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 Belkin2port 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: Great if you dont have USB 2.0 Disadvantages: USB 2.0 is faster
A USB peripheral switch are useful items they will allow you to connect items such as camera's, scanners, external hard drives, mobile phones, PDA's etc to your laptop or personal home computer. This USB peropheral switch has only got two ports where most have a minimum of four ports and USB connections on modern PC's and laptops are supplied with USB 2.0 which is a faster system and therefore more efficient.
My conclusion is that this is a dated product that you can obtain a superior model unless you need it for connection with an the older USB 1.1 system, then Belkin is a great and trust worthy manufacturer, and this would be suitable to connect to your PC or Laptop and then to any of the items mentioned above.
Belkin are renound for the customer service standards though you should not need to use this as there products are ...
Product Information for "Belkin AutoSwitch Reversable 2 Port - switch" »
Manufacturer's product description
Compact Parallel Auto Switch Model F1U109 features a 2 port parallel compact auto switch. It is configurable as 2 PCs to one printer, or as 1 PC to 2 printers. Includes TSR Pop-Up for easy printer selection. Belkin offers the Compact Parallel Auto Switch as a low cost printer sharing device for when work space is limited. The F1U109 is a stand-alone unit that is designed to function with Epson and HP LaserJet compatible parallel printers. This model has fixed input ports with one output port, and it continually scans all incoming ports on the unit. Once a user sends data, the Compact Parallel Auto Switch locks onto the port and begins sending data to the printer. All other users receive a 'printer unavailable' message. After the job is completed, the Compact Parallel Auto Switch begins scanning until another user requests to send data to the printer. Belkin's Compact Parallel Auto Switch also provides auto or manual port selection and each unit features LED displays on the front panel to identify when data is being received and which port is in use. The F1U109 is easy to install and requires no custom cables.
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