Getting a simple KVM switch

Jim Hefferon

10/15/22, 10:17 PM

I have two laptops. I'd like to use one keyboard, one mouse, and one monitor. But the KVM switch that I bought doesn't work.

For both laptops, if I route through the KVM switch then something shows on the monitor, but it is only the background image (in one case it is a graphic and in the other it is just a color gradient). The files on the desktop, the mouse, and any open windows do not show on the monitor. Of course, they show on the laptop's screen if I do not use the KVM switch.

One laptop has Ubuntu 18, the other has a very fresh Ubuntu 20. I use Ubuntu Mate on both. Any suggestions about how to show the entire desktop (or perhaps a better term is both planes of the desktop?) would be gratefully received.

I'll list the graphic hardware spec for one machine in case it is helpful. I have a Dell Latitude E5470, with Mesa DR Intel Graphics 530 (SKL GT2). I am running 1920x1080 at 60 Hz (which I believe is well within the specs of the KVM switch). It also says that I am running X. On one laptop I am running the monitor via an HDMI outlet on the laptop. In the other, I am running via a dvi-to-hdmi adaptor, and then to the HDMI plug into the monitor (the HDMI port is physically blocked).

For a KVM switch, I bought whatever came up on Amazon. The box does not have a brand name, it just says "Made in China". It takes in two computers and outputs to one monitor.

If I need a higher-spec KVM switch, then I'd appreciate a person cluing me in about a good one to buy. But the fact that it shows the background plane suggested to me that something more is happening. I'd be very glad for any ideas.

1 + 4

hdmi

user68186

10/15/22, 10:24 PM

Do your laptop screens work while they are connected to the KVM? If so go to Settings>Display and see if the monitor is recognized. Then set the monitor to "mirror" the biult-in screen. As for a recommendation of hardware, KVM in this case, it is off-topic in this site.

estibordo

10/15/22, 10:51 PM

Did you try [Barrier](https://github.com/debauchee/barrier)? I use it and I love it to share my keyboard and mouse between the laptop and the desktop. It is a software based solution.

waltinator

10/15/22, 11:25 PM

You could abandon KVM, network the two computers together, and use `ssh -X` or `ssh -Y` to display one on the other. Read `man -k ssh`, `man xhost`.

muru

10/16/22, 5:21 AM

I’m voting to close this question because shopping recommendations are off-topic here

Score:0

Ubuntu

Jim Hefferon

10/16/22, 12:14 PM

The solution, from user68186, was to reset the displays. I went to the Control Center, selected Displays, and had it Detect the Monitors, then set the display to be the same in both windoww, then Apply. (This is even though I had already been displaying through this monitor.)

0 + 0

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Getting a simple KVM switch

TH: รับสวิตช์ KVM อย่างง่าย

RO: Obținerea unui comutator KVM simplu

RU: Получение простого KVM-переключателя

VI: Nhận một công tắc KVM đơn giản

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