[vfio-users] Looking for recommendations for screen-switching

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On 19 March 2017 at 20:32, Nick S <nick.kvmhv at gmail.com> wrote:

> Monitor source selection menu is the cheapest option and also the least
> convenient. The most convenient option is a KVM switch but then you would
> have to deal with passing one of its USB ports to the VM while keeping the
> other one on host and a good KVM will cost you several hundred bucks. The
> way I am using it:
> 1) Cheap HDMI switcher (i.e. something like this: https://www.amazon.com/
> TBS%C2%AE2083-Intelligent-Switcher-Adapter-Splitter/
> product-reviews/B00M6I8K2E). It allows me to switch the cards without
> fumbling with the monitor menu.
>

This is the one I have:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B019MJM2ZU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Very cheap and really designed for TVs.

2) I keep the emulated VGA as a second adapter on my virtual machines. For
> Windows 7 it keeps a window on the desktop that I can use to grab or
> release focus for keyboard and mouse. This way I don't have to deal with
> any USB passthrough - only the GPU is passed to the VM.
>

That's more or less what I do as well. However when I toggle the HDMI
switch from the 2nd GPU (Windows) to the 1st (Linux), Windows rings a
notification saying it has lost the screen, I presume because the switch
powered down that port. (This doesn't happen if I just connect both GPUs
directly to the monitor via HDMI and DVI inputs). Note that toggling the
switch back pings again and the screen is restored, but now the mouse and
KB are trapped in the Linux desktop window and can't be moved across.
Possibly your switch is better behaved and doesn't power down the port, in
which case that would solve the problem for me.

poc
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