Can my computer upstairs power a monitor and cordless keyboard downstairs?
June 25, 2007 11:25 AM   Subscribe

After only living in tiny apartments, I'm moving to a two story house, but I'm an utter newbie about household networking. Here's the main dilemma: Upstairs, in my office, my Macbook Pro will power an external monitor and keyboard. That's where I'll do most of my work. Downstairs, I intend to buy a 52" HD monitor to watch DVDs. I'd like the option to sometimes work down there....with the upstairs computer driving the downstairs monitor, and using a cordless keyboard that talks to the upstairs computer. Note: I won't ever need to drive monitors simultaneously. Is there any way to do this? Or do I need to buy a downstairs computer, and network the computers so both HD's are kept dynamically in synch (e.g. via Leopard's "Time Machine")? That'd be more expensive, though I could probably get away with using a pretty old/crappy computer downstairs (so long as its HD is at least as large as the one upstairs so they can synch properly, and so long as it has enough video ram to drive the large monitor).
posted by jimmyjimjim to Computers & Internet (24 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'd think about a second computer (a media PC, perhaps) for downstairs that displays a VNC session on the TV to the machine upstairs as needed.
posted by kcm at 11:27 AM on June 25, 2007


Why not just take the MacBook Pro downstairs, and use it downstairs, hooked up to the 52" monitor?
posted by unexpected at 11:28 AM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: "Why not just take the MacBook Pro downstairs, and use it downstairs, hooked up to the 52" monitor?"


Because:

1. more work (there are 7 jacks and wires going into the computer that must be unplugged and replugged each time...there are no docks for Macbook Pros)

2. computer is less comfortable (heat, size) to hold in lap than a keyboard

3. most of the laptop's form factor is its monitor, and I won't be using the monitor

I COULD bring the computer down, hook to monitor, and also to a USB station powering an external keyboard. And, indeed, that wouldn't kill me (and would be more economical than buying another computer). But it'd be ideal if I just had a keyboard downstairs I could pick up any time and compute from upstairs. if that's possible.
posted by jimmyjimjim at 11:37 AM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: Thanks, kcm, I do see that there's a VNC application for Mac: http://www.screenrecycler.com
posted by jimmyjimjim at 11:42 AM on June 25, 2007


Well if your going to spend the money on a 52 inch HD tv/monitor I would take the the not as expensive leap to also get a media center PC as well, then sync the 3 up.
posted by crewshell at 11:55 AM on June 25, 2007


What you're asking about is called a "KVM switch" (keyboard, video, mouse). The problem here is transmitting a signal over that distance. Not completely unreasonable to do this with the USB, but it starts getting very expensive when you try to transmit high-bandwidth video over that distance.

Getting a second computer for downstairs would be easier and probably involve less tooth-gnashing. You wouldn't even need to sync its hard drive to your existing Macbook: just mount the Macbook's drive over the network and use the files on it directly.

You also might want to consider switching your Macbook's peripherals to wireless, as much as possible, to make it easier to just disconnect and lug that thing downstairs. Keyboard, mouse, and printer can all be made wireless, or can at least all be run through a single hub so you've got one cable instead of three. You could even run your audio over USB, I think.
posted by adamrice at 12:03 PM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: what do you mean, exactly, by "media center PC"? Do you mean a windoze PC? If so, I'll have synch issues.
posted by jimmyjimjim at 12:05 PM on June 25, 2007


Does your HDTV have a DVI input? Is your house already wired with ethernet?

You could get one of these and hook it up to one of these and run your video that way. Then buy any long-range wireless keyboard (probably want to stay away from 2.4GHz as it'll interfere with your Wifi.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 12:06 PM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: I think you're right, adam.

I already have a powered USB hub. But other connections include a FW external disk, speakers (ministereo), display, ethernet, and power cable. And one extra USB connection that hates hubs. That's seven, sigh.
posted by jimmyjimjim at 12:10 PM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: NewWazoo, I've got NOTHING at this point (except the macbook pro). No HDTV, no wired house.

I'll study your links. Thanks!
posted by jimmyjimjim at 12:12 PM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: Maybe I should get a used Mac Cube...I don't need display (or stock keyboard) anyway. I'm wondering if it has (or can be installed with) sufficient vram to power a 52" monitor, though....

I love Adam's idea of accessing upstairs files via the network.
posted by jimmyjimjim at 12:20 PM on June 25, 2007


More inside please!
posted by lalochezia at 12:32 PM on June 25, 2007


VNC wont stream video at any acceptable framerate over 100 mbps ethernet let alone wireless. The range of wireless keyboards and mice is pretty bad. Theyre not designed to go through walls, let alone upstairs. Nor does VNC do sound.

A living room PC/mac/nix box, whatever, running vnc to control the computer upstairs with a decent video card is a cost-effective solution. There's no real reason to store your movies on this computer. Use samba to mount to the laptop upstairs over wireless and just play the video locally. This machine will have the wireless mouse and keyboard attached which will be left downstairs.
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:08 PM on June 25, 2007


TheNewWazoo's got it. But I second the idea of getting another computer. So...

1. you have a computer, say a Mac mini or a PC with the appropriate software connected to the big screen downstairs.

2. for the syncing, if you're going Mac to Mac, you could just use one of the many available programs such as SuperDuper (note I've never actually used it before). Another option is to shell out for a NAS (basically an external HD that's connected to your network) and put all your shared files there. That way you don't have to worry about sync'ing anything.

3. For the networking, I highly recommend going *wired* if at all possible. I have a similar setup (Mac Mini attached to TV) and a 802.11g wireless setup at home. Streaming video from another computer to the mini is *just* adequate and copying vdeo files can be painfully slow.

If you don't want the mess of a keyboard/mouse attached to the downstairs computer, even wireless ones, you *still* have the option of VNC'ing in with your laptop.
posted by edjusted at 1:28 PM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: No, i'm not trying to serve movies or other media. I'll be using DVD disks to watch on the TV.

The computer downstairs is just for computing (word processing, surfing, etc), taking advantage of the big monitor and comfortable couch! :)
posted by jimmyjimjim at 1:29 PM on June 25, 2007


To be clear, I didn't mean to suggest using a single bluetooth keyboard/mouse set to go through walls—rather, if JJJ chooses to use a single machine, to have a separate set in each location to minimize plugging/unplugging.
posted by adamrice at 1:42 PM on June 25, 2007


I'm assuming your HDTV is 1080p, otherwise using it as a computer monitor is going to be painful. The DVI extenders TheNewWazoo mentioned and a KVM switch will do what you want, but this is a very limited solution. You won't be able to expand this solution very easily, with either more computers or more displays.

The 'better' solution is to get a cheapie computer for downstairs, even an old powerbook should be able to drive a 1080p display pretty nicely. You can share your files over whatever network you've got going and access them from the TV computer.
posted by Skorgu at 2:15 PM on June 25, 2007


buy a mac mini, a bluetooth keyboard and trackball, and a copy of apple remote desktop. don't use the mac mini for anything except launching a session to your macbook upstairs.

this is the simplest solution, IMHO. when you get into streaming video wirelessly and KVM switches, etc, you're asking for trouble. just use the hardware and software as God (Jobs) intended.

someday there will be a better way to do this. but today is not that day.
posted by raconteur at 2:25 PM on June 25, 2007


Skorgu, I use my 26" 720p HDTV as an external monitor (HDMI) and it looks fantastic. I'd imagine that >50" would indeed suffer from res issues for text, however.
posted by monkeymadness at 3:14 PM on June 25, 2007


I'd go for the mini solution by raconteur. As a bonus the mini can act as an MP3/media server without too much effort.
posted by chairface at 3:26 PM on June 25, 2007


thirding the mini->dvi->HDtv solution, as long as your HDtv has a DVI input. I tried something very much like what you're trying to do and it's two months of weekends I'll never get back. I shoulda just got a mini on eBay and been done with it.

having another computer around and working can be a godsend when your main computer's b0rken. backup your main computer by cloning via superDuper or CarbonCopyCloner and you'll have a working version (clone) of it to use with the downstairs PDQ.

google around or stay tuned to this forum and you'll probably find a program to keep the two computers synced up if you need to. but depending on the work you do, can't you just share your work files between the two machines?

connect a big fat external HD to the downstairs mini. keep all your music, videos, dvd rips, whatever on the downstairs mini's drives and use it as the "Jukebox" for the HDtv. Get them networked (buy an airport express) and you can share that media library with your upstairs computer (iTunes makes this usper-easy).
Also a good place to keep your backups/clone.

Also on its desktop should be a way to "remote control" your main computer via that AirPort network. Try the free ChickenoftheVNC, which is pretty easy to set up for the macs. if you experience performance issues as described above (screen looks bad, controls are too slow), then you'll have to shell out for Apple Remote Desktop, but you might not need to.

that's a big tv. I bet it has picture-in-picture. try filling the screen with your main input and putting the DVI input as a p-i-p in one corner. it would probably be about the size of a regular monitor. then you couls watch big tv and work/surf at the same time.

so for about 4 hours setup time and $1200 (assuming you buy a mini, airport express, and an external hard drive all brand new instead of on eBay) you have a second computer that can be a mirror of - or a remote control for -your main computer; a shared media library connected to a huge display, etc. And every part of it is designed to actually do what you're doing with it.

As opposed to using up all your spare time and patience and possibly spending even more than the $1.2k trying to make a bunch of mismatched parts work together to do something strange to them by trial and error. or getting any windows cooties on you.

Spend the thousand dollars. you won't regret it.
posted by penciltopper at 6:11 PM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: Thanks, chairface (and all others). It WOULD be smart to have a backup computer, that's very true. you've pointed out some other smart advantages, as well.
posted by jimmyjimjim at 8:57 PM on June 25, 2007


You can get wireless RF keyboards with up to 120' range, and a DVI extender to go to the TV, but the total price of a working solution might wind up being close to that of a used or new computer. One way to extend the range of a very cheap RF keyboard might be to crack open the receiver and solder some kind of antenna extender, then run it down the wall to an antenna in the room below. I'd consult some DIY sites though, as I suspect that would only work for some RF frequencies. If your keyboard transmitted
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:40 PM on June 25, 2007


Response by poster: I'm going to go the route of the Mac Mini downstairs, but I just realized that it's easy to snake a cable from upstairs to downstairs. So I'll have a faster, more secure, wired connection between computers.

Any advice on how to set this up? It'll have to be a pretty long wire...
posted by jimmyjimjim at 10:37 AM on August 10, 2007


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