A Switch to the Extreme Side
Perhaps it is a new laptop that will compliment rather than replace your desktop or perhaps you have found the need for both a PC and a Mac. Whatever the case, if you have the need to operate two or more computers, the idea of a KVM switch — which provides a way to control multiple systems with just one keyboard, monitor and mouse — becomes very attractive. Unfortunately not all KVM's are created equally — many do not get along that well with Mac or Linux systems. What are you to do? Join me for our look at the first two of several promising new KVM switches we've been testing — IOGear's MiniView Extreme KVM's.
IOGear is one of the largest names in the small office/home office segment of KVM producers — anyone doing even a cursory survey of the industry would be highly unlikely to miss this company's offerings. They are particularly intriguing since they offer some of the latest features at a price substantially lower than many competing brands. But, we've had experience with other cheap KVM's and the results were not always very impressive — would IOGear's new Miniview Extreme units be any different?
The first thing worth noting about IOGear's offering is that it includes all of the cables you will need to connect your systems. With KVM cables running as high as $20-$40 a piece, this is a major feature of note with this switch. The whole package has a street price of around $159 for the four port GSC1734 model and $115 for the two port GSC1732 variation, a price tag that is around that of competing models that don't include cabling.
Both units are part of a a new emerging class of what is known as KVMP switches, that is, KVM switches that also include a switchable USB hub and the ability to share a pair of speakers and a microphone between systems as well (the “P” referring to peripherals). This combination allows virtually every device you might use to be shared using one simple little box.
Both the two port and four port units are very simple to setup and operate. For the initial installation, we simply connected each machine using the included cables. On the computer end of the cable, there are four connectors — two mini headphone connectors for sound (speakers and microphone), one USB for the keyboard, mouse and anything connected to the built in two port hub, and one VGA connection for the monitor. On the KVM side of the cable, things were simplified further with just a VGA connector and the two mini headphone connectors (apparently the USB information goes through the proprietary VGA connector).
For our particular purposes, we also used two adapters. First, we used Apple's VGA to DVI adapter to connect the KVM to our PowerMac's video card. We also used IOGear's $20 PS/2 to USB connector to convert a PS/2 keyboard so that it would work with the KVM switch (we also tested using Apple's USB keyboard to insure no quirks were causes by the use of a PS/2 keyboard).
For the most part, everything went very well. GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and Windows XP dealt well with the KVM switch. Booting multiple systems at once also works without any issues at all. While the switch does have a special hotkey to tell it a port is being used by a Macintosh, we found that even without using the hotkey the PS/2 keyboard worked fine on the Mac.
Unfortunately we did run into a few issues. The first shouldn't be a problem for most business users but will make the switch less appealing to those working with audio materials. It seems that the KVM is not very well shielded, and a distinct, though reasonably quiet static was perceivable through our Logitech speaker system when connected to the KVM. Additionally when our PowerMac G5 was turned on a faint but perceptible “beep” was repeatedly emitted. Some evidence suggests that this is caused by the PowerMac's power supply unit, but whatever the case may be, we could only hear it when the system was connected to the KVM switch. Most of these sounds could be hidden by lowering the speaker volume to, perhaps, around 25% on the speaker's volume control and then using the computer's volume control to compensate. We talked to several representatives at IOGear (as well as Avocent once we found that their SwitchView USB 4-port KVM, which we will be reviewing soon, did the same thing) and where unable to locate a solution to the issue. Avocent suggested that it could be an issue with grounding, but we were unable to confirm this using the various measures suggested by their representative.
Other than that, the only other issues we ran into dealt exclusively with the system's compatibility with the Mac, not with GNU/Linux systems (so, readers using PC's may skip the next two paragraphs). On the PowerMac, we found that the keyboard would not send anything to the computer until the system had completed booting up. This is a potential problem since it eliminates the ability to boot from the DVD drive, access OpenFirmware and other useful functions.
Another problem we noticed, which seems to be inherent with any KVM switch we have tested on a Mac thus far, is that on a power up/wake up the screen resolution defaults to 800×600 and the wallpaper image is lost on unless you are switched to the Mac at the time of the startup (due to the Mac dynamically changing the resolution when it doesn't find a “real” monitor connected at the time of startup). This can be resolved by adding the display resolution resizing tool to the menu bar (you can set this in the System Preferences tool by going into the Display section) and then making sure that none of the previous three resolutions is 800×600 by using the display tool to switch to three other resolutions. After doing this, the issue will cease to occur. As with the static issue,it is important to note that these issues are not specific to the IOGear switch, but seems to be a general annoyance to which the first KVM manufacturer that solves it will gain major kudos from us for doing so.
Overall, it is hard to say too much about the IOGear switch because it essentially becomes transparent to the user. But this is, in itself, the unit's highest accomplishment. The unit is compact, and its bright LED lights make it very clear which computers are on, which one is selected and which one has the USB peripherals assigned to it (you can assign them and then switch the keyboard, mouse and monitor separately, leaving them on a different system to finish whatever task might be necessary). The unit also offers a robust set of hot-keys to accomplish most tasks, including several ways of cycling through or going directly to specific computers, the ability to switch keyboard modes, and even reset the switch.
While I can't say the IOGear Miniview GCS1732 (2-port) and GCS1734 (4-port) are perfect by any means, they do work much better than most other KVM's I have tested. It is the first KVM that we at OfB Labs have tested and found to work reliably without any substantial problems that prevented the accomplishment of the tasks we wanted to do. That might not sound like the most positive endorsement, but considering the difficult task a KVM must accomplish (to effectively emulate hardware when you switch away, to make it easy to move between hardware, and so on), it really is quite notable that it even achieves this status.
In fact, after considering the price and functionality of the unit, I purchased one for my own workstation here at OfB. The initial testing for this review as well as using it for my own needs allows me to say with confidence that it is hard to imagine why you would need any other kind of 2 or 4 port KVM switch. At a price that is remarkably affordable, this little KVM should be on the top of anyone's KVM evaluation list.
IOGear Miniview Extreme 2 and 4 Port KVM Switches
< font size=”-2”>ALSO EVALUATE: Avocent SwitchView USB, Belkin OmniView SOHO USB and VGA |
Timothy R. Butler is Editor-in-Chief of Open for Business. You can reach him at tbutler@uninetsolutions. com.