Reliability Of KVM Switches PS2 vs USB DVI vs VGA

[Bint Box]

Hi,

Would anyone please be able to provide some feedback on the reliability of the various options available for KVM switches?

For example, are the PS2 connectivity versions more reliable than the USB versions and the same question for DVI vs VGA?

I am looking at a 2 port or 4 port option and from what I have read so far manufacturers like Aten seem to have a good name but there seems a bit of negativity about Belikin.

I can use either PS2 or USB for the keyboard and mouse but would prefer the video to use DVI. For audio there is only the line in / line out option so no choice there.

There seem to be quite a few reliability or performance issues with some of the KVM switches re lag, not switching at all and problems when PC's boot up in that they are not recognised by the KVM

Thx for any help
Binty

 

[pduk]

I use a StarTech DVI/USB switch, 2-port, to switch between my desktop PC and a Macbook Pro. It's always worked flawlessly. The only caveat is that it doesn't get on well with special mouse drivers ... I tried a Saitek mouse once and some special mouse functions just didn't work, whereas they did when it was plugged straight into the PC.

 

[Bint Box]

pduk,

Thx for the reply. I was looking at StarTech but read a review on a 2 port StartTech model that indicated it could not reacquire the video signal from a Windows 7 PC when switching back and forth. The reviewer also indicated that StarTech were aware of the issue but had not got a fix ?

The setup I hope to use the KVM on has one PC with Win7, one PC with WinXP and if I go for a 4 port model the next PC will be either Linux or WinXP.

In addition to the reliablity of PS2 vs USB and DVI vs VGA, I would be grateful for any feedback from KVM users who have connected up PC's with different operating systems such as Win7, Vista, XP, Linux.


Thx
Binty

 

[ajstan]

We have a belkin which always works well - no idea what model it is though