Monitoring the Situation
Aug. 11th, 2023 03:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperThe additional cables arrived from Amazon early this morning, so I went to work on swapping out the various pieces of the system and getting the new stuff up and running. This involved first unplugging the existing monitors and weaving the cables that connect them out from the considerable nest of cables on the desk. Then I grabbed the new KVM switch and carefully unplugged the mouse, keyboard, USB port, and speakers from the old switch and into the new switch. I wired the computers into the KVM switch. Finally, the new monitors went onto the desk and were plugged in.
Uh, no. They weren't. It turns out that both of the ports that go to the monitors were HDMI ports, which was a surprise, because I had thought there was one display port and one HDMI port. I was wrong. (Queue song.)
I am positive there is a spare HDMI cable somewhere in the basement. I didn't feel like ransacking the basement right now, so I stole the HDMI cable from our Roku in the bedroom. Ok, *now* the monitors were plugged in.
And nothing happened. Even when I remembered to turn on the power to the KVM switch. This would be easier if I had the manual for these monitors, but they are refurbs and shipped without such. I could probably find one online somewhere, but I would have to use my phone, because, well, no working monitors.
Eventually, I managed to find a switch on the back of the monitors and switch them from USB-C input to HDMI input, at which point I started seeing a mouse cursor on one of the monitors, but nothing on the other. I was staring at the docking station for the work computer and the ports on the video card for my office computer and starting to greatly regret the absence of manuals.
Messing around followed. It turned out that the office computer had been plugged in such that the display port and the HDMI port were sharing the same output, so I just moved the HDMI connection to another display port using the adapter that I had bought, and things there started thinking about working better. It turns out that the docking station had come unplugged from the work computer, as they are attached together by a *very* short Thunderbolt cable. I could plug that back in.
I managed to get the office computer sorted out in fairly short order, convincing it that the screens were the resolutions that they were supposed to be, that this screen was here, and that screen was there, and that everything ought to work.
The work computer was another challenge, because it did not want to let me extend the desktop on the two big monitors; it would only duplicate it. Eventually, I found the keyboard control to turn off the laptop screen and just send signal to the desktop monitors. Now, I could extend the desktop on both desktop monitors, I could get them positioned, I could (eventually) get them both to the right resolution.
Let's try using Remote Desktop Connection to connect to my VM. And that works, except the VM is convinced that my main screen is the subsidiary screen and vice versa. More messing around ensued, including swapping back the HDMI output cables on the back of the KVM to the original configuration which I had abandoned at some point during the entertainment.
A bit *more* messing around on all of the machines and everyone (including the VM) now agreed on which monitor was the main monitor and where all of the monitors are sitting on the desk. They look nice.
Not too long after that, I managed to get the speakers working again. I think that's the last of the cleanup that needs to be done. Other than the surface of the desk, which looks like a tornado hit it.
Now, let's see how the eyestrain goes.
Uh, no. They weren't. It turns out that both of the ports that go to the monitors were HDMI ports, which was a surprise, because I had thought there was one display port and one HDMI port. I was wrong. (Queue song.)
I am positive there is a spare HDMI cable somewhere in the basement. I didn't feel like ransacking the basement right now, so I stole the HDMI cable from our Roku in the bedroom. Ok, *now* the monitors were plugged in.
And nothing happened. Even when I remembered to turn on the power to the KVM switch. This would be easier if I had the manual for these monitors, but they are refurbs and shipped without such. I could probably find one online somewhere, but I would have to use my phone, because, well, no working monitors.
Eventually, I managed to find a switch on the back of the monitors and switch them from USB-C input to HDMI input, at which point I started seeing a mouse cursor on one of the monitors, but nothing on the other. I was staring at the docking station for the work computer and the ports on the video card for my office computer and starting to greatly regret the absence of manuals.
Messing around followed. It turned out that the office computer had been plugged in such that the display port and the HDMI port were sharing the same output, so I just moved the HDMI connection to another display port using the adapter that I had bought, and things there started thinking about working better. It turns out that the docking station had come unplugged from the work computer, as they are attached together by a *very* short Thunderbolt cable. I could plug that back in.
I managed to get the office computer sorted out in fairly short order, convincing it that the screens were the resolutions that they were supposed to be, that this screen was here, and that screen was there, and that everything ought to work.
The work computer was another challenge, because it did not want to let me extend the desktop on the two big monitors; it would only duplicate it. Eventually, I found the keyboard control to turn off the laptop screen and just send signal to the desktop monitors. Now, I could extend the desktop on both desktop monitors, I could get them positioned, I could (eventually) get them both to the right resolution.
Let's try using Remote Desktop Connection to connect to my VM. And that works, except the VM is convinced that my main screen is the subsidiary screen and vice versa. More messing around ensued, including swapping back the HDMI output cables on the back of the KVM to the original configuration which I had abandoned at some point during the entertainment.
A bit *more* messing around on all of the machines and everyone (including the VM) now agreed on which monitor was the main monitor and where all of the monitors are sitting on the desk. They look nice.
Not too long after that, I managed to get the speakers working again. I think that's the last of the cleanup that needs to be done. Other than the surface of the desk, which looks like a tornado hit it.
Now, let's see how the eyestrain goes.