Hi all,

I'm thinking of setting up a small render farm. How do you go about running a remote pc without a monitor? I figured there's an app available to do this. I would like to add a amd pc via ethernet and not have a monitor, keyboard & mouse. Any help is appreciated.

Jaz

Don't quote me on this, but I believe that you may be able to do it via a KVM switch - not the cheapy ones, but the more professional ones may have the functionality you're looking for.

you can do it even with the 'cheapy ones'... i've got a kvm switch that only requires double tapping the shift bar then pressing '1' or '2' to choose your computer. it only cost about 40 bucks, but that was about 3 years ago. you can now find KVM switches that are USB and DVI, VGA and DVI, VGA and PS/2, etc. they're all comparable, and they can go from 2 computers to 4 (without becoming expensive).

any kvm switch changes the keyboard, video (monitor), and mouse (hence kvm) between computers. some have a hub you can use, and some only work between two computers. you don't need an expensive one to do what you ask. as long as you can view (and control via keyboard and mouse) the other computer's screens, you're good to go.

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I have something along the order of what NEO mentioned and it's never been an issue. It was $40 about 3 or 4 years ago, I would assume they are even cheaper now.

Jason

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if you can get the initial thing set up by using a monitor, keyboard and mouse then you can simply install any of the VNC variants (OS dependant) such as UltraVNC, tightVNC or realVNC. Once its on and set up to start on boot you'll be able to connect to the box remotely whenever you need. I think all are free but some cost if you want more secure options etc.
I've used UltraVNC most recently as its free for all options. It worked a treat over a wireless connection allowing me to sit in the garden on the laptop while working remotely on my main PC

Si

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donno if this will help you, though i had something similar like this...

i had two computers though only with one screen, mouse, keyboard etc... all i did was just buy a switch(forgot what its called) connected it all up and everytime i wanted to use the other computer i would just turn the knob on the little device thingo which was sat next to my monitor and it would change computers ...

logmein.com is the best solution imho

Free account - plus all you need is a web browser to view your desktop from anywhere in the world. I use it all the time to check renders at home while i'm at work. Plus it supports dual monitor.

Thank you everyone for all your help! I ended up trying UltraVNC and love it. I already have a PowerMac and just added a AMD dual core and don't have any more space for another keyboard and mouse. Keeping track of 2 of each is quite enough. I've configured the older AMD pc to launch UltraVNC on boot so the keyboard and mouse will now migrate to the new DualCore box. I'm going to add another AMD machine and configure my new dual core laptop with VNC and will use all to render.

Again, thanks for all your input!!!

Jaz