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Geek Culture / Anyone ever shared a Mac and PC on the same monitor?

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Jeku
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Posted: 17th Nov 2010 07:18
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Hi all,

I have two monitors, and I used to use this snazzy open source tool called Synergy, which allowed me to have my PC on one monitor and the Mac Mini on the other. Now that I've reinstalled Windows 7, I want to find a way so I can have my Mac on the screen only when I want it, and Windows on that screen at all other times. The only thing I can think of is setting up a VNC server on the Mac and then logging into it through Windows. That way, I can minimize or close the connection to the Mac when I want both screens for Windows.

Does anyone else have a solution for this? Thanks greatly


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Van B
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Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 17th Nov 2010 08:37
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If I was you, I'd just get a KVM switch, hook up the mac and PC output, then just switch between them with that. KVM's are not too expensive these days, I think I paid £22 for mine.

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TheComet
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Posted: 17th Nov 2010 08:44
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What if you used a VM?

TheComet

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Darth Vader
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Location: Adelaide SA, I am the only DB user here!
Posted: 17th Nov 2010 15:05
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I second Van B's suggestion, we have an exact same setup at work! Although its for two Windows PCs... Not sure if it's a feature common to all KVM devices but a double tap of the control key switches between the two setups. Handy!

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Ocho Geek
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Posted: 17th Nov 2010 19:31
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ooh cool

Ocho Geek - Pretending to be a useful contribution to the forums since 2005
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Fatal Berserker
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Posted: 17th Nov 2010 20:08
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Van Bs suggestion is a good one, it allows u to swap input easily.

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Jeku
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Posted: 17th Nov 2010 20:28
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Alrighty, thanks for the suggestions. I'll take a look at buying a KVM. I just hope it supports DVI inputs for my monitors

Has anyone used VNC with a Mac successfully?


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Phaelax
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Posted: 20th Nov 2010 22:51
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Synergy is cool isn't it!

A KVM is all you need, unless your monitor has multiple inputs like mine then you can just connect both computers to it along with your vcr and dvd and nintendo like me.

"Only the educated are free" ~Epictetus
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JoelJ
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Posted: 21st Nov 2010 04:48 Edited at: 21st Nov 2010 04:48
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Quote: "Has anyone used VNC with a Mac successfully?"


I have. It's pretty easy in OS X as it has a built in VNC server. You just have to enable "Screen Sharing" in Settings. The problem you'll have though is that VNC is pretty crummy. Even on LAN. I use it at work to access several different computers remotely and it's just not a pretty solution. It works for what I do (run unit tests, stuff like that), but for anything where you actually care about how it looks, you'll be sad.

KVM would be a much better solution.

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Toasty Fresh
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Posted: 21st Nov 2010 08:20
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My monitor has two plugs on it. I have my PC hooked up to one of them and my Xbox to the other, then you press a button on the front and it switches between displays. Very handy.
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Dazzag
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Location: Cyprus
Posted: 23rd Nov 2010 09:42
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Yeah, KVM is pretty simple if your monitor doesn't already support multiple inputs. I used one the other day with a Vista box and a Mac Mini (HDMI out to a DVI connection) with no worries. Do a little research though as some of them are not that great. I have a well cheap one that seems to work well even at high resolutions but now and again loses the signal. I have a much more expensive one in Cyprus that never had those problems. Must bring it back sometime...

Better though is a decent monitor with multiple inputs like Toasty said. Mine does have that but annoyingly only one DVI input.

Cheers

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