Just a heads-up to anyone who might be interested....
I finally found and bought a decent 8 port kvm switch for my 7 rig Seti crunching farm.
It's a Hawking Technologies model CS168.
Standard rack mount form factor, seems solidly built, has all of the connectors on the back (no b.s. adapter cables, but HD15's are female, so I had to buy m-m adapters to match up to my m-f extension cables), video seems fine (running 800 x 600 @ 100hz), switches quickly, is running off of port power (although they do supply a wall wort if the pc power is not up to the task), and the keyboard repeat rate is fast enough to be acceptable (as opposed to the Trendnet TK-401R I replaced with it).
No OSD, just simple push button switching from the front panel, or 'scroll lock' 'scroll lock' 'port number' from the keyboard, which can be done with one finger, not like the more cumbersome 'ctl alt whatever' switching and other silly arrangements I found for months when looking at other KVM's.
And best of all, the thing is only $140 to $180 depending on where you find it. You can check on pricegrabber, there's a bunch of people selling it.
So, there you have it. I just wanted to share this, cuz I looked a long while before I found what I wanted to upgrade from a 4 port to a 8 port KVM. Didn't want a lot of bells and whistles, just simple, solid switching, and this thing fills the bill perfectly.
Of course, if you have more than 8 rigs crunching, you would have to find a KVM that is cacadable, which this is not. Have had it in use for a couple of months now, and nary a glitch.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Just a heads-up to anyone who might be interested....
I finally found and bought a decent 8 port kvm switch for my 7 rig Seti crunching farm.
It's a Hawking Technologies model CS168.

Thanks msattler. I too have found troublesome kvm switches.

Are you using an optical mouse? Have found some switches that refuse to work with kvm switches.

Have you shut down and started systems up while not "viewing" on its switch port to be reliable?

Thanks,
/temple

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Just a heads-up to anyone who might be interested....
I finally found and bought a decent 8 port kvm switch for my 7 rig Seti crunching farm.
It's a Hawking Technologies model CS168.

Thanks msattler. I too have found troublesome kvm switches.

Are you using an optical mouse? Have found some switches that refuse to work with kvm switches.

Have you shut down and started systems up while not "viewing" on its switch port to be reliable?

Thanks,
/temple

I am using an older Logitech optical mouse (meaning it has a red led on the bottom instead of a 'mouse ball', but is hardwire connected like a standard PS/2 mouse. I've had it a long time, but I do not recall that it required any special drivers. The manual says the CS168 supports "most mice with PS/2, including Microsoft Intellimouse, Logitech Net Mouse, etc.".
I have had absolutely no problem rebooting computers with their port activated or not. I have even accidentally switched ports from a computer that I was rebooting with no apparent problem, although the manual says not to switch ports during booting.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Great info on the KVM's.

I just built a dedicated cruncher and was wondering how I was going to control it, not wanting to setup another monitor, keyboard and mouse. I also didn't even want this cruncher in the same room as my main machine.

I ended up using remote control software through my main machine and wireless network to control this cruncher, which is now located in the cool basement. The only cable going into the back of this dedicated cruncher is the power cable.

http://www.alchemy-lab.com/products/rcp/

This software is freeware for controlling up to one other box, but to control more than one you have to start buying licenses. It's surprisingly responsive and doesn't hog to many resources either. The software also has a nice file transfer feature.

Another solution on a firewalled LAN is Windows Terminal Services.

It will work on Windows XP Pro, Win Server 2003 and Win server 2000 Os's all day.

Additionally, investing $45 in PC Anywhere is good too. However the client runs as a service which could rob some CPU power over time.

I use a KVM on my cluster and wouldn't have it any other way.

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Overclock with the MSI G31M3-L and Intel E8600 3.33Ghz
Intel D865GLC Socket 478 Motherboard
~How To Overclock The Eee ASUS 1005HA Netbook To 1.9Ghz~

I use RealVNC to control all my puters, whether they have keyboards, mice, and monitors or not. (except for this one ofcourse.)

I use RealVNC to control all my puters, whether they have keyboards, mice, and monitors or not. (except for this one ofcourse.)

Hear, hear! Though I use TightVNC. I'll check into RealVNC too though.

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Kung Fu and Powerlifting

I'm with Tony and Tye.

Why bother with all those cables and kvm hardware?

Except when a machine needs maintenance (BIOS or OS Installs) do everything with Remode Desktop, or various flavors of VNC.

I tried a KVM way back but all the cables were a nightmare and totally unnecessary. Remote Desktop is built-in on Win XP and AFAIK most VNC packages are free.

/edit
As far as BOINC is concerned, who needs any connection? BoincView does it all.

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I'm with Tony and Tye.

Why bother with all those cables and kvm hardware?

Except when a machine needs maintenance (BIOS or OS Installs) do everything with Remode Desktop, or various flavors of VNC.

I tried a KVM way back but all the cables were a nightmare and totally unnecessary. Remote Desktop is built-in on Win XP and AFAIK most VNC packages are free.

/edit
As far as BOINC is concerned, who needs any connection? BoincView does it all.

I agree on all counts there.

To be even more minimal, there is always "ssh" or even just "telnet". (ssh recommended rather than telnet!)

Happy crunchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I use RealVNC to control all my puters, whether they have keyboards, mice, and monitors or not. (except for this one ofcourse.)

Hear, hear! Though I use TightVNC. I'll check into RealVNC too though.

RAdmin is nice too. http://www.radmin.com

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OK, so I'm just more into hardware than software. Guess it's just all those led's blinking at me. At least when I hit the button, I know I'm hardwired into the PC I wish to communicate with.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

OK, so I'm just more into hardware than software. Guess it's just all those led's blinking at me. At least when I hit the button, I know I'm hardwired into the PC I wish to communicate with.

I'm a huge fan of the various VNC flavours. They aren't perfect, and sometimes you just need a keyboard and monitor on the machine, but most of the time, it works just fine.

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Great info on the KVM's.

I just built a dedicated cruncher and was wondering how I was going to control it, not wanting to setup another monitor, keyboard and mouse. I also didn't even want this cruncher in the same room as my main machine.

I ended up using remote control software through my main machine and wireless network to control this cruncher, which is now located in the cool basement. The only cable going into the back of this dedicated cruncher is the power cable.

http://www.alchemy-lab.com/products/rcp/

This software is freeware for controlling up to one other box, but to control more than one you have to start buying licenses. It's surprisingly responsive and doesn't hog to many resources either. The software also has a nice file transfer feature.

Hey realVNC works great! Thats what I use in my small farm.

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OK, so I'm just more into hardware than software. Guess it's just all those led's blinking at me. At least when I hit the button, I know I'm hardwired into the PC I wish to communicate with.

Too many wires and those cables are very expensive. I have an 8 way, two 4 way ones and a 16 way one sitting here unused. I have pc's on all 3 floors of my home, not a practical idea to be running wires all over the place.

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I've used TightVNC and it works well especially since my boxes are not all in the same place.

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I use a TRENDnet TK-801R 8 port KVM. It works with everything I throw at it, wired PS/2, USB with a USB to PS/2 adapter plug and wireless with a USB to PS/2 adapter. Both keyboard (wired and wireless) and optical mouse work. Works on XP32/64 and Linux.

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I use a TRENDnet TK-801R 8 port KVM. It works with everything I throw at it, wired PS/2, USB with a USB to PS/2 adapter plug and wireless with a USB to PS/2 adapter. Both keyboard (wired and wireless) and optical mouse work. Works on XP32/64 and Linux.

I had a TK-401R in service before I outgrew it and needed to go to an 8 port unit. It worked just fine except for one respect...I could not tolerate the slow keyboard repeat rate I got with it. I figured that the 801 might be the same except for the number of ports, and TRENDnet could not answer why the repeat rate was slow, except for that's just the unit worked. They also could not tell me if the 801 was any different. That's why I went to the Hawking CS168. Very happy with it.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."