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KVM switch AI simulator

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KVM switch

A KVM switch (with KVM being an abbreviation for "keyboard, video, and mouse") is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from one or more sets of keyboards, video monitors, and mouse.

Switches to connect multiple computers to one or more peripherals have had multiple names.

The earliest name was Keyboard Video Switch (KVS). With the advent of the mouse, the Keyboard, Video and Mouse (KVM) switch became popular. The name was introduced by Remigius Shatas, the founder of Cybex (now Vertiv), a peripheral switch manufacturer, in 1995. Some companies call their switches Keyboard, Video, Mouse and Peripheral (KVMP).

USB keyboards, mice, and I/O devices are the most common devices connected to a KVM switch. The classes of KVM switches discussed below are based on different types of core technologies, which vary in how the KVM switch handles USB I/O devices—including keyboards, mice, touchscreen displays, etc. (USB-HID = USB human interface device)

A KVM Switch is a hardware device used in data centers that allows the control of multiple computers from a single keyboard, monitor and mouse (KVM). The switch allows data center personnel to connect to any server in the rack. A common example of home use is to enable the use of the full-size keyboard, mouse and monitor of the home PC with a portable device such as a laptop, tablet PC or PDA, or a computer using a different operating system.

KVM switches offer different methods of connecting the computers. Depending on the product, the switch may present native connectors on the device where standard keyboard, monitor and mouse cables can be attached. Another method to have a single DB25 or similar connector that aggregated connections at the switch with three independent keyboard, monitor and mouse cables to the computers. Subsequently, these were replaced by a special KVM cable which combined the keyboard, video and mouse cables in a single wrapped extension cable. The advantage of the last approach is in the reduction of the number of cables between the KVM switch and connected computers. The disadvantage is the cost of these cables.

The method of switching from one computer to another depends on the switch. The original peripheral switches (Rose, circa 1988) used a rotary switch while active electronic switches (Cybex, circa 1990) used push buttons on the KVM device. In both cases, the KVM aligns operation between different computers and the users' keyboard, monitor and mouse (user console).

In 1992–1993, Cybex Corporation engineered keyboard hot-key commands.[citation needed] Today, most KVMs are controlled through non-invasive hot-key commands (e.g. Ctrl+Ctrl, Scroll Lock+Scroll Lock and the Print Screen keys). Hot-key switching is often complemented with an on-screen display system that displays a list of connected computers.

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device that connects computer front-end hardware to multiple computers
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