This is much more embarrasing than my brain cramp on the file-size-at-a-given-bit-rate question.
When I move into my new house, I want to put a PC console (keyboard/mouse/monitor) in a location that is remote from the PC itself. For example, say I want to be able to read e-mail while I’m waiting for my coffee to brew in the morning, but I don’t want the PC to be in the kitchen, just the console parts.
Assume we’re talking a distance of up to 50 feet, which may also include changing floors. What’s my best solution? Ethernet KVM? Is there a wi-fi solution to this problem? I’m open to any advice on this.
TIA
Edit: I realize this sounds very IMHO, but I would consider any valid answer to this question factually correct, and since most computer problem/advice questions go in GQ, that’s why I put it here. Mods, if I have erred, please forgive.
Mouse keyboard no problem doing wirelessly. Monitor you will need a cable. May i ask why you dont just want the computer in the kitchen? I would use a kvn with some extender cables
There are wireless VGA solutions out there, but the one I tried (admittedly 2 years ago) was a piece of junk - image quality was lousy and customer support was hideous. If running a cable is an option then perhaps a small LCD behind a sheet of glass or plastic (to avoid grease) and a sealed, wireless keyboard with a touchpad.
The keyboard, mouse, and monitor I don’t worry about as much with the grease issue because they don’t have a cooling fan pulling grease-laden air through their innards. If I’m cooking something greasy, I can cover them up and they’ll survive just fine.
There are few good solutions to this, and no cheap ones that I know of. Quite literally, KVM (or to be accurate V) uses a lot of bandwidth, so it’s hard to push and decode that stuff using ethernet/wifi. Gear to do this is expensive, and designed for server room installation.
Long video cables need line drivers, and they are not cheap, either.
A higher level protocol - VNC, RDP, ICA - uses less bandwidth, but you need a smarter client. NetVoyager do one, but it is about £100 (USD200), in addition to a screen and keyboard. This is a low power device with no hard drive, and you have to run the server on your PC. It’s fine for desktop stuff, but won’t work for games.
Using that info, Si, I have been able to discover that the class of device I’m looking for is what is called a “KVM extender” (at least, that’s what tigerdirect.com calls it :)).
This is half the battle, as far as I’m concerned, but I’m still happy to hear other replies.
I assume they either have PCs in the kitchen somewheres or they do use really long video cables. If they do have PCs in the kitchen…well, let’s hope you produce less grease and smoke than a restaurant
Have you considered a cheap laptop that you keep in a drawer in the kitchen? I mean, if you’re going to keep a keyboard, mouse and monitor in there you must have room for a laptop. And you’ll get more use out of a laptop than a long video cable or an expensive wireless setup.
You can build fanless computers (particularly if it’s just for e-mail).
Or consider getting a laptop (even just a cheap second hand one) then you can happily move it around. Not just to the kitchen but anywhere else you fancy.
Based on the prices I’m seeing for KVM extenders and thin clients (another excellent suggest, thanks all), this is the route I’m most seriously considering. While I’ll wind up spending more even for used or refurbished, I’ll wind up with significantly more bang for my buck.
Too bad Smart Display died a quiet death. It was basically perfect for this situation, and was portable to boot. You’d stick the docking stand on the kitchen counter, and be able to pick the thing up and wander into the living room with it, while all the while you’re actually using the computer in the den.
Keep computers in the pantry and climate-controlled offices, and run (cheap!) line printers and monitors (only when absolutely necessary) to the kitchen. It’s rare that the cooks need to send any data via computer. Everything they send out of the kitchen is either food or information to a server which can be relayed verbally when the server shows up for the food.
I have a slight hijack. My house is undergoing renovation and I was thinking it might not be a bad idea to run some Ethernet cables betweens floors, in a couple rooms. This would let all the computers ultimately access the Internet through the same cable modem of or other device and so forth, and add value to the house if it’s ever sold. Is it too late though? Would new computers just as easily (and securely?) use wireless networking at this point?
If you’re asking if anyone still uses wired…the answer is yes, at least one person would ;). I like wired better because there’s a very small chance of my connection randomly failing, and I don’t have any reason to carry my computer around my house. I’m not sure how much value putting in a wired connection to those rooms will add, but it won’t cost much if you build and run the wire yourself.
Definitely run wires. Even with improvements in wireless technology, wired technology improves at the same time, so wired networks will always be faster, more reliable, and more secure than their wireless counterparts. You may not think you need the extra speed, but just as a few years ago you wouldn’t have thought you’d be sharing tens of megabytes of music files, in a few years you might be sharing tens of gigabytes of video files.
And as a side note, do a small bit of reading on “structured wiring” before determining where to run your cables from and to. The gist is that you want a “star” configuration where you pick a master location (often the garage or utility room or a strategically placed large closet), and each room’s outlet has a cable (or two!) that runs directly back to that master box, where you can easily choose/change which data service (phone/ethernet/dsl) gets hooked to which locations in the house. In other words, you don’t want to have a single cable going to, say, the upstairs, which you then split. You want to have a dedicated cable for each location. Even if you just want to connect room A directly to room B, the star layout gives you the flexibility to do that: you go to the master box and you couple the ends of the two corresponding cables together and you’re done.
