It practically requires more hardware than a separate IP KVM. Finding RS-232 in a laptop is already nearly impossible, so I doubt this will happen.
The keyboard/mouse part *might* be possible in some cases where these devices have a usb interface somewhere in the middle. Still, you'd need cables that break USB standards or a separate connector. The display would require a scaler/processor/ADC/TMDS receiver, which are found in every standalone LCD. This stuff consumes multiple watts (it becomes hot enough to cook itself in a few years after all) so it will not appear in a laptop any time soon. An IP KVM or a USB KVM is the way to go. Then you are not bound to one very weird laptop and have to hunt for a new one every few years to upgrade. And you can copy-paste stuff, and lots of other benefits. On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 09:14:48PM +0000, Mario Eirea wrote: > Ive wished this for years. Seems like it could be easy to achieve in theory. > > -Mario Eirea > > On Feb 20, 2012, at 11:55 AM, "Matthew Petach" <mpet...@netflight.com> wrote: > > > On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 7:34 AM, Jon Lewis <jle...@lewis.org> wrote: > >> Speaking of that sort of thing, I'd really LOVE if there were a device > >> about > >> the size of a netbook that could be hooked up to otherwise headless > >> machines > >> in colos that would give you keyboard, video & mouse. i.e. a folding > >> netbook shaped VGA monitor with USB keyboard and touchpad. I know there > >> are > >> folding rackmount versions of this (i.e. from Dell), but I want something > >> far more portable. Twice in the past month, I'd had to drive 100+ miles to > >> a remote colo and took a full size flat panel monitor and keyboard with me. > >> Has anyone actually built this yet? > > > > Seeing as how most laptops have a VGA connector > > and a keyboard/mouse connector on them, albeit > > wired in the wrong direction (VGA connector feeds > > video out from the video card, keyboard port takes > > in input from external keyboard), the wiring and hard > > parts are already mostly done; I'd *love* to have a > > vendor release a laptop line that has a toggle switch > > on it that a) only engages when the laptop is off, and > > b) flips the logic--keyboard port gets connected to the > > output of the laptop keyboard, and sends data out > > rather than receives data, while the VGA port is > > disconnected from the video card, and is instead > > connected to the LCD panel of the laptop. If an > > enterprise vendor added support for a toggle like > > that, I'm sure there would be dozens of companies > > that would order them in a heartbeat, to be able to > > do away with the constant need for crash carts > > rolling around the datacenter aisles. Heck, even > > I'd order one--I could finally get rid of the old monitors > > I keep around the house for debugging random > > server problems in the rack upstairs. :/ > > > > Matt > > >
