OK, here's a questionf for you all: i bought a switching box with one DB 25 I/O plug on the one side and 4 identical DB 25 I/O plugs on the other side, with a switch that selects one of the 4 at a time. I bought it with my mac monitors in mind. I am running out of space to keep one monitor for each mac set up on my computer area countertop. I was hoping It would work ok if I were to use one monitor between two [or more] macs at a time, running the monitor cords out the backs of each mac to one of the 4 plugs and plugging one monitor in on the single side, and choosing among the 4 positions depending on which mac I wanted to see on the screen at a time.
I am worrying about the mac's inbuilt bootup check of peripherals, and how I have noticed you guys talking about the need to short out particular pins on the monitor plug if you want to run your machine headless as a server. I am anticipating being told that I can only boot up one machine at any given time, and that for this to work, I must have the monitor picker preset to the machine's monitor input number that I am going to be using BEFORE I turn on said chosen machine and boot it up, so that the circuit going to and returning from the monitor, thru the switchbox, will be a complete circuit that comes back to the sensors and informs the machine that it indeed is connected to a monitor and has a display. right or wrong? next aspect: what does it do to machine number one, turned on, running, and display channeled thru the switchbox to said monitor, if i then were to move the switch to position 2 and turn on machine #2 and boot it up? what happens to machine #1 if it's on and running and suddenly that complete circuit that was going out to the monitor thru the switch box, gets interrupted by the switch being tuned to position number two? doesn't that in effect render it headless for the time the switch is in postion #2? what will it do to the running machine? what is the difference between a headless server with the pins in the reccomended shorting positions, and a mac running where the monitor cord connection is suddenly separated by a switchbox breaking the circuit? we are talking here of a IIsi, an LCIII, or the Ifx could I put 2 of them on a switcher box? could I put 4 on the box? could i stack them on top of one another and use all of them on one monitor with this switchbox? I gotta come up with a way to reduce the amount of space I am using on the countertop. as long as I have one monitor to one mac, I am forced to spread them all out horizontally. how can I stack them and use fewer monitors? Janet http://community.webtv.net/mensabrains/BADCODE http://www.anybrowser.org -- Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> Send list messages to: <mailto:vintage.macs@;mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:vintage.macs-off@;mail.maclaunch.com> For digest mode, email: <mailto:vintage.macs-digest@;mail.maclaunch.com> Subscription questions: <mailto:listmom@;lowendmac.com> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
