can take a look at them once in a while.

You need a KVM switch, I have this one and it works great:

https://www.joom.com/en/products/5d77802428fc71010169b976
(I bought mine from Amazon)

Scorpion Ghost said:

p.s please don't start throwing around any fancy stuff. I know you guys first instinct is to spend a million dollars, get the biggest newest latest fanciest setup with biggest balls in the world, but please hold your horses. I barely ever look at these monitors. In fact one of the monitors I have I got for $10 bucks and it has a scratch on the middle of the screen. No problem, I don't care. I just want to have a cheap setup of 2 PCs per monitor, so that I can take a look at them once in a while.

Click to expand...

It's actually a way to save yourself about $400 on 3 monitors. I've got a pivot with a scratch with in the middle, but who cares haha. It's $150 saved.

sdc_ said:

You need a KVM switch, I have this one and it works great:

https://www.joom.com/en/products/5d77802428fc71010169b976
(I bought mine from Amazon)

Click to expand...

So you plug in 2 computers an 1 monitor, and there's like a button to switch between which computer is shown on the monitor... is that it?

crnack said:

It's actually a way to save yourself about $400 on 3 monitors. I've got a pivot with a scratch with in the middle, but who cares haha. It's $150 saved.

Click to expand...

So like a monitor cut 4 ways/boxes, showing 4 computers?

How do you do that? You need a special monitor? What hardware do you need?

Scorpion Ghost said:

So you plug in 2 computers an 1 monitor, and there's like a button to switch between which computer is shown on the monitor... is that it?



So like a monitor cut 4 ways/boxes, showing 4 computers?

How do you do that? You need a special monitor? What hardware do you need?

Click to expand...

Yes, they give a remote as well. you just press a button to switch between monitors.

sdc_ said:

You need a KVM switch, I have this one and it works great:

https://www.joom.com/en/products/5d77802428fc71010169b976
(I bought mine from Amazon)

Click to expand...

This, but don't cheap out on it. The cheap ones die in 7 days max.

If you are on Windows, you can enable Remote Desktop, and connect to each machine in your LAN. No need to have monitors at all. You connect from your main computer.

Do show the setup once it's ready

Almost forgot to update this thread. Good thing I bookmark unfinished business

Gogol said:

This, but don't cheap out on it. The cheap ones die in 7 days max.

Click to expand...

Oh I cheaped out bro. Found an old KVM switch, second-hand, $16 bucks. Well $20 with delivery

TomTheCat said:

If you are on Windows, you can enable Remote Desktop, and connect to each machine in your LAN. No need to have monitors at all. You connect from your main computer.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but how do I enter BIOS then?

I can also use Anydesk for this, and I do, but sometimes you need the monitor next to you producing heat

I mean, like entering BIOS needs a screen. Or like when I want to monitor a computer, to see if any programs crash or if it does a random restart or bsod. It's good to have the screen turned on next to me here and I can keep an eye on it.

But for the most part yeah, a screen is not needed, anydesk or remote desktop I guess will do the job just fine

TheVigilante said:

Do show the setup once it's ready

Click to expand...

Okay, here we go.

I bought this for about $20 bucks:

Digitus 2-PORT / MINI USB KVM Switch

So it works with VGA connections for the monitors and USB for the mouse and keyboard. I have 2 computers that work with VGA for the monitors, so this switch allows me to run these 2 computers using 1 screen/mouse/keyboard.

When the switch arrived I tried connecting it to one of my computers, and I had problems. It would not recognize the mouse and keyboard often, weird problems, I thought the switch was faulty. Then I tried it on my other computer, and I still had issues, but it was better. Then I connected both computers to it, and it wasn't working

So I asked the guy who sold it to me, he didn't know nothing about nothing, offered to give me my money back. But I went on digging on google, and I couldn't find ANYTHING about this switch. Even on the manufacturers website I couldn't find shit about it. Probably the switch is old as shit.

But then I searched google images and found a few images of this switch. One of the images when I clicked to visit link opened a PDF with the manual. Using the instructions in the manual I figured out how to access the command mode for the switch, and I enabled hotkeys and stuff, enabled every damn thing I could.

So in the end, click here, click there, I got it working

So now with a double tap on the "Ctrl" button on the keyboard I can switch between the 2 computers, and for the most part it works great.

I say for the most part because sometimes one of the computers will drop the mouse and keyboard and then I have to disconnect the USB from both computers and reconnect again. I guess this prompts the computers to re-recognize the device, therefore recognizing the mouse and keyboard, and then it works again. I only have the issue with the keyboard and mouse by the way, never with the monitor/display.

I read up on this a little bit, and I saw people online saying how the switches that use the USB to connect the keyboard and mouse are prone to problems. I read that switches that use the PS2 connectors (those old green/purple connectors for mouse and keyboard) are much more stable and reliable. Granted, the switch I bought was probably manufactured before Christ, and I'm confident that if I wasn't a cheap fuck and had I gotten a nice fancy expensive switch, I wouldn't have any issues.

In any case, we're done here, the operation was a success. Once in a blue moon if I need to disconnect and reconnect the USB that goes from the switch to both computers, well I'm just gonna have to live with it. It's no big deal, for the most part my monitors stay shut down and I operate my computers using Anydesk when I need to anyway.

Cheers

Scorpion Ghost said:

Yeah, but how do I enter BIOS then?

Click to expand...

You can access BIOS remotely.

Scorpion Ghost said:

p.s please don't start throwing around any fancy stuff.

Click to expand...

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But back to seriousness
I use to have a setup similar to this at work with a KVM switch when I was using my laptop and workstation
This video is pretty nubfriendly