Using a single keyboard, mouse, and monitor for both a Mac and PC at the same time is an attractive idea for saving desk space and perhaps money. There are several different approaches you can take, involving different switching products and combinations of products. Some of these are cheap and easy, other are complex and expensive. You can use a Mac keyboard on some, and a PC keyboard on others.
Pay particular attention to the gender of all the cables and connectors you plan to use and to the type of PC keyboard/mouse and monitor ports you plan to use. If you don't, it's all to easy to end up with cables of the wrong type. You can usually correct any mistakes with gender changers or adapters, but that's just one more cost, hassle, and possible source of noise on the line.
The Cybex SwitchView handles this well. Cybex claims that most other switches don't support a scroller roller, and I'm inclined to believe them.
Because these rollers are a relatively recent innovation, only a small number of people have them now. But in recent months a number of PC vendors have started to ship mice with them -- I've seen them even in $1000 PCs and refurbished computers -- and I'm sure they'll be common, if not ubiquitous, in the future. So even if you don't have such a device now, it makes sense to think about this issue, especially if you're considering investing in one of the more expensive switching solutions.
If you're willing to do a little more shopping, there's another option that can save money. That option is to use a keyboard/mouse adapter that only translates between ADB and PC serial in combination with a plain PC keyboard/mouse/VGA switch. That way, you have a much wider range of options, including many that are much cheaper than anything (as far as I know) listed in your second part now. The range starts with low-end mechanical K/M/VGA switches from Taiwan, which you can find in Fry's, NCA, or other electronics parts stores for as little as $30. For many months I used a Keystone keyboard adapter with a $32 switch that supported 4 PCs that I picked up an NCA store. With this setup, I had my Mac, my Dell Dimension, and for a while even a BeBox attached, and with one flip of the ABCD dial I could switch the monitor, keyboard and trackball among them. I had a few early glitches, but I got it working quite well.
Now I've switched my setup around and I have something even slicker: A four-machine Cybex SwitchView, an electronic switch that cost me around $175 on a Comdex special (it's normally $225 or some such, but there's a two-machine version that's cheaper), and an AppAdapt from USAR Systems. Aside from an occasional and easily fixable glitch (see the Mouse/Keyboard Troubleshooting section below), this setup has worked smoothly for me for several months now. What I like best about it is that when the Mac crashes, I just hit the button and I can surf the web or whatever from NT while the Mac pulls itself back together. And the USAR AppAdapt is terrific -- everything is handled in hardware, there's no Mac software at all, and I haven't seen any of the glitches I sometimes did with the KeyStone. (See MacWindows Solutions for contact info for these systems.)
There are quite a few other PC switching devices you could use the same way, once you get something to handle ADB. One I know of that seems to be pretty well regarded is the MasterControl from Raritan Computers. But that one and most of the others I've heard about are much more expensive than the mechanical switches or the SwitchView, and as far as I know, you don't really get any extra functionality for the money.
While I haven't tried any three- or four-button mice or trackballs in my setup, my hunch is that through the Cybex device all buttons would produce a regular click. (Of course, without Mac software that knows about the different buttons, the special features wouldn't work.)
Planning
Before you implement a monitor/keyboard switching setup, it really pays to sketch it all out on paper first. Decide whether you're going to use a Mac or PC keyboard, and what monitor you are using before you start ordering products.Pay particular attention to the gender of all the cables and connectors you plan to use and to the type of PC keyboard/mouse and monitor ports you plan to use. If you don't, it's all to easy to end up with cables of the wrong type. You can usually correct any mistakes with gender changers or adapters, but that's just one more cost, hassle, and possible source of noise on the line.
Pricing
Many keyboard/monitor sharing products are designed for labs and trade shows, and can be outrageously expensive for personal or small business use. When shopping for a solution, you should also take note of the extras some of the products require. For example, some vendors quote prices that don't include the price of a required card for the Mac or required special cables, which can be ridiculously expensive.Support for PC "Scroller Roller" Mice
One issue to watch for with any input-device switch is whether it handles the signals from the scroller roller on Microsoft's IntelliMouse mice and trackballs and many other new PC mice and trackballs. These rollers let you scroll down the page without having to mouse to the scrollbar on the Web, in Microsoft Office and in a small but growing number of other Windows applications. It may sound hokey, but it's actually pretty useful.The Cybex SwitchView handles this well. Cybex claims that most other switches don't support a scroller roller, and I'm inclined to believe them.
Because these rollers are a relatively recent innovation, only a small number of people have them now. But in recent months a number of PC vendors have started to ship mice with them -- I've seen them even in $1000 PCs and refurbished computers -- and I'm sure they'll be common, if not ubiquitous, in the future. So even if you don't have such a device now, it makes sense to think about this issue, especially if you're considering investing in one of the more expensive switching solutions.
Monitor/Keyboard Sharing Devices
The MacWindows Solutions table called Using One Keyboard and Monitor for both PC and Macintosh includes devices that support the Mac either directly or with an optional converter. This means that they can convert Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) signals to PC serial formats.If you're willing to do a little more shopping, there's another option that can save money. That option is to use a keyboard/mouse adapter that only translates between ADB and PC serial in combination with a plain PC keyboard/mouse/VGA switch. That way, you have a much wider range of options, including many that are much cheaper than anything (as far as I know) listed in your second part now. The range starts with low-end mechanical K/M/VGA switches from Taiwan, which you can find in Fry's, NCA, or other electronics parts stores for as little as $30. For many months I used a Keystone keyboard adapter with a $32 switch that supported 4 PCs that I picked up an NCA store. With this setup, I had my Mac, my Dell Dimension, and for a while even a BeBox attached, and with one flip of the ABCD dial I could switch the monitor, keyboard and trackball among them. I had a few early glitches, but I got it working quite well.
Now I've switched my setup around and I have something even slicker: A four-machine Cybex SwitchView, an electronic switch that cost me around $175 on a Comdex special (it's normally $225 or some such, but there's a two-machine version that's cheaper), and an AppAdapt from USAR Systems. Aside from an occasional and easily fixable glitch (see the Mouse/Keyboard Troubleshooting section below), this setup has worked smoothly for me for several months now. What I like best about it is that when the Mac crashes, I just hit the button and I can surf the web or whatever from NT while the Mac pulls itself back together. And the USAR AppAdapt is terrific -- everything is handled in hardware, there's no Mac software at all, and I haven't seen any of the glitches I sometimes did with the KeyStone. (See MacWindows Solutions for contact info for these systems.)
There are quite a few other PC switching devices you could use the same way, once you get something to handle ADB. One I know of that seems to be pretty well regarded is the MasterControl from Raritan Computers. But that one and most of the others I've heard about are much more expensive than the mechanical switches or the SwitchView, and as far as I know, you don't really get any extra functionality for the money.
Mice with more than 2 Buttons
If you want to use a mouse or trackball with more than two buttons with a switchbox, you should test it with the device first. This is particularly true with the Mac, but even on the PC I wouldn't make any assumptions. One person I know using a four-button PC trackball (the Kensington Expert Mouse) on his Mac via a switchbox and an AppAdapt from USAR Systems could only get the lower-left button to work. I also use a Kensington trackball, the PC version of the two-button Orbit, through the AppAdapt, and it works fine on both PC and Mac - pressing the right button just produces a regular click on the Mac, same as the left button, while on the PC, as you'd expect, it generates the special right-click signal. I'm using it with the Cybex SwitchView and haven't gone back and tested it with the cheapo mechanical switches, but in the past other two-button PC mice have also worked as expected on both platforms through those switches.While I haven't tried any three- or four-button mice or trackballs in my setup, my hunch is that through the Cybex device all buttons would produce a regular click. (Of course, without Mac software that knows about the different buttons, the special features wouldn't work.)
