Belkin OmniView E Series 4 Port KVM Switch - KVM switch - 4 ports

...invest in something like this Belkin Omniview E-Series 4-port KVM Switch, which provides the ability to use a single monitor, keyboard and mouse on up to 4 PCs.

The Belkin OmniView I have been provided with did not come with connection cables, so make sure that if you are getting one of these, you cost in the price of cables to each of the PCs on your desk. Once I had got the necessary cables, I plugged them into the 3 PCs I used ...
...button on top of the Belkin once again, I flick from port 1, past port 2, to Port 3, where the IBM is connect. The Screen re-trains and a DOS-style screen comes into focus... It's the POST screen!

The IBM's BIOS is telling me that there is a keyboard error, and to press F1 to proceed with the boot (No, I am not joking!). I hit F1 and everything proceeds normally, booting properly. Further tests indicate that if I flick from one port ... more

In my job I use a lot of PCs. I have 3 main PC's, and a further 7 tied to my desk. I use at least 3 different operating systems, on 4 different models of PC, from 2 different manufacturers. I also like having a large monitor, preferably 19" or 21" minimum. Now how do you get three PC's, three 21" Monitors, three keyboards and three mice onto a desk no bigger than a kitchen breakfast bar?

The answer is simple: You don't.

What you do is invest in something like this Belkin Omniview E-Series 4-port KVM Switch, which provides the ability to use a single monitor, keyboard and mouse on up to 4 PCs.

The Belkin OmniView I have been provided with did not come with connection cables, so make sure that if you are getting one of these, you cost in the price of cables to each of the PCs on your desk. Once I had got the necessary cables, I plugged them into the 3 PCs I used for the test, and powered up on of my PCs.

The Omniview takes its power from any of the PS2 ports on any of the PCs, therefore there is no need for any external power supply. You can add one, but again this would inccur extra cost.

As you power up the first PC, the Omniview springs into life with a cheerful chirp of its built-in beeper, and flicks the input to the PC which has just been turned on. The picture appears as normal, and there seems to be no signal degradation for the video being passed through the Omniview. The first PC I use is a Compaq 1.7Ghz P4 PC, which runs Windows NT4 Workstation at 1600x1200x24, and the picture is crisp and clear.

All keys work correctly, and the mouse, including its wheel, work just fine.

Time to turn on the second PC, this time an old Compaq Deskpro EN, with 384MB RAM and a 733mhz PIII CPU. As I already have one PC turned on, when the 2nd one comes up, the Omniview doesn't automatically flick to that other machine, so you can carry on using the one you were on while it boots etc. The Omniview provides mouse and keyboard emulation, so if you boot a machine connected to it, the Omniview tells the PC that it has its own Keyboard and mouse, and the boot goes smoothly.

Once I can see the disk has stopped accessing on the 2nd PC, I decide to flick the Omniview over to the newly booted 2nd PC, and log into our domain. This can be done in 2 ways. Firstly, you can press the big grey 'select' button on top of the Omniview itself. This will cycle through the 4 different ports on the Omniview. It cycles through ports even if there is nothing connected to the port, or even if the PC is switched off. Therefore, to go from port 2 to port 1, you have to cycle past port 3 and 4 to get back to port 1, requiring 3 pushes of the button. The switch is not instant, and can take about a second to take effect.

A much quicker way of switching is to double-tap the Scroll-lock key on your keyboard, and then press the number of the port you wish to jump to. Once ou have double-tapped the Scroll Lock key, the Omniview will chirp, telling you its waiting for a number to be pressed. Once you have pressed a number, it will chirp once more and flick over to the relevant port.

So in this case I press the button on top of the Omniview and away we go. Once again, everything works fine, and the picture is crisp and clear. Time for the 3rd PC....

My final PC is an IBM Netvista, with a 1.8Ghz P4 and 256MB RAM. It is powered on, but as it powers on I press Scroll Lock twice and flick back to the first PC. after a couple of minutes, I look at the drive access light on the IBM, and decide to flick over to it. Using the button on top of the Belkin once again, I flick from port 1, past port 2, to Port 3, where the IBM is connect. The Screen re-trains and a DOS-style screen comes into focus... It's the POST screen!

The IBM's BIOS is telling me that there is a keyboard error, and to press F1 to proceed with the boot (No, I am not joking!). I hit F1 and everything proceeds normally, booting properly. Further tests indicate that if I flick from one port to another at a critical point in the IBM's boot up, it detects no keyboard, and waits for me to sort it out. Not a major problem, but an issue none the less.

Previously I have had a Belkin 2-port Omniview KVM, and these had problems where if you moved the mouse while changing between ports, the mouse would spack out, and you would have to leave it still for a few seconds before moving it again. I'm pleased to say that the 4-port Omniview does not have this affliction, and performs perfectly in this respect.

Finally, there is the issue of the chirp. Lets not beat around the bush here. The chirp is loud. The chirp is annoying, and with 50 developers in the same office all with Belkin Omniviews, it makes you want to cry. As far as I am aware there is no way of turning the chirp off, and thus you are stuck with it. If you only change PC's a few times a day, this is fine. If you change monitors a few times a minute, it drives you up the wall, especially if you are using the button on top of the Omniview to move across the PCs.

This is by no means a cheap bit of kit, at about £85 at the cheapest. However, it is:
a) cheaper than 4 Monitors, keyboards and mice, and
b) Work bought it for me, so it was free to me!

Anyhow, the moan is over, and in all the product is a good one. Thumbs up! 

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