Another post about Extensions, this time the KVM kind

I look at all those fabulous offices in Ballard Designs and such; how do they do it? I'm not talking about the design, which is gorgeous.

I'm talking about where do they put all their crap?



First the books.

They have the attractive, leather bound kind.

I have the dog-eared-neon-yellow-Dummies Guide to SQL or the Fat Spiral Gregg Reference kind. Not to mention the mismatched-Binder-holding-various-reports kind.

Computer Equipment.

They have a laptop. Or, at the most, a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I have two printers, a fax, a scanner, the modem and router, the PC, a laptop, an adding machine, home phone, VOIP work phone, port replicator, and of course the keyboard, mouse and monitor.

The Decor.

They have Giclee prints, handcrafted acanthus message boards and animal print file folders

I have sticky notes, manilla folders and arts & crafts created by my children.

The MONEY

They have $129 to spend on a desk organizer.

I have a house payment.

The REALITY

I can't do much about the money, BUT, I am working on the hiding of the crap.

First, Ryan built a closet in the office where I planned to house the printers, scanners and such by running USB cables through the wall by the desk into the closet to connect everything. Except, a USB cable max length is 16.4 feet. I need 20-25 feet. My first reaction was "well, shit."

Now there are ways to extend the cable, yes, however, we found an even BETTER solution.

A KVM extender! Just over 100 bucks at monoprice.com.

It allows you to plug your Keyboard, Monitor and Mouse into a little box. Attached to that little box is a CAT 5 cable - technical maximum length 328 feet! You run that cable to another little box (Mine will be inside the closet). Out of THAT little box are the Keyboard, Monitor and Mouse cables, which you then plug into your PC - OR, in my case, into a KVM switch, which allows me to use my Keyboard, Monitor and Mouse for either my PC or my laptop, using a keyboard hot key to make the switch. (Scroll Lock, Scroll Lock, Down Arrow).

Here's my fancy interpretation of how the KVM extender works.



Why am I so handspring-happy about this - aside from my natural geekish tendencies?

This means ALL my crap will be IN THE CLOSET! On my desk will only have to be Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor, the first part of the KVM extender, my adding machine, my work phone and my home phone. That's it! WAY cool. Almost like the fancy office people's homes in the Designer Photos.

Monoprice sent me an email and said the extender shipped yesterday! I hope to have it before Friday. And will be sure to share all my wiring.

tee hee! I'm loving it!