I may be the only one that cares

WARNING! Computer Geekery and Cabling Follow.

My KVM Extender came! My KVM Extender came!

NOTE: KVM stands for Keyboard, Video Display (or Monitor) and Mouse

It was last Friday. The UPS guy dropped it off 20 minutes before we were supposed to head to Grand Lake for a family reunion. No time to hook it up. GRRRRRR! We got home Monday evening and then I got SLAMMED at work. Double GRRRRRR!

But, with Tanner's help and patience, everything is now hooked up. And, while we are still having technical difficulties, it's a dream.

This is the KVM extender after I unpackaged it. I think it's really cool.



Turns out you can also use this to have TWO KVM stations running off of one PC - One could be in the kitchen and one could be anywhere you could get the wire to--as long as it's less than 328 feet. Neat, but, that's not how we used it.

I set up the keyboard, monitor and mouse on my desk and plugged them all into the REMOTE piece of the extender, which I placed Under the desk.



The Orangey-yellow Cat5 cable runs through the wall and to the closet--like the red line depicted here:(The blue lines are supposed to be the cable and telephone lines coming from the street.)



The orangey-yellow Cat5 plugs into a LOCAL piece of the Extender, which looks almost identical to the REMOTE piece.

A cable runs out of the LOCAL piece that plugs into the KVM ports on the back of your computer OR, in my case into this KVM Switch.



The KVM switch allows me to use the same Keyboard/Monitor/Mouse for two different computers. I just have to switch between computers, so I can't be using them at the same time. (but they can be on at the same time.) Out of the KVM switch comes TWO cables, which each have plugins for the Keyboard/Monitor/Mouse. I plug one into my home computer and one into my Work Computer...sort of.

Because my work computer is a laptop, (and I don't do well typing on the laptop keyboard and I need a larger monitor) I actually plug the second KVM cable into a Port Replicator. This is it.



The port replicator has the KVM cables and my work printer all plugged into it, and then ONE USB cable comes out of it. That USB cable plugs into my Laptop. (I have the same Port Replicator in my other office.) Like this:



This means, when moving between offices, all I have to do is plug the Laptop into Power and one other cable, rather than all the cables that go into the Port replicator. It just makes things a little easier.

Here's a rough drawing of it all.

Red = Cat5
Pink = USB Cable
Purple = KVM Cable
Blue = Telephone cable (the red cable to my work phone is correct, it's a VOIP phone)
Brown = Cable cable



wow. If you made it this far, drinks on me! But, totally worth it. Right?

Now ALL that crap is in the CLOSET! YAY! And I have no crap on my desk.

Note to Bub: Don't say it!!!!!

Done with the Geekery!

Pretty pictures in next post.

I promise!

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!

Family Room Entertainment Center

Our basement has a finished family room, and we chose to have a built-in Entertainment center done for the TV wall. And called again upon Cambridge Cabinetry here in Lee's Summit.

When we got the house there was a BIG hole built into the wall for a television and two of those built in component things - one on each side of the TV. We closed up the TV hole and one of the component holes, and it looked like this. (The only before picture I have is Christmas Day with the kids playing on the Wii.)

We decided to do away with the component hole all together and put the components inside the Entertainment center. We got another IR repeater, and of course I get to use it all with my Harmony Remote!

IR Repeaters - Keeping the components hidden

When we built the bar/entertainment cabinet in the Hearth Room, we wanted to hide the components, but we didn't want to use fabric in the cabinetry. The answer, an IR Repeater. Cost: around $100.



I was concerned because we had tried an el-cheapo version in the bedroom and the delay was so long it was painful. Ryan promised me this one would be better, and, yet again, he was right!


The components all go inside the cabinet.

Next, Ryan DRILLS A HOLE in our brand-new, custom-made, not-cheap cabinetry. He then installs the All-Seeing Eye This is where it gets technical.



Our son comes along and hooks up the ends of all these sticky wires to the blinky part of each component where the signal from the remote goes.



We shut the cabinet door. It works like a dream.
Not a component in site and ZERO delay!



AND I get another Harmony remote for this set up. SWOON!

TVs, or, REALLY, why I have allowed so many TVs in our household

We have a problem with televisions in our household. It's not the reception, and it's not even watching too much TV; it's the sheer number of TVs. We have Nine working TVs, with plans to add 3 more. And that is for a family for Four. The cable guy had to put some kind of booster/amplifier thing on the incoming line to get the signal to go to all the TVs.

And I blame Ryan.

For one of his milestone birthdays (40th..sorry, honey), he wanted a 60 inch TV. I thought it was ridiculous. First, to spend that much money, and second, I thought a TV that big was both ridiculous and wasteful.


So, 40th b-day rolls around, and we get one. And, once again, I was proven wrong. Wrong! So Wrong!

I love Ryan's TV. I mean, like, looooooooooove, Ryan's TV. And I love it in a sinful way. With the kind of love that should be saved for living things.

When we watch baseball on it (and I do not enjoy watching baseball), I love every minute of it! You can see every blade of grass in the outfield, and when the cameraman pans the crowd, if you were seated behind third base, I could point you out and text you what logo was on your hat.

And when we watch the Travel Channel, I no longer have the need to go to exotic locales because it's like I am there ALREADY! And my bathroom is nice and handy and (somewhat) clean.

Then marry that Sony WEGA up with my Harmony Remote. GLORY BE! Or I think I meant I want to marry Ryan's TV AND the Harmony Remote. A fantastic threesome and Happily Every After.