KVM2USB, a life saver when fixing servers
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Ever had an administrative computer or a server that was far off and you didn't want to lug another monitor, keyboard and a mouse along with your laptop just to fix it? Well the folks at Epiphan Systems have a pretty cool device where it can capture the images from an embedded machine, such as a server, ATM machine, administrative computer, etc and display it to your laptop through a USB 2.0 connection. You can emulate the screen of the device you're trying to fix on your laptop and use your laptop's mouse and keyboard as the mouse and keyboard of the device. This is great for administrators who want to get in quickly to a machine and fix whatever problem the machine has without any hassles. The KVM2USB is small (abouth the size of a box of paperclips) and pretty light compared to bringing a monitor and package with you, you could easily pack it with your laptop whenver you need to travel to a site. The KVM2USB is compatible with Windows XP and 2000, and you can get a Linux API but they don't include Open Source drivers according to the FAQ. As well you can use 2 KVM2USB's at the same time, meaning if you're trying to fix or compare two servers you can do so, but as expect the frame rates over the USB connection might go down due to a saturation of the USB 2.0 bus. Overall I think it's a great tool for those computer technicians or those network administrators who have to deal with a lot of headless units. If you're interested check out the KVM2USB Technical Specifications here to find out more.
This great image shows us the benefits are using the KVM2USB, for those who need more reinforcement on the need of one for various projects.
Thanks
-Steven
Posted bySteve at 3:25 PM
