keyAlarm VS kvm-switch

With my COVID obsession of live streaming while writing code, I ended up building something a little more elaborate. https://github.com/timgws/kvm-switch

It doesn't use DDC commands direct to the monitor(s), instead swapping it for a HDMI matrix combined with a traditional KVM for swapping around inputs smoothly when you roll your mouse over the edge of different operating systems.

The switching client runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux (if you use X).

I had the same issue with this device. I ended up writing some code that you could run on a machine to operate the switching via the RS232 port: https://github.com/timgws/kvm-switch/

Bonus for adding 'glide and switch' functionality, so you can move the mouse to the edge of the screen and it would jump the input to the next display in your layout. It's like a hardware version of Synergy.

Very finicky device, but if you don't touch it - and you don't use any of the shortcuts - it works.

The proverb 'necessity is the mother of invention' made me build a solution for sharing a keyboard and mouse between multiple devices.

Synergy/Barrier is not horrible, but I find the latency a little painful.

Ended up getting an industrial HDMI switch, with a KVM. Built a server in Go that connects to the serial port of all the devices.

A companion client that runs on all the machines tells the server when the mouse moves to the edge of the screen, so the USB inputs can be switched to the correct computer. Basically, it allows you to have multiple computers connected, to multiple displays, sharing one keyboard and mouse. (You can define layouts on the server, so the displays can move around on the matrix HDMI switcher).

https://github.com/timgws/kvm-switch