All weekend I’ve been playing the Xbox on my new 19” widescreen LCD monitor. I have to say that I’ve really been enjoying that. Not only does it keep the TV free for Kim, but the picture on monitor itself is excellent. High definition and since I’m sitting so much closer to it, the image practically fills my field of view (making it seem like a much larger TV).
The only problem is that right now I have to pull the VGA plug out of the back of the monitor to switch between the PC cord and the Xbox cord. This is annoying, potentially damaging (I’ve bent pins before), and not exactly Kim-friendly. Yesterday while I was on my way to the SQL Server user group meeting I got a call from Kim complaining that I’d left the screen hooked to the Xbox.
Enter a KVM. A KVM is a switch that allows multiple PCs to share a single (K)eyboard, (V)ideo, and (M)ouse. To change between machines, all you have to do is press a simple button on the KVM or key combination on the keyboard. So I ran over to Best Buy and grabbed this pretty little Belkin Flip. Since I wanted to use the Xbox as one of my machines, I didn’t want to bother with a key combo driven switch and the little hockey puck button can’t be any easier. It works as a remote to the KVM itself (hidden down by the PC) and can actually be attached to monitor for easy access. BONUS: it also allows for switching the audio source so I don’t need 2 sets of speakers on the desk.
