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Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by bmitc on Sunday February 11, 2024 @09:17AM (#39335128)
Most newer Dell monitors have built -in KVMs and hubs. It's nice, becuase with wireless peripherals that USB receivers, it's a cableless setup. With a laptop, it's just a single cable to hookup everything.
Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by Neikius on Sunday February 11, 2024 @09:51AM (#39335341)
Bought one such monitor.

2 years later switched from m1 to m2 and it no longer works well enough (may also be the Sonoma upgrade stil gotta verify that). The devices get disconnected and glitch etc.

Went to check with dell and monitor is "not supported" on macos.

I am at a loss for words.

Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by loloquwowndueo on Sunday February 11, 2024 @10:10AM (#39335499)
How about “apple get your act together with those m2s”? :)

Disclaimer: meant to be humorous.

Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by pxc on Sunday February 11, 2024 @10:14AM (#39335519)
macOS has either always lacked (like Display port MST) or later broken/crippled (like DisplayLink support) some important features for multi-monitor setups. I wonder if those things or similar things are somehow implicated in these KVM-enabled monitors.
Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by bmitc on Sunday February 11, 2024 @10:59AM (#39335860)
I also had hell even with an Intel Macbook Pro. This whole just works thing Apple has been able to project is unfortunate. I have refused using Apple products from work because of how poorly their products integrate. It's not Dell. It's Apple. Any other monitor manufacturer will have the same issues.

Apple also refuses to implement a protocol that allows controlling the brightness and volume of a non-Apple monitor from the keyboard or even macOS itself. It's infuriating. The only monitors it works with are Apple's and the two overpriced Apple-sanctioned LG monitors sold in the Apple Store.

Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by a2tech on Sunday February 11, 2024 @12:28PM (#39336623)
This kind of whining is basically trolling. 'I've tried nothing and I'm angry it doesn't work!'
Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by bmitc on Sunday February 11, 2024 @01:35PM (#39337236)
A 16" Macbook Pro starts at $2,499. I do expect it to just work with basic peripherals and protocols for them.

I'm just explaining how it doesn't just work, and that I'm perfectly happy not using their products. My comment was also a correction that it's on Apple, and not Dell, as to why Apple products don't work well with non-Apple devices. This is a tactic that Apple uses to try and denigrate non-Apple products and get people to come back to Apple's "premium" versions of those products.

There are clear and easy steps Apple could take, but they won't.

Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by dns_snek on Monday February 12, 2024 @07:36AM (#39344117)
"I don't want to tinker with anything and have everything work out of the box" is Apple's entire value proposition.

That's the one justification that consistently gets upvoted to the top any time someone questions Apple's pricing structure. Please don't change the tune when someone reports a serious ongoing problem.

Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by phubbard on Sunday February 11, 2024 @11:04AM (#39335902)
I've had good luck with the Lunar app - it manages my Dell and LG monitors on an M2. (No affiliation) https://lunar.fyi
Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by mjcohen on Sunday February 11, 2024 @03:13PM (#39338215)
I use an app called MonitorControl on a M1 16" MBP running Sonoma that adjusts both the MBP screen and external HP 25f monitor. It adjusts the brightness and contrast of whichever screen the cursor is in.
Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by bmitc on Sunday February 11, 2024 @03:35PM (#39338422)
Right, but that's part of the point. Apple should just have this inside macOS.

From MonitorControl's GitHub README, emphasis mine:

> Most modern LCD displays from all major manufacturers supported implemented DDC/CI protocol via USB-C, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI or VGA to allow for hardware backlight and volume control.

And a blog entry by the author of Lunar, an app mentioned elsewhere for this problem: https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/journey-to-ddc-on-m1-macs/

These are not examples of "just works". Apple intentionally does these things to cripple integration into non-Apple products.

Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by kanisae on Sunday February 11, 2024 @01:11PM (#39336989)
I have an Intel Macbook 2019 for work. I've tried a couple different kvm solutions but they all had issues, always on the Mac side. The best I got was <1 sec switching from Mac to Linux and 10-15 seconds switching from Linux to Mac for everything to stabilize.

I ended up going with the nuclear option of an IP KVM https://www.raritan.com/support/product/dominion-kx-iv-101 that will do all the resolutions I want at 60hz. It was very expensive, but on the bright side it lets me keep work laptops completely unmodified and easily swappable.

Re:Show HN: Multi-monitor KVM using just a USB switch by jonathanlydall on Monday February 12, 2024 @06:30AM (#39343725)
I'm a little interested in one of these as an option to eventually replace my Dell WD19 USB-C DP-alt mode dock for my Dell notebook and my Desktop PC which connects by HDMI cables.

One question I couldn't see an answer to is whether or not the I can make the network port "sticky" to my Dell notebook (plugged in over USB-C), or will it "move" to my Desktop PC when I switch to it?

I read last year how recent standard made higher wattage delivery over USB-C now standard (I think it was the latest Thunderbolt one), so I'm waiting until these monitors can do that.