StarTech Laptop-to-Server KVM Console with Rugged Housing

On Windows 11, this is useless. No video because the keyboard/mouse doesn't work. Can't follow your instructions to change from USB to PS2--greyed out. If you plug in a keyboard, the video will activate with a space bar. I've tried 3 Dell servers and a new Windows 11 Dell laptop and a Windows 10 Lenovo laptop. Same behavior. I think this has to go back to Amazon. Waste of $550.

I am in the Military and work on a lot of secure systems with secure laptops. We use the NOTECONS01, which is a great tool to KVM into our servers with. The military does not allow USB mass storage drivers or file transfer through USB. The NOTECONS02X allows file transfer between the server it's plugged into and the laptop, which would be a major security violation on our networks. We'd love to upgrade to this device, but cannot due to this feature. We'll be sticking with the NOTECONS01 till a model comes out that does not support the file transfer options. Hope they don't stop making it till that happens.

We purchased these because we often need to console a system in the field and console using the lights out management interface isn't reliable. With this KVM Console we can use our laptops to access the console on our systems in the field instead of configuring remote console over Ethernet and relying on out of band management to access our system consoles.

KVM usually works. Mac Software: Right now I upgraded to High Sierra and the software stopped working. Trying to find a solution. Before that I often have to reset the video to get it to take a change in resolution during POST on some servers rather that automatically. The MAC software could use more keys (del) on the optional key window or user selectable keys to keep handy. Also the keys should be mapped to button in the window title and not in a separate window. It is nice that I can get to F keys which on a Mac is a bit of a pain to use the keyboard since they default to other functions. Could also use a Video reset button. Also could scale the video captured to scale to the current window size. It does to some degree but has grey areas around the video if the resolution is smaller than the window. Hardware: It is fairly rugged. It has 2 wire connections on one side (console side) and a USB plug hole on the other. So I have to fiddle with unplugging the USB and trying to coil up the cords on the other side which includes a giant RFI core on the Video cable and the giant video cable end. Its ends up being messier than it should be to be put in a backpack. Also if and pins get bent on the 15 pin VGA cord you are done with no way to repair. It would be a huge improvement if the console side (VGA / USB) had just connectors so you could 1) use any cable length you want 2) allow you to replace the video cable once they inevitably wear out due to a large number of insertion cycles and normal wear and tear. As it is the video cable is short and after a so many insertion cycles won't stay in the connectors under its own weight. If I could just plug a cable of my choice in, I could rest it on the floor with a longer set of cables. I did purchase VGA and USB extension cables that help but the connections are again a disturbance in ability to coil up when done. Over all this needs improvement. 1 Mac Software needs Video reset button to affect sensed resolution on console window or better detection in the first place 2 Video capture should scale up if window is bigger than the capture. 3 Mac Software needs User define-able keys on for extra keys (lots of keys I don't use and 1 I don't have (del key)). 4 Mac on screen hot keys should be allowed in the title bar as compared to another window. 5 Hardware needs video connectors directly on the unit for all 3 cables. 6 Case could use a design that allows cables to be wrapped around it for storage / transportation. But right now this is probably the best portable console you can get right now. So I am not directing you to anything else. Just hope Star Tech upgrades this thing before someone comes along and makes a better one.