Laptop with reverse VGA

Mon Feb 20 21:23:30 UTC 2012

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" <mpetach at netflight.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 7:34 AM, Jon Lewis <jlewis at 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
> > 
> 