Trendnet TK-204UK DVI USB Audio 2 Port KVM Switch Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2012-05-07
·
1,090 words · ~5 min read
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welcome to an unboxing of a product that may not be
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glamorous but is certainly useful this is the trendnet TK 204 UK TW Port DVI
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USB KVM switch with audio kit slick
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bought one because uh he'd never heard
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of a KVM kit believe
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no I'm just messing with you Slick's pretty technical he'd heard of a KVM kit
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before or a KVM switch before I see I called it a KVM kit it's not even what
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it is it's really late at night guys um
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here we are in the studio bringing you unboxings of kvms uh so slick got this
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one because we have one for our Tech tip setup uh which has been working really
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well for us so the way it okay okay we're not going to focus too much on this one we'll focus on this one but
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slick um in His Infinite Wisdom managed
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to find it useful in spite of the fact that he configured it wrong see what
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you're supposed to do is plug
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this okay no really there's a reason that he didn't plug in the kvm's DVI
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cable and plugged in a separate DVI cable and I'll explain that as well so
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let's actually get started with the unboxing so you can get kvms in a wide
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variety of different configurations including ones that support um two
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computers to be controlled with a single set of peripherals ones that support
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four computers even rack mount ones that support many computers operating off a
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single keyboard and mouse and then you switch between them according to
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whichever one you want to control you can get ones that use VGA and PS2 uh you
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can get ones that use DVI and USB you can get ones that do support audio and
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ones that don't for a consumer who happens to have a couple computers at
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their desk whether you've got a PC and a Mac and you don't feel like dual booting
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and waiting for os's to load in between uh a lot of our graphic designers here
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at work do that or or whether you have
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um two desktop computers one that is like a dedicated video rendering box and
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one that you act that you use for gaming for example if you have them both at the
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same desk this allows you to with the touch of a button switch between which
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one you want to control and here at any
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given moment so this guy includes everything you need and this is the one
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that I'd consider to be most practical for probably
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90% of consumers so it comes with a wide
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variety of things here including all of these packages that I have to open one
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by one in order to bring you this fantastic
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unboxing of a KVM all right here we
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go ah power okay so the first thing the
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things we don't need uh utility install users guide if you really need that get
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it off the trendnet website quick installation guide plug the things into
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the thing it's that quick all right here
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is the TK 204 U so this is your console
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this button you press to switch between computer 1 and computer 2 there is a
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light that turns on to show you which computer you're operating at the current
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moment then you plug the keyboard and mouse that you want to use in this case
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we have some Microsoft thing and a Corsair Mouse plugged into the USB
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cables at the front all right
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speaking of people who don't know how kvms work I actually don't know what this one's
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for oh yeah the main monitor well then why isn't ours plugged in oh right cuz
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he broke it okay right so moving on uh so this is for the
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actual monitor that you're going to use for both computers then you've got your
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speakers as well as your microphone that you actually use and have sitting on
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your desk on the back you find two more
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sets of DVI so these go out to the video cards of each of your computers and then
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you use him so here is the combo audio DVI
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cable that looks just like that so they've used a couple extra DVI pins
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here for audio so you plug that in and then you go like that there you go and
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then you use these USB cables to plug in
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to the USB port on the back of your computer so by plugging these into to
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your computers you got your two computers and then you've got all your
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peripherals and all of your speakers and microphone as well as your monitor
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plugged in on this side you can effectively control both computers with
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one set of peripherals so here is uh the power for the KVM itself it does need
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separate power um not only can you switch between the computers here but
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you can also set a hotkey on your keyboard to easily switch between the
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two computers now I'll explain why I kept sort of uh you know ragging on
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slick here about his configuration this is a DVI ey cable now there's a very
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good reason that this km has a DVI cable that is because it is compatible not
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only with a digital signal but also with an analog signal the problem though is
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see those those pins around that centerpiece okay so we were testing A
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system that was using Onboard video that has a DVI D out so that is a digital
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only DVI connection so what that meant
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was that when slick had our monitor plugged into the
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KVM and then he had this cable going out to here he actually physically couldn't
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plug it in and that is why it is frankensteined right now and not hooked
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up correctly so he does know what a KVM is he does know how to cook up a KVM I
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was just bugging him because I'm the one on camera and he's not allowed to say
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anything so thank you for checking out my unboxing and first look and extremely
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convoluted explanation of how kvms work don't forget to subscribe to lonus Tech
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tips for more unboxings reviews and
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other midnight shenanigans