StarTech.com Portable Laptop Crash Cart Adapter for Server Management, USB/VGA KVM Console, Windows/Linux/MacOS - TAA

This is a great product for data centers and the like. Very easy to use just install the and your away. I would suggest getting a small vga extender to allow the adapter a bit more room so it can be placed on top of servers etc to reduce strain on the server vga connector.

Absolutely invaluable if you work on PC's professionally. Saves carrying (or finding) a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Turns your laptop into all three. Very handy for instance for updating BIOS settings PC in one window, settings in another. I'm just waiting for them to come up with a wireless version, although I guess that would be easier to leave at a customer site! This is my second one so a word of caution - don't leave the USB lead plugged in while carrying around in your kit. The socket came of the board in the first one.

Super piece of kit to have in the bag. Saves trying to look for a crash cart. Can also be used as just a keyboard/mouse when there's already a screen.

item received with many thanks

Its hard to know what to say about something that just works, but it does. A laptop is transformed into a complete KVM with keyboard, mouse and monitor. It uses a USB for the keyboard/mouse into the server and a 15 pin VGA for video. Unlike every other option I have seen you don't need to install driver software onto the server, only the laptop. This means you can access the startup, BIOS etc etc and fix problems simply that could otherwise take hours. Also, in the box but not in some photographs are a USB to PS/2 adaptor, a USB thumbdrive with the software driver for the laptop (PC and MAC) and a 5 foot USB cable to connect the device to a laptop. There is no getting round the fact that it is expensive but its great. If you need it you know you do.

Great product and an absolutely great addition to your backpack. But just over a year on it no longer works. On closer inspection the connections from the adapter to the VGA and USB have worn loose and the clips have come loose. Bit of advice, tape up the adapter to make it more sturdy so that it will last longer. The cost of the rugged version is simply crazy.

haben uns für jeden unserer Serverräume einen dieser Adapter zugelegt und auf jedes Admin-NB die Software installiert .... funktioniert einfach und genau so wie es soll !

I bought this because I am always going to data centers and hate looking for, or just HOPING there is, a crash cart lying around, or that the client has a KVM in the rack. This easily fits in my laptop bag, and comes with me in the truck or on an airplane. And if you get a 15 foot usb cable with it like I did, you can sit on the hot aisle instead of the cold aisle. You data center monkeys will know what I'm talking about. But it works exactly as advertised. You see everything from POST onwards, on anything from desktops to G9 HP servers. WELL worth the cash. Feels solid built too...hefty...but I still treat it like a baby just because of how expensive it is. Fair warning though...on Windows 8 or newer, they don't have any signed drivers yet, so you have to boot into the recovery mode and turn off driver signing in the OS, then it will load the drivers and work fine. It will continue to work until you reboot. So if you just put your laptop to sleep, it will be fine. Just keep this in mind if you think yours doesn't work on Windows 8/10. Once the drivers are loaded the first time, they never need to be reloaded again, but it won't find the device on USB until you turn off driver signing in the OS. Other than that, this is probably the best tool in my bag.

Testé avec un PC,le boitier donne entière satisfaction et remplit parfaitement son rôle, en tous les cas sur support PC. Les logiciels nécessaires sont fournis dans la boîte. La boîte justement. Peut-être ma seule réserve mais ce pauvre emballage carton fait un peu "cheap", même si la bête est en réalité un vrai monstre.

Familier des KVM, j'avoue que je ne connaissais pas ce type d'appareil. Là où le KVM permet de connecter des multitudes de serveurs à un seul et même écran, celui-ci permet de connecter un seul serveur à un écran virtuel sur un portable, au moyen d'un petit soft qui s'installe tres rapidement (testé sous windows 7 et mac OS leopard). C'est un usage assez différent, très intéressant, notamment pour les informaticiens mobiles qui doivent intervenir sur des serveurs n'ayant pas forcément un dispositif KVM statique. On peut même imaginer, dans une salle pourvue de kvm, de le brancher dessus pour garder l'accès à ses procédures, stockées sur le PC. Toutefois, pas la peine d'imaginer que l'on pourra faire des copier-coller. Le signal transmis est un signal vidéo. En revanche, il y a des limites, qu'il vaut mieux connaître. 1) c'est du vga que l'on capture, pas du hdmi ni du dvi. Il faudra un convertisseur dans de pareils cas. 2) on dispose d'un port USB pour clavier et souris. En USB, pas de souci, mais s'il faut passer en PS2, ça sera clavier. 3) en mode graphique, c'est un peu comme les KVM IP, c'est lent. La souris va lentement, l'affichage est lent et parfois buggué. C'est pas le pire de ceux que j'ai vu, mais ça mérite d'être noté. 4) Dernier point, sous Mac, le clavier est assez mal reconnu (un qwerty bizarre)

I tend to work on random computers dropped off at my desk, generally without a PC or keyboard. This product has been a great time saver, I no longer need to track down a spare monitor, or when I'm at a customer's site beg them for a monitor. I'm able to get my work done and I couldn't ask for more. I've even used the adapter for extended development sessions without issues. To give you an idea how versatile this thing is, I've: - Diagnose and repair computers both at work and remotely, including systems that should be headless and stuck in some inconvenient location in a mode that needed some TLC to get running again. - Bring small computers with me to a customer site for work purposes, and use my laptop as the keyboard/monitor. - With the aid of a HDMI->VGA converter box, used this and online meeting software to demo a program running on a tablet remotely, which worked out much better for all parties than pointing a webcam at the tablet. - Demo software on a PC that had no network connectivity to remote customers. The product price might seem a bit much, but to me it's been well worth it. Even if my only use was because I'm the guy friends and family bring dead computers to, I'd seriously consider purchasing it. My only complaint was a one time event: I had a conflict with this product's software and the drivers for the StarTech USB to DVI adapter on a Windows machine. I was able to resolve the issue by manually removing the USB to DVI drivers and re-installing the latest versions. That one issue aside, I've had no problems with the software.