I'm not sure if I need KVM switch...or what...


Here's what I'm trying to accomplish:


Two computers - the first is a home desktop that has USB and PS2 hook-ups. The second is a laptop with a docking station that only has usb hook ups.


I'd like to have share the same mouse, keyboard, two monitors, printer and speakers between the two computers.


I've figured that part out BUT what I want to know is if there is a way to get what I really really want which is to that same setup BUT with three monitors and somehow have my laptop and phones be able to send to the printer...


If that's not easy (or would be very very expensive) can someone suggest a good KVM switch that would at least suit my basic needs?


Thanks!
Yes, there are KVM switches that support multiple monitors. do a search for multi-display KVM.


with regard to send print jobs to the printer, the best approach is probably going to be to buy a wireless printer and hook it up on your local network.
you would need to buy a licenced copy of windows for every machine. 

linux systems are free and young folks at school would quickly adapt to a different operating system and probably learn more from using linux.

here's a link to a download of a good flavour of linux which you can burn on to a cd or dvd and install it on one of the laptops to try it yourself. 

https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

it will be different but there are equivalents to all the programmes to which you're accustomed. Hello, if you can get into your display settings, you should be able to set up the external monitor as the primary monitor, and save the new setting (so you don't need to reestablish this each time). 
  

  
Regards that is where i'd start as well. osi...
so:
1. physical link (maybe check the patch panel and the cabling that's involved in connecting to the computer, maybe swap cables and try a usb to ethernet adapter to rules the nic out.
2. data link - check the switches and switchports on the way. maybe try to use different portts
3. network - most likely not an issue if all the other computers are working fine...
etc.
but this is pretty much it: Windows 7 can be configured as both host and client for the printer sharing. I assume that you want to use your Windows 7 for the client printing connection.   
  
Here are some of the steps to make the connection from Windows 7 as a printer.   
  
1. Click on start button and go to control panel.   
2. Go to network and sharing center.   
3. Go to Change Advanced Sharing Settings.   
4. Find out the home or the private network under which this computer has access to other computers.   
5. Click on the network with which you want to share printer as a host or client.   
6. Find the option for printer sharing in settings.   
7. Turn on the option "File and Printer Sharing".   
8. Save the changes.   
9. Reboot the system.   
  
This takes few seconds usually but some of the time reboot is required if the network is not properly detected. So you have to go through the above steps unless proper network is established.   
  
If it is asking for username and password for the public network, then you have to provide if it was set during the home or private network sharing options. If it is not set, then you have to reset the network sharing options at host and then reconnect your client machine for printer sharing. fax modems were developed decades ago. their design makes use of the fact that fax signals are merely audio tones sent along a normal telephone line, so re-designing a regular data modem to also be able to send faxes using the same phone capabilities was relatively simple.

these days you can buy a data modem either as an external box that connects to your computer via a port and cable, or as a card you can install in a pci or pcie slot. then you connect it to a phone line. becasue the addition of fax capabilites became so easy and commonplace, almost all data modems actually include that feature and are sold as fax modems. the drivers supplied with them allow your computer to use either type of service. many people do not install one of these because they have no intention of using a modem on a phone line - they prefer much faster data rates available by connections though the internet. so, unless they need fax abilities, nobody uses them anymore.

your interest seems to be mainly sending (and receiving?) faxes, and perhaps not even trying to use a data modem. current versions of windows make this really easy - you will not use your old winfax pro. windows includes all the tools you need to receive faxes in various ways, depending on whether you want your machine to always watch for incoming faxes, or only when you turn on the feature. for sending a fax it's even easier. windows always includes a system that makes a fax sending unit appear to be just another printer. you can "print" to that printer just as any other. when you do that, a window pops up to let you set a few parameters and then its sends the fax for you. it even includes a little utility to keep track of fax numbers that you can send to.

i used a fax modem infrequently on my last machine, and i really liked it. for one thing, the fax the recipient gets is really clean and readable, with no distortions or dirt specs caused by scanning. (actually, you can scan a document and then "print" it as a fax you send to someone.) but i used it rarely, and in my new machine there is no spare pci slot for the fax modem, so i never moved my old one to the new computer. It looks like all of these devices may be useful in the environment that you describe. My concern would be having enough POE to power the phones. Unfortunately, not all POE devices are made the same. You may only be able to power X number of devices off a POE switch when there are 48 ports available. You will need to be sure to understand and easily able to manage VLANs and COS/QOS. [Take a look at this blog entry](https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/it-trenches/voip-ipt-qos-cos-on-and-on-oh-my/). A call to a supplier like CDW would be a good thing. They are usually pretty vendor neutral and you will be able to talk to one of their product or service specialists to get a good understanding of a workable solution for your organization.


From djc1309 – I have used Netgear products for quite some time and have had very good luck with most of them. The recent releases of the FVS114 VPN router have had a higher than normal failure rate. I wanted to let you know that I purchased a NetGear RND4210 ReadyNAS Storage as per above and have not been able to get it going. I would stay away from this particular piece of equipment.


djc1309 hi there, welcome!

please check if this tutorial helps:

[image]

[display manager multi-monitor configuration](https://forum.garudalinux.org/t/display-manager-multi-monitor-configuration/4526) [faq and tutorials](/c/faq-and-tutorials/36)

when having multple monitors on system boot, your display manager (sddm, lightdm, gdm etc) will usually not display correctly in respect to your c… well, transferring your data and transferring that and your settings are different. data, such as music, letters, video, pictures can burn to disk or copy/move to external drive. installed applications won't go, you'll have to reinstall from disk or download. on the other hand, you can transfer settings, favorites etc. use files and settings transfer wizard. or laplink software and cable. Kir,

If combining the on board Intel® HD Graphics with a external PCI/PCIe video card, Windows will allow using the two graphics controllers at the same time, but the only dual display mode available is "Extended desktop". If you are looking for other dual display options like "Clone display" then it will be necessary to connect the two monitors into one of the graphics solutions, the on board or the video card so Windows will give you the dual display modes available depending on the graphics adapter.

In order to accomplish this, the most important thing is to change some settings on the BIOS. Please go to the configuration tab>video>integrated graphics device> set to "always enable"

 

Regards.

 




[View solution in original post](/t5/Intel-Desktop-Boards/Using-onboard-graphics-together-with-a-separate-graphics-card/m-p/433770#M41399) neither of them. much higher specs than you actually need. core i3 with 8 gb ddr ram and an ssd hd all for less than $500 should be more than enough for your uses.