Resources for Building a KVM switch

Hi all!

I among a couple of my friends all have similar triple monitor setups and are trying to figure out how to have both our personal gaming rigs and a docking station for work laptops easily switchable on the monitors. we’re looking into KVM switches and while I have found a couple that may work,I thought it would be fun to try my hand at building my own since the general concept is fairly straightforward, so I was wondering if anyone might have some good resources on building your own? I would like it to be compatible with DP 1.2+

I’ve found a couple articles that basically outline how to make a usb switch and call it KVM but i would need a bit more than that. the high data rates of the display connections would require fine tuning of the RC of the device, plus just the number of pins would definitely add a bit of complexity. both concepts that I understand generally but not enough to really design for.

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At 10+ GHz you’re well into the black art side of printed circuit design. Have you worked with ultra high speed digital signaling design before?

You might want to look at finding a single monitor switch that meets your needs, and then hacking the interface so you can control multiple switches with one set of buttons.

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There is a lot of protective circuitry that needs to be in place for KVMs to work properly nowadays otherwise you can damage devices attached to them.

Not only that, it would cost you more in materials than just buying one.

This is a project where if you have to ask, you’re probably not ready to build.

cost doesn’t really bother me, I’m looking at it as more of a learning opportunity. No I haven’t worked with anything faster than a couple MHz so yeah, I figured that this is out of my league individually but i was just hoping that it would turn out easier than I thought :slight_smile: . I may still look into Gordon’s suggestion. Thanks

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