New Vetra Multiplexer will broadcast keyboard and MOUSE...SIMULTANEOUSLY.

[koris]

Just like that title states. It's a new device. They are charging $359 for a 5port. At first i thought this would be a godsend. nor more synergy and facing the wrong way issues.

Then i got to thinking, do i need 5 monitors of the same size? If i have a 22" and 4x15", lets say all set on same resolution.... When i click on something on the big 22" where will my mouse end up on the 15".....

Lastly, lets say i do have 5x22". Would this device be a godsend then?

[entoptic]

Go the one monitor route. It's better for the earth and you or your parents monthly bill.

[koris]

lawl, i make 110k a year. money isn't the issue. Keyclone route is too risky for me. other than 5 accounts going down at once, i don't like the idea of my computer sending packets to someone other than blizz while im playing wow. I'd rather have 5 dedicated pcs running 5 accounts.

back to the question. what are the upside and downside of a multiplexer that can send both mouse and keyboard signals simultaneously.

[Erron]

I must be blind, can you post a link to this new product?

[Noxxy]

Can't see the product listed on vetra ('www.vetra.com') either - linky pls

My thoughts re having the mouse casting:

- May avoid having to get the drones to 'assist' the tank as one mouse clicky and all accnts would have the same target - which actually may be very nice, for example, tank pulls a mobs, all target the same thing, add comes along, pally can switch, get the agg of the incoming mob via tabbing - all the time the drones still blasting the original target - pally tabs back to original mob for the finish - could work well if AOE taunt spell down, etc.
- Downside for me is that 'mouse clicking' a mob for targetting can be very inefficient when I have a lot of mobs - 'sometimes' tabbing works better

- As for 'all facing the same direction' - ummm...no...the way I learned to tank is to get the tank to agg the mob, run back to (into/through) the group, spin the mob 180, then reverse up a bit so the back of the mob is facing the rest of the group - end up with the drones facing the tank and the tank facing the drones, mob/s in the middle - standard tanking approach in EQ2 to avoid riposte on squishies. In theory, if all the mouse movements were sent to the drones, they'd be looking the wrong way again.

My tanking approach in EQ2 (6 man):
Drone1 ->
Drone2 ->
Drone3 -> Mob-> <- Tank
Drone4 ->
Drone5 ->

- even if you think when the tank goes to collect the mobs, it would mean that the KM switch which have to be turned off broadcast, then when the tank gets back, switch KM back on which means a few second delay - could get nasty

- may come in handy for looting but I assume I would have to switch my KM to that drone, drive the mouse over, loot, switch KM back to full broadcast...pretty messy

Comes in pretty expensive at 359USD when I consider that an 8 port (required for EQ2 as 6 per group not 5) is only 339USD

Any other thoughts would be interesting.

[koris]

I must be blind, can you post a link to this new product?you are not blind. They are making it right now. they do not have a serial number for it yet. I pre-ordered mine. They said 5 weeks delivery. Here's a quote from email. you can also call them and ask them about it.


[We can offer you a unit based on the VIP-808-KM keyboard and mouse switch that will also have the broadcast capability of PS/2 keyboard and mouse. The unit will not be ready for 4 - 5 weeks ARO and will sell for $359.00 USD. The model number is yet to be determined.]

Noxxy: [- May avoid having to get the drones to 'assist' the tank as one mouse clicky and all accnts would have the same target ]
This is why i think I'll like it a lot. There will be no need to "follow" as i can move all 5 on the same tile. I'm worried the mouse cursor might lag a couple pixels and throw one account off...

[Zzyzxx71]

lawl, i make 110k a year. money isn't the issue. Keyclone route is too risky for me. other than 5 accounts going down at once, i don't like the idea of my computer sending packets to someone other than blizz while im playing wow. I'd rather have 5 dedicated pcs running 5 accounts.

back to the question. what are the upside and downside of a multiplexer that can send both mouse and keyboard signals simultaneously.

Where would your pc be sending packets to other than blizzard if you were using KC? /baffled...

Other than the initial registration and verification, while your using the product it doesn't send packets anywhere other than your own pc's, and that's only if you're using more than 1 pc. If you're running all your wow's on 1 pc it isn't sending packets anywhere. :P

As far as the "duplicity" of your mouse operation, I guarantee they won't be 100% in sync all the time. Even if your mouse control broadcasts are dead-on, the information to and from blizzard will NOT be complete synchronous. You'll still get some (lack of a better term) "fade".

Additionally, this isn't the first product that enabled mouse broadcasting. PI-engineering has made an Xkeys Mouse splitter for years.

IMO you may want to do more product research, you have what appears to be a blind assumption regarding keyclone. Fanboi? no. Convinced by the hundreds of users with no complaints and insanely fast support? yes.

[Otlecs]

The *only* time I've ever wished for mouse broadcasting is for targetted AoE. I just wouldn't need it for anything else, and am not even sure how it would be useful under any other circumstances, given even slightly different playfield perspectives from each of the characters in a multibox team.

So, no, I don't think it would be a God-send :)


for example, tank pulls a mobs, all target the same thing, add comes along, pally can switch, get the agg of the incoming mob via tabbing - all the time the drones still blasting the original target - pally tabs back to original mob for the finish - could work well if AOE taunt spell down, etc
That's a feature of your personal setup, which sounds like the common "use a macro for every single damage spell" focus-based setup.

My non-focus-based setup uses a simple /assist macro to acquire a target from the main, focus for pet tanking/sheeping/other CC, and lets me play each of my characters individually on any machine due to the reduced dependency on macros.

So if that particular problem was causing you serious pain, I'd suggest moving to a non-focus-based setup, but I doubt that's the case from what you've said and I don't want to turn this into another focus/non-focus-based setup brawl :)


Go the one monitor route. It's better for the earth and you or your parents monthly bill.
I don't recall that being the question. Random self-righteous posts for the... erm... lose, actually.

[zanthor]

Noxxy: [- May avoid having to get the drones to 'assist' the tank as one mouse clicky and all accnts would have the same target ]
This is why i think I'll like it a lot. There will be no need to "follow" as i can move all 5 on the same tile. I'm worried the mouse cursor might lag a couple pixels and throw one account off...

This quite simply wont work the way you are imagining it.

There is no voodoo to hardware multicasting vs software multicasting. there is no magic "Sync my position in the world" trick that only works with hardware.

Hook it all up, try to move all 5 at once, and go 5 different directions, period. Try and mouse target, and you'll have 5 different targets in a crowd, or have to click 5 seperate times, or at least several times since each persons PoV will be moderately different. All this appears to do is stop you from needing to buy a mouse multicaster AND a keyboard multicaster by bbuilding them both into one unit.

As for keyclone sending packets, it only sends packets to the machines you tell it to while you game, it only authenticates against the server when you start it. As software goes, I'd say there are a few solutions here that would suit the needs of anyone, but if you want to go hardware, you will have the exact same issues to overcome as any other boxer. If you syncronize one mouse you'll find you'll still want a non-broadcast mouse. You will still find you need to zero the mouse by moving them all to a corner, and you'll find that unless you run 5x screens at the same resolution and same mouse settings you wont have any luck with it even at that.

Hope that helps clarify things.

[brontes]

I was looking for a software utility that I could bind a hotkey to "center mouse cursor on screen". I used to have somethingl ike this back in the Windows 3.11 days (heh). Now I can't find anything.

AHK can do this.

[koris]

damn you guys are sexy. Thank you for all the replies/criticism/comments/info. I guess i will call them and buy the normal keyboard broadcaster and go the synergy route. :thumbsup: .

[Jaws5]

As others have stated , follow is the only way to keep grp syced on tank and or main when movement is necessary. Epic flyers will teach you this fast