Remote desktop through hardware only

Question

I have two computers, and I want to use only one keyboard/mouse/monitor to work on both systems. I don't want to use a KVM device because I don't the switching mechanisms of these horrible things. (I used to have a few of these devices so I speak from experience.)

Of course, I could always just set up a remote desktop between the two systems, however, the device that I want to access remotely is a dual-boot system and I would like to choose remotely which OS should start up.

I'm trying to set up some hardware device where I could connect both systems to each other.

For example, my local system would use a USB port to connect to the other system while the other system has its keyboard, mouse and video connected to the same device. Thus, my local system would send commands to the remote system and display the remote screen on my local system. That way, I would only need to have remote software on my local system and just the right keyboard/mouse/monitor drivers for the remote system.

How do I go about doing this?

Answer 1

Raritan devices give you control over the device at the hardware level via ethernet. You see the boot screen and could easily dual boot with them.

Answer 2

Products like what you described have been done. Most of which where proprietary cards for servers. They have fallen by the way side for KVM and KVM over IP switches.

EBGreen's link, Raritan, is a KVM over IP.

EDIT: KVM over IP switches tend to be really expensive because they are not really for the home user.It is made for remote administration of servers that are in a data center.

Answer 3

Not a hardware only solution, but Synergy will do it for you for The Right Price.

Answer 4

love Synergy, but it's not an applicable solution here:

1: Synergy requires a monitor to be connected to the second computer.

2: Synergy is of no use until the OS is booted and the program is started.

sorry, there is no way around a KVM switch (physical or over-IP, which is neat but rather expensive)

Answer 5

If you decide to go with a KVM again, you can double-tap Scroll Lock and then hit the up or down cursor keys to cycle through connected machines. A lot easier than trying for the button on the KVM itself ...

Answer 6

You don't like KVM?? I think modern days KVM are quite stable, they (almost all) use solid-state switching instead of actual switching by mechanical switches.