Re: [vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On 19 March 2017 at 20:32, Nick S  wrote:

> Monitor source selection menu is the cheapest option and also the least
> convenient. The most convenient option is a KVM switch but then you would
> have to deal with passing one of its USB ports to the VM while keeping the
> other one on host and a good KVM will cost you several hundred bucks. The
> way I am using it:
> 1) Cheap HDMI switcher (i.e. something like this: https://www.amazon.com/
> TBS%C2%AE2083-Intelligent-Switcher-Adapter-Splitter/
> product-reviews/B00M6I8K2E). It allows me to switch the cards without
> fumbling with the monitor menu.
>

This is the one I have:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B019MJM2ZU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8=1

Very cheap and really designed for TVs.

2) I keep the emulated VGA as a second adapter on my virtual machines. For
> Windows 7 it keeps a window on the desktop that I can use to grab or
> release focus for keyboard and mouse. This way I don't have to deal with
> any USB passthrough - only the GPU is passed to the VM.
>

That's more or less what I do as well. However when I toggle the HDMI
switch from the 2nd GPU (Windows) to the 1st (Linux), Windows rings a
notification saying it has lost the screen, I presume because the switch
powered down that port. (This doesn't happen if I just connect both GPUs
directly to the monitor via HDMI and DVI inputs). Note that toggling the
switch back pings again and the screen is restored, but now the mouse and
KB are trapped in the Linux desktop window and can't be moved across.
Possibly your switch is better behaved and doesn't power down the port, in
which case that would solve the problem for me.

poc
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Re: [vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Nick S]

Monitor source selection menu is the cheapest option and also the least
convenient. The most convenient option is a KVM switch but then you would
have to deal with passing one of its USB ports to the VM while keeping the
other one on host and a good KVM will cost you several hundred bucks. The
way I am using it:
1) Cheap HDMI switcher (i.e. something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/TBS%C2%AE2083-Intelligent-Switcher-Adapter-Splitter/product-reviews/B00M6I8K2E).
It allows me to switch the cards without fumbling with the monitor menu.
2) I keep the emulated VGA as a second adapter on my virtual machines. For
Windows 7 it keeps a window on the desktop that I can use to grab or
release focus for keyboard and mouse. This way I don't have to deal with
any USB passthrough - only the GPU is passed to the VM.

On Sun, Mar 19, 2017 at 7:14 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan  wrote:

> I have VFIO passthrough working with a Windows 10 VM, running on Fedora
> 25. Currently I have two cables running to my single monitor (one HDMI
> and one DVI), so switching back and forth means toggling a monitor
> setting. This does work, but is a bit clunky.
>
> BTW the mouse and keyboard also switch back and forth (this slightly
> surprised me but I'm not going to question it :-)
>
> I thought I could make this simpler by exchanging the DVI cable for
> another HDMI cable, both cables going into an HDMI switch and hence to
> the HDMI port on the monitor, with the idea of toggling back and forth.
> However this doesn't entirely work. I suspect that the switch powers
> off the input it's not using and this confuses Windows.
>
> Most of the discussion I've seen recommends Synergy, a software
> KB/mouse switcher, however this explicitly does not support video
> switching, i.e. it assumes you have a separate monitor for each machine
> (real or virtual), which is not the case here.
>
> The other option seems to be a physical KVM switch, but before shelling
> out more money I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this. What do you
> do to support a single monitor?
>
> poc
>
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Re: [vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Rokas Kupstys]

Check monitor documentation. i2c is a protocol for software to control 
monitor in this case. Monitors usually support it but might not work on all 
input ports.



On March 19, 2017 19:50:38 "Patrick O'Callaghan"  wrote:


On 19 March 2017 at 16:49, Rokas Kupstys  wrote:


https://rokups.github.io/blog/#!pages/full-software-kvm-switch.md



OK, thanks, that's a lot to digest. Before I get into it, can you say what
you mean by "i2c-capable monitor". My monitor is an HP Pavilion 23xi if it
matters.

poc
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Re: [vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Rokas Kupstys]

https://rokups.github.io/blog/#!pages/full-software-kvm-switch.md

Rokas Kupstys

On 19/03/17 16:55, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:

On Sun, 2017-03-19 at 09:24 -0500, Jayme Howard wrote:
I do exactly what you described as your original solution, though 
I've got

a USB switch inline as well, because my monitor doesn't have USB
passthrough.


I don't have a USB switch but I do use a wireless KB and mouse (with a 
USB dongle).
I don't see why that should make a difference but apparently it does. 
Possibly there's
some magic in Windows that makes this work, I've no idea. Currently I 
have Windows
configured with "extended display", i.e. the internal KVM/QEMU display 
counts as
screen 1 and the Nvidia card output as screen 2, with screen 2 being 
used as the

default display.

poc


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Re: [vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Sun, 2017-03-19 at 09:24 -0500, Jayme Howard wrote:
> I do exactly what you described as your original solution, though I've got
> 
> a USB switch inline as well, because my monitor doesn't have USB
> 
> passthrough.

I don't have a USB switch but I do use a wireless KB and mouse (with a USB 
dongle).
I don't see why that should make a difference but apparently it does. Possibly 
there's
some magic in Windows that makes this work, I've no idea. Currently I have 
Windows
configured with "extended display", i.e. the internal KVM/QEMU display counts as
screen 1 and the Nvidia card output as screen 2, with screen 2 being used as the
default display.

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Re: [vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Jayme Howard]

I do exactly what you described as your original solution, though I've got
a USB switch inline as well, because my monitor doesn't have USB
passthrough.

On Sun, Mar 19, 2017 at 9:14 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan  wrote:

> I have VFIO passthrough working with a Windows 10 VM, running on Fedora
> 25. Currently I have two cables running to my single monitor (one HDMI
> and one DVI), so switching back and forth means toggling a monitor
> setting. This does work, but is a bit clunky.
>
> BTW the mouse and keyboard also switch back and forth (this slightly
> surprised me but I'm not going to question it :-)
>
> I thought I could make this simpler by exchanging the DVI cable for
> another HDMI cable, both cables going into an HDMI switch and hence to
> the HDMI port on the monitor, with the idea of toggling back and forth.
> However this doesn't entirely work. I suspect that the switch powers
> off the input it's not using and this confuses Windows.
>
> Most of the discussion I've seen recommends Synergy, a software
> KB/mouse switcher, however this explicitly does not support video
> switching, i.e. it assumes you have a separate monitor for each machine
> (real or virtual), which is not the case here.
>
> The other option seems to be a physical KVM switch, but before shelling
> out more money I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this. What do you
> do to support a single monitor?
>
> poc
>
> ___
> vfio-users mailing list
> vfio-users@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/vfio-users
>
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[vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

I have VFIO passthrough working with a Windows 10 VM, running on Fedora
25. Currently I have two cables running to my single monitor (one HDMI
and one DVI), so switching back and forth means toggling a monitor
setting. This does work, but is a bit clunky.

BTW the mouse and keyboard also switch back and forth (this slightly
surprised me but I'm not going to question it :-)

I thought I could make this simpler by exchanging the DVI cable for
another HDMI cable, both cables going into an HDMI switch and hence to
the HDMI port on the monitor, with the idea of toggling back and forth.
However this doesn't entirely work. I suspect that the switch powers
off the input it's not using and this confuses Windows.

Most of the discussion I've seen recommends Synergy, a software
KB/mouse switcher, however this explicitly does not support video
switching, i.e. it assumes you have a separate monitor for each machine
(real or virtual), which is not the case here.

The other option seems to be a physical KVM switch, but before shelling
out more money I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this. What do you
do to support a single monitor?

poc

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