I just moved and want to set up a home network. Here are the properties I want it to have:
Windows based. I know I know, Microsoft sucks, but I’m stuck with it for now and I’m just going to deal with it.
One server, multiple clients. I have 2 rooms and a living room from which I want to be able to access the server. I want a monitor, keyboard, and mouse in each room. If I turn on all the monitors, they all show the same thing. If I move the mouse on one terminal and someone is sitting at another, I want them to see the moving mouse. I will be the only one using stuff so I don’t have to worry about dueling mice action.
Here are my assets as of now:
One fairly powerful computer. 3.8 gHz (64bit AMD), 2g ram, 7800gt
Several crappy computers, monitors, keyboards, mice.
One USB hub
Lots of cables (USB, Cat5, etc)
My initial thought is just to get a couple DVI splitters for the monitors, then use USB for the keyboards and mice. However, that is a TON of wires, and I would like to keep those to a minimum. I’ve heard they have wireless USB, but I’ve also heard that it doesn’t work all that well, but supposedly a new kind (USB-L?) that is viable.
Anyone have any input or know of any resources that might help me out?
This is kinda an odd arrangemnt you are proposing, is there some specific reason or end use that this method would help with? There may be better ways to achieve it.
As an IT person, you have me scratching my head as well…wondering what this setup could possibly be necessary for?
One solution that may not be suitable is a free application called Logmein. It lets you control a computer remotely and even switch over to full screen mode so that it appears that you are sitting at the target computer. There are similar applications but that one is fast and seamless and it only takes a few seconds to log in (from anywhere for that matter). However, it doesn’t support games or video or sound, just the regular PC functions.
What are you running on the main computer? Games? If you’re just doing Email and browsing, you could use Remote Desktop client from two other consoles that you set up with your older computers to connect to your big box. They can run Windows if you still have licenses, or Linux with an rdesktop client. These machines could be considered “thin clients” and would only run enough to get you connected.
He wishes all crappy computers to be networked to the main computer. Every monitor shows the desktop (or whatever’s being worked on) at all times. If you move the mouse on workstation 1, the monitor should show that move on workstations 2-4 and the server computer.
AFAIK, that’s not how networks and VPNs work. It’s late here. Someone want to explain the way VPNs work?
That’s not what a VPN is either. A VPN is a way to extend your private network through a public network (like the Internets) in an encrypted “tunnel” so no one else can access it.
There IS a way to do this using remote desktop access, at least one server/one workstation. I’m sure you could tweak it across several workstations.
It sounds like you sort of want the opposite of a KVM switch - back in the good old days when computers were expensive and were not being used by everyone all the time, there used to be ‘computer sharing switches’ that did more or less exactly what you’re describing, in fact I think if you can find such a device, that’s still probably a better solution to your expressed needs than setting up a server and clients - it seems wasteful to be running three computers in order to do all the processing on one of them.
One thing you do need to know is that without proper repeater devices, it is generally impossible to extend USB connections more than about 5 metres.
How about selling the less powerful comps and just getting a laptop and a wi-fi modem/router to go with your main PC. Then set up a bunch of shared folders and/or run a remote desktop application.
If your the only one who’s going to be using them (or am I reading the OP incorrectly) any more workstations seems like excess equipment.
If i’m reading this correctly then what the OP wants is simply one PC but with the ability to operate it from three different rooms. Not really a network as such, unless the solution requires using more than one PC to achieve his aim.
What he basically needs are two things:
A monitor that has some kind of wireless input/output. Like a base unit that plugs into the PC and can broadcast to multiple receivers which are placed in each room attached to the monitors.
Wireless keyboard and mouse sets that can be set-up more remotely from the base unit than your standard IR or bluetooth units.
Now a quick google search comes up with little help, does anyone know if there are products out there that would meet these needs? If so this sounds like a simpler solution than remotely accessing the main PC from another unit. If you are going to do that surely you’d be better off with just a traditional network with shared resources?
Rocksolid has it right. Its really not a network in the traditional sense, I used the term for lack of a better one. Bear with me and I’ll try to explain why I want this unorthodox setup.
The last place I lived in was with 3 other people, and we had a network. We had one machine that had a 300g external drive that kept all of our data (music, videos, etc.) and shared that across the network. We ran iTunes on that machine which worked well because iTunes has good network library sharing, so we only had one machine that we had to set our playlists, rankings, etc., then everyone on the network could use it.
Here are the problems I have with using this kind of standard network for my new place:
Most of the computers I have stink. I run some fairly intensive apps (games, sound editing), and would like to run them from different rooms.
Permissions. iTunes is great for sharing music, but its a read-only gig. I can’t change song titles, ranks, etc. from any machine other than the host. I’ve investigated other media players and they either have the same problem (WMP, although I hear Vista might change this), don’t have network sharing at all (winamp), or just don’t have the robust feature sets I want (various smaller mp3 players).
Lost data. I don’t want to work on one machine in my network, then later forget which machine I was and have to go room to room to figure out where I saved it.
Mangetout, I am aware that USB has limits on length, thats why I am asking about wireless USB. I can get repeaters if necessary though.
I could be wrong (very easily), but I think that I am going to need a hardware solution rather than a software solution. I apologize for my lack of clarity here - I know a little bit about this stuff but not a lot, and you know what they say about a little knowledge… Is this getting any clearer?
Sounds like you are wanting an X-terminal of some sort. (I guess comparing it to an advanced KMV switch would work).
Here is some information for you if you are interested:
This is pretty much what I plan on having set up in my home when I have it built. I will have a couple servers running on a network with dumb/X terminals to several rooms, a regular computer, and of course laptops on a separated wireless network.
The X-terminal thing is a pretty good idea in many ways. I don’t know why people wouldn’t think it is a good idea. With a small box, and a monitor (with a keyboard and such), you can have direct access to the server from the Kitchen (recipies, etc), hook up the media center to it ( there are of course benifits to having centralized storage of all media files), some terminals throughout the house for internet access and the like.
Why this instead of a laptop? Why drag a laptop all over the house? It is more convenient to install multiple dumb terminals through out the house, with one central server and one processor (or multiple if you have multiple servers).
Of course setting this all up is quite some job, and not for the average person, but I imagine you will see similar things as the years go by. Already many homes have multiple computers / laptops, media centers and the like. Why not a central location, easier to manage the network, easier to make it secure, and buying software, installing software, and all the other things a responsible computer savy person does on his PC only has to be done in one place: The server. I only have two computers and I lose track of what I did where… though I guess that is my fault for not having a good sync program.
Buy a site license for Timbuktu and install it on all your computers. Or use VNC if you’re cheap (it’s not as nice a user experience, clumsier and less smooth, but it’s free). Run Main Computer from any of the others. Or for that matter run any of the computer from any of the others.
Thanks everyone for the tips. I just picked up some stuff at Frys today, and will be spending this weekend setting it up. I’ll report back when its all working on which route I went with.