old computer

[ritarita]

I have been wondering if it is possible to hook up my old computer to my new computer using the same keyboard, mouse and screen? Is this feasable, worthwhile? I have xp on new computer and 98 on old computer with programs that I don't want to replace.$$$ One program I used the campatibility wizard and did not have much luck getting it to work. Any thoughts, ideas or info would be appreciated.

thanks ritarita

[LooseChippings]

You need a 'KVM Switch' ( http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/K/KVM_switch.html ), these allow you to connect your Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor to 2 computers and you switch between the 2.

Go to your local PC Store and get one priced up.

They are available in numerous configurations ...

DVI - VGA

PS2 - USB

Muliplt DVI & VGA

With and without sound.

You will probably find that Belkin is the best known brand.

[escherplex]

A Belkin OmniView E Series 2-Port KVM Switch (F1DB102P) is what I used for awhile. If you try this, make sure you set the monitor sync rate to the same value on both PCs or you'll get an unhealthy 'ping' sound from the monitor during switching (both LCD and CRT type). Another problem was with the mouse. Supposedly the KVM switch sends a dummy device signal to the idle machine but Win98<->XP would occasionally result in an unresponsive Logitech 13-pin mouse on the target machine and in Linux the mouse was consistently unresponsive with a wildly fluctuating cursor so I wound up using 2 mouse-s. And there's no provision for a USB mouse here.

Was it worth it? It was useful as a transitional tool but you'll probably find that you phase it out fairly quickly.