_ _ _ __ | |__ | | ___ __ _ | '_ \| '_ \| |/ _ \ / _` | | |_) | | | | | (_) | (_| | | .__/|_| |_|_|\___/ \__, | |_| ...2017-11-16 |___/ Computing trouble, I want it all, and at the same time too!! I'm writing this on 3 different machines, in a way.. My main computer, which I'm in front of right now, is currently running Windows, because gaming, it took me more than 10 years before I got tired of waiting.. But.. In all other aspects, I don't feel at home, this is _NOT_ my operating system, it's not where I belong.. I just want to play games.. Now, on my main machine, I'm running Windows, and on that Windows, I'm running a VirtualBox with Ubuntu... And from that Ubuntu, I'm connected to my VPN, and over that VPN I am logged into my server via SSH, and on that server, VIM is currently running, and that, is in fact, how I'm writing this entry.. MainMachine>Windows>VirtualBox>Ubuntu>SSH>Server>Bash>Vim Something like that anyway.. What I really want, is somehow to run both Linux and Windows at the same time, with native performance and native compatibility for both systems.. I've though about a setup where I run Linux as the host OS, and then have some SSD drives and a powerful graphics card dedicated to the Windows VM via pass- through in VirtualBox, but I've also read that some programs will detect this, for example, the Valve Anticheat software, and maybe some copy-protection schemes, meaning I won't get native compatibility... So it seems my only option is to have two machines.. Now, I have a tendency to use my machines for a LONG time, at least, I consider it a LONG time, so long, in fact, that whem I'm done they are usually not worthy even of non-gaming stuff, and I do tend to play around with some stuff that is not gaming but still requires beefy systems, so I feel like what I really want, is two powerfull machines.. But, that'd mean an investment, maybe around 1500 euro, for a nice gaming rig to sit next to my "work" station.. That's a large enough amount of money that I don't feel it'd be entirely reasonable to do right now.. I still need to buy a car and a clothes-dryer, so why am I even considering this? Well, because it's about quality of life, and to me, right now, the situation of having to dry clothes in the wind in december is not nearly as annoying as not having a good way to work on two machines at the same time.. I don't know what to do about it! Even if I get two machines, I'll still need to figure out a _GOOD_ way of being able to control both machines with one mouse/keyboard, and I want them to be able to listen to music from the work computer at the same time as I am gaming with sound on.. So I maybe need a physical mixer, or maybe I can stream audio or make some passthrough that won't have any signifigant loss of quality or speed.. It's still a problem I need to figure out.. Sharing mouse/keyboard could be done via synergy, but, I know I'm a diva, but I want to be able to use two screens at the same time, with both computers. So that I can move windows primary display to the secondary montor, or have both monitors display windows, or have linux on the primary or secondary, or have linux on both.. Basically, I want to have total freedom over which machine is displaying which desktop on which monitor.. So far, I can only imagine it'd be an elaborate setup, maybe too elaborate to use.. Basically, these are the combinations of displays I think would be useful to be able to switch between in an effortless way.. So, for example, you're doing stuff on the work machine, and want to play a game, so you switch monitor A to the gaming machine, and have the secondary output of the work machine (which shows IRC and audio-player) still be on the Monitor B. Then you feel like looking something up on the work machine, still in the game, so you switch Monitor B to the work machines primary output, or maybe you push your game to monitor B and have a look at the primary ouput form the work machine.. I don't even want to attempt to draw the ascii diagram but it might be possible to do something like this with a few KVM switches.. But it'd be terrible expensive, and doing routing that way may be annoying.. Ideally I'd like ONE box, which has one mouse/keyboard input, 4 monitor inputs and 2 monitor outputs, and then some easy interface for routing them,, Even just 6 pushbuttons would do, then again, maybe it needs to be more advanced, but it should be simple to use, and route USB to whichever machine is showing something on the primary monitor.. Or maybe just a toggle switch for switching USB between the machines.. +------------+------------+--------+ | Monitor A | Monitor B | Button | +------------+------------+--------+ Machine A1 | Machine A2 | A1 Machine A1 | Machine B1 | A2 Machine A1 | Machine B2 | A3 Machine B1 | Machine B2 | B1 Machine B1 | Machine A1 | B2 Machine B1 | Machine A2 | B3 Okay, google first, rant later.. Is what I should have done, it's actually something that I can get! It's called a video matrix, and they are not terrible expensive, and some of them even have better interfaces than I'd have though of.. Basically, the way to go (TM) is to have 4 buttons for each output. Then you can select exactly what you want, where you want it! Fucking awesome..