Is there any way to use a computer as a physical keyboard for another computer?
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M$3 Answers
I'll comment on building one below, but if you want to buy one, they aren't cheap given the lack of demand.
A commercial RS232 converter is available here: http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/products/usbkm232.html
As mentioned previously, IP KVM would be the other obvious option or Synergey if you give up the bios level control.
If you want to go down the path of building one, there is a plan here: http://hobby-electrons.sourceforge.net/projects/terminal-keyboard/ using an AVR.
I will comment that the Ardunio would do this easily as well. It has all the components to become a USB serial to PS/2 keyboard. At the bootom of the page on connecting to a USB mouse (http://www.arduino.cc/playground/ComponentLib/Ps2mouse) there is a link to a PS2 device library.
Haven't done it, but I would use the stock serial interface and Serial sketch to talk to the host PC over the USB port. You would then use the ps2dev library to convert serial commands to PS2 commands. Like look at adding V-UBS module to emulate a HID, but if target PC has PS2 port, way simpler.
Good Luck!
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M$The key benefit of a hardware device is that you can fully control booting on the machine and change CMOS options if necessary. An IP KVM will also emulate basic devices such as PS/2 mice and keyboards if the computer requires these to be present to boot. Many models will also emulate USB input devices. They generally require remote control of the machine via a wired (or wireless) network rather than a simple usb cable so they are more complex to setup. These types of devices can be obtained from dealers specializing in networking hardware.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Wake on LAN in addition to software remote control is a good solution but video (console) redirection provided by an IP KVM allows low level hardware control (such as CMOS interaction) which can't be provided by most software solutions.
Synergy looks like a slick solution, I'll have to try it out. It's not what I had in mind when I asked the question, but I have been looking for something exactly like it.
Back to the question I actually asked, IP KVM is close to what I'm looking for, but a quick search shows that IP KVM systems are expensive. What I'm picturing is a simple box that sits between my laptop and my desktop (in the same room, probably connected by USB) that captures the keyboard of my laptop and sends it to the desktop as if I was using a real keyboard. Maybe such a device doesn't exist, but it would be handy. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard of a microcontroller project. Even something that takes in serial data through hyperterm (or equivalent) and generates scan codes over a PS/2 interface might be good enough, and it probably wouldn't be that hard to implement.
