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#288153 - 15/10/2006 14:32 Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse
boxer
pooh-bah

Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
Does anybody have experience of these? It would do exactly what I want to do: Place a PC in an understairs cupboard, and control it from a work surface with no room for the whole installation. It's not cheap, so I'd like to know how good it is: I've got a house full of redundant gizmos that were going to solve problems!

Alternatively: Does anyone have a better/cheaper solution?
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag

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#288154 - 15/10/2006 15:30 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
andym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
Not used that particular one, but in general for me they work very well.
_________________________
Cheers,

Andy M

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#288155 - 15/10/2006 15:30 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
sn00p
addict

Registered: 24/07/2002
Posts: 618
Loc: South London
Quote:
Alternatively: Does anyone have a better/cheaper solution?


VNC.

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#288156 - 15/10/2006 15:36 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: sn00p]
andym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
Quote:
Quote:
Alternatively: Does anyone have a better/cheaper solution?


VNC.


I'm assuming he doesn't want a PC on his desk.
_________________________
Cheers,

Andy M

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#288157 - 15/10/2006 16:02 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: andym]
boxer
pooh-bah

Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
Andy is right, I use VNC to add programmes to my PVR, whilst I'm away.
Andy: If you haven't used that particular one, can you point me at one that you have used, and know works well?
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag

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#288158 - 15/10/2006 16:05 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
msaeger
carpal tunnel

Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
Something like that with DVI that does 1600X1200 would be great.
_________________________

Matt

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#288159 - 15/10/2006 16:41 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
Cris
pooh-bah

Registered: 06/02/2002
Posts: 1904
Loc: Leeds, UK
That seems a very expensive solution for a simple problem to me.

Have you looked into mini itx machines ? They can be very small, although would be a similar cost.

How about using an old laptop and VNC ? That would take up less space than a monitor, keyboard and mouse. You could spend the money on a new wireless router with a better range on it....

Cheers

Cris.

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#288160 - 15/10/2006 16:43 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: msaeger]
boxer
pooh-bah

Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
like this for the thick end of £500! + you've still got to control the keyboard and mouse: then add the cost of two optical cables and a cat5 - I think I'd think of something else!
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag

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#288161 - 15/10/2006 16:51 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: Cris]
boxer
pooh-bah

Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
Quote:
Have you looked into mini itx machines ?

No, but I will: Criteria are, that it has an ordinary, not a low profile PCI slot, and will work with digiTV, I'll check those things on the morrow.
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag

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#288162 - 15/10/2006 17:04 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
Quote:
Does anybody have experience of these? It would do exactly what I want to do: Place a PC in an understairs cupboard, and control it from a work surface with no room for the whole installation. It's not cheap, so I'd like to know how good it is: I've got a house full of redundant gizmos that were going to solve problems!

Alternatively: Does anyone have a better/cheaper solution?


What does this particular PC do ? There may be a completely different solution using ordinary networking.

Cheers

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#288163 - 15/10/2006 18:21 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
Cris
pooh-bah

Registered: 06/02/2002
Posts: 1904
Loc: Leeds, UK
Quote:
I'll check those things on the morrow.


I currently have 3 of these, search on eBay for mini itx to find their shop, they don't have anything on offer like this at the moment but it'll give you the idea. Performance is quite good on the faster motherboards and if you are not too bothered about having a fan on the CPU you can get normal desktop performance, and the tranquil cases will take 2 full size PCI cards.

I use one for my CCTV server, one for my firewall/NAS/linux stuff and the other will be for x10/home automation/HTPC. They look pretty cool in the rack mount too

Like Mark said, what it is for exactly?

Cheers

Cris.

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#288164 - 15/10/2006 18:47 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
andym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
Quote:
Andy: If you haven't used that particular one, can you point me at one that you have used, and know works well?


I use a lot of Black Box extenders, the basic model is £169+VAT and works great, the product code is: ACU3001A
_________________________
Cheers,

Andy M

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#288165 - 15/10/2006 19:14 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
andym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
Quote:
Quote:
Have you looked into mini itx machines ?

No, but I will: Criteria are, that it has an ordinary, not a low profile PCI slot, and will work with digiTV, I'll check those things on the morrow.


I have a Mini ITX like Cris' with a Nemehiah 13000 board and a 2xPCI riser and I can't for love nor money get my 2 Nova-T cards to work in it. I'm reduced to using a single card and waiting for linux drivers to mature for DVB-T USB sticks. I wouldn't recommend one for a serious PVR setup.
_________________________
Cheers,

Andy M

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#288166 - 15/10/2006 19:59 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: andym]
boxer
pooh-bah

Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
i'll check out and answer your questions in the AM, but thnks for the input, meantime, I have to put in some practice on the silent guitar - Oh, and put in a few more pages of Churchill's; "History of the English Speaking Peoples", heck is that heavy reading!.
Meantime, you'll find me, in the highviz yellow, 2nd. pic. down, sitting on top of my loco: "Dolgarrog", in the group photo here.
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag

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#288167 - 16/10/2006 15:39 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: mlord]
boxer
pooh-bah

Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
Quote:
What does this particular PC do ? There may be a completely different solution using ordinary networking.

This is all speculative, depending on the outcome of a letter I wrote to the CEO of PC World getting him to rattle Sony Vaio's cage.
We had a Sony VGC-M1designer PC in the kichen, which doubles as an analog TV, at least it has a clunky piece of software which acts as a TV! A couple of months back its PSU gave out and Sony want £445 to look at it, so if I can't beat them down, I'll make alternative arrangements.
In a few months, we'll have a spare PC, but it's too big to fit the space in the kitchen, hence my original post.
All its used for is surfing, or more particularly frittering my small fortune on ebay and countless retail sites.
Apart from that it acts as a TV and MP3 player.
To be acceptable to Mrs.B, the TV function has to be as foolproof as switching on a regular TV, the red button on the remote has to bring up the picture pdq!. I'm not suggesting that Mrs.B is thick, just that she doesn't want anything she has got to fiddle with.
Therefore I'm fairly committed to DigiTv, we're used to the UI and, after some development problems, it works fairly faultlessly.
The only further complication is that it has to be able to display an analog signal(Satellite, VHS, or relaying what's on in the sitting room). The PCI version of DigiTv will do this, the USB won't. I know that there are 110 ways to get an analog picture from a USB on to a PC screen, but bear in mind the need for simplicity.
That's about it really.
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag

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#288168 - 16/10/2006 16:18 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
tahir
pooh-bah

Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1919
Loc: London
I've got one of these sitting round that you're welcome to:

http://www.adder.com/main.asp?id=508_2073_23610

It does sound and KVM over Cat5

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#288169 - 16/10/2006 16:32 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: boxer]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14496
Loc: Canada
A nice notebook PC, perhaps?

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#288170 - 16/10/2006 17:07 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: tahir]
andym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
Quote:
I've got one of these sitting round that you're welcome to:

http://www.adder.com/main.asp?id=508_2073_23610

It does sound and KVM over Cat5


Bite the man's hand off Godfrey!
_________________________
Cheers,

Andy M

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#288171 - 17/10/2006 09:53 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: tahir]
tman
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
Quote:
I've got one of these sitting round that you're welcome to:

http://www.adder.com/main.asp?id=508_2073_23610

It does sound and KVM over Cat5

Ooo... Nice!

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#288172 - 17/10/2006 10:24 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: andym]
tahir
pooh-bah

Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1919
Loc: London
Quote:
Bite the man's hand off Godfrey!


Bit, oww!

I've never used it so it may as well serve some purpose

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#288173 - 20/10/2006 11:22 Re: Remote, Screen, Keyboard & Mouse [Re: tahir]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
Your hand?
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Bitt Faulk

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