The Allied Telesis' AT-FS700 series provides powerful 10/100 switching solutions to ... more
desktop and small network environments. Each switch features full auto-negotiating 10/100 ports, which automatically detect speed and duplex modes of attached devices a...
Postage & Packaging: £2.98 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The Allied Telesis' AT-FS700 series provides powerful 10/100 switching solutions to ... more
desktop and small network environments. Each switch features full auto-negotiating 10/100 ports, which automatically detect speed and duplex modes of attached devices a...
Postage & Packaging: £2.98 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Advantages: Cheap, all in one solution Disadvantages: No manual overide or audio support
stops autoscanning and lets you use the currently selected PC.
The Belkin claims support for scrolling mice but I did find sometimes one PC would start up without recognising this facility if it wasn't the currently selected one when booting up and in extreme cases, wouldn't recognise the keyboard and mouse at all. Previous KVM's I've used send the PC fake 'There's a keyboard and mouse here' messages when not selected and it seems this unit does not, which is a pity.
Conclusion
The Belkin 2 port KVM is a well built unit that works nicely and provides a great way to save desk space and the cost of a second monitor, keyboard and mouse. The long leads are useful and despite the niggles with scrolling mice and the lack of manual switch. I'd say this unit is worth considering at this price if you can live with those shortcomings ...
Advantages: Cheap, all in one solution, audio support Disadvantages: No manual overide
It's surprising how many people have more than one PC at home although even more surprising is that many of them each have their own screen, keyboard and mouse.
In many cases this makes perfect sense but sometimes, you know you'll only ever use one or the other - perhaps one is your general PC and the other your music workstation. In these situations you can save a lot of space and money by investing in a KVM switch. KVM stands for Keyboard, Video and Mouse and allows you to use one keyboard, mouse and screen shared between two PCs.
This particular unit from Belkin is unusual in that it also includes audio support and also comes with all the leads permanently attached instead of being supplied as a separate cabling set.
Wiring it Up
Installation is simply a matter of taking each of the two main cables and plugging the sets ...
Advantages: Cheap, reliable, simple to use Disadvantages: None.
I liked this switch so much, I bought two of them.
Netgear have a reputation for cheap and reliable networking equipment, and this 5 port unmanaged switch is no exception.
When I bought my two, they were retailing online for approx £35 each - but these days you should be able to get one for approx £25 (inc VAT.)
The switch is more or less the size of my hand (yes, I have big hands). With 5 ports on the back - all are auto-sensing, as is the gigabit standard, so you don't have to worry about crossover cables if you're daisy-chaining switches... The only other port on the back is for power, which is the usual "wall-wart" plug in transformer you get with most home networking equipment.
Given the switch is unmanaged, you can just plug desktop computers, laptops, XBOXes, network printers straight into the switch, and not worry ...
Product Information for "Allied Telesis AT FS708 - switch - 8 ports" »
Manufacturer's product description
The Allied Telesis' AT-FS700 series provides powerful 10/100 switching solutions to desktop and small network environments. Each switch features full auto-negotiating 10/100 ports, which automatically detect speed and duplex modes of attached devices and allow the switch to automatically configure for the best possible performance. The AT-FS708 is supplied with 8 UTP ports for standard desktop or rack mount applications. The AT-FS700 switches are fully auto-configuring requiring minimal or no set-up by the user. The auto-negotiating ports allow seamless and simple connectivity between existing 10Mbps Ethernet and 100Mbps Fast Ethernet UTP devices and all units can be installed in minutes. Front panel LED's allow users to monitor the switch status providing simple "at a glance" management.
Related tags for Allied Telesis AT FS708 - switch - 8 ports »
