Length of Cable\Signal Questions

[jr76]

To save on the cost of building two PC's (one for arcade gaming and one for RTS gaming, photography, and everyday use) I'm thinking of building one pc and running cables to my cabinent. The cabinent will be about 20 feet, away seperated by a wall, so I'd guess I would need 30 to 40 feet runs.

How far can the wires be for the keyboard and mouse? Could I run long wires y-connecting them to the power switch and LED to turn on the PC from both locations? How long can a monitor cable be?

I plan on getting either a Radeon 9700 or 9800, so I'll have dual monitor outputs. I may either get a long monitor cable or go with a CAT-5 video splitter. I haven't found a CAT-5 splitter for any cheeper than $300.

TIA

[mccall]

Running that length of monitor cable can be done but you'll need high quality cables to prevent signal loss. High quality = expensive. Figure anywhere from $3 to $5 per foot.

The KB & mouse shouldn't be a problem at that length as they are considered serial devices.

[xar256]

This sounds like it would be right up your alley.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3028217208&category=11175

<Make sure the entire link gets put into your browser>
I've never actually used these things, but Cybex makes high quality equipment for server type applications.  It's a pretty safe bet IMHO that this will work for you.

Or you can search ebay for other offers for "kvm extenders".
If you try it please let me know how they work

Xar256

[anthony691]

I have like 100 ft. of PS/2 extension cables... if anyone needs some. I also have a few KVM cables laying around.

[jr76]

This sounds like it would be right up your alley.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3028217208&category=11175

This looks like an option, thanks! I like the fact that it can do audio as well. This would make it cool for hardware profiles, one setup to go to my desk monitor and speakers, the other to go to the cab monitor and channel 2 output on the audigy for the cab speakers. I have found these as well.

http://www.mini-cat.com/

http://www.kvm-switches-online.com/0vs23003.html

Here is a more modern version of the KVM
http://kolarsystems.com/switches_longview2.shtml