Re: USB sharing switch

From: Fredje (fredje110_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 03/31/05 

Date: 30 Mar 2005 15:07:00 -0800

Hello!

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

Yes, I have a dream: eliminating these mice and keyboards on my
table... :-)

Yes, I like your USB hub/USB switch combination idea. The problem is
that I want to be sure that the USB switch actually supports sharing
these devices with various Sun & Intel workstations.

Does anyone have experience with this USB switch:

http://www.usbswitch.com/usb_4port_switch.html

I look forward to reading your further news.

With best regards,

Fred

"J.F. Sebastian" <rintin@tin.it> wrote in message news:<3av2l5F6fh9kcU1@individual.net>...
> "Fredje" <fredje110@hotmail.com> wrote :
> >
> >I am searching for a USB sharing switch which should enable me to
> > share my USB trackball and USB keyboard with two Sun workstations
> > (Ultra 80) and two Intel computers (RH Linux & MS Windows 2000). The
> > computers should not be aware of any switching activities. How does
> > Sun deal with the removal and return of USB devices? Which USB switch
> > might provide a robust solution?
> >
>
> Assuming Sun usb interfaces are fully usb compliant that would not
> much change much if peripheralrs are connected to a Sun, an IBM,
> a Mac or a cellphone ;)
>
> Anyway there are sort of "new" intelligent switches that switch
> peripherals beetween two endpoints (as far as I know they
> cannot be seen togheter by the 2 computers) and you decide
> wich computer are peripherals connected to by pushing
> a button. Most kinky accessories brands produce some
> of these, search Maxxtro to name one. But I did not like
> this solution so I did built one myself wich you may consider :
>
> I did put a 7 port usb hub and a vga+usb switch on top,
> wich switch all the hub connected peripherals among
> 4 hosts, as well as a vga line for the monitor. So there is
> a usb cable and a vga cable from every host to the switch
> and another usb/vga cable from the switch to the hub and
> a monitor. This does not give you the capability to be connected
> at the same time to both end lines, but I don't think it's possible
> for the usb protocol. Anyway I did choose this.
>
> Many people did like the idea, you avoid a lot
> of cables (I did remove 3 keyboards/mice so I just have
> a single desktop). you can find both of those switch and
> hub in almost any electronic devices shop.