There have been devices like this around for donkeys’ years. The Cybex Switchview is a keyboard, monitor and mouse switch that allows you to control either two or four PCs (depending on which model you choose) without needing two or four of everything. All you do is plug your PCs into the back of the Switchview using the cables supplied, then plug in a single keyboard, monitor and mouse.
Controlling the four PCs is then simplicity itself. Simply press the button on the front of the Switchview unit to cycle through the connected machines (handily displayed on the front panel using LEDs) until you find the one you want. You can then use that machine just as though it were a stand-alone PC, while the others continue to chug away in the background. Alternatively, you can switch machines by hitting the control key twice and entering a number.
This is more than just a dumb switch, though. It has support for scroll-wheel mice, and also features built-in PS/2 to serial mouse translation, meaning that you can control a machine that normally has a serial mouse using your PS/2 mouse. And there’s more. The Switchview can be configured to scan through the PCs connected to it at regular intervals, so you can keep an eye on what each one is doing.
To ice the cake, the Switchview takes its power from the keyboard ports, so there’s no need for an external power supply. Unless, that is, you decide to daisy-chain several Switchviews together, to control even more PCs…
Company: Cybex
Contact: 0800 783 2506